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Manure applications in winter conditions

Protecting water sources from manure would be a lot easier if the weather would co-operate. After a relatively good growing season, the conditions since September have been wetter than normal, with only short windows between rain events to complete harvest and field work.

For some farms, manure application will need to occur in “winter” conditions. (For the purposes of this article, “winter” is defined as frozen or snow-covered soils, not the calendar date.) For others, manure application will be the contingency plan to avoid an overflowing storage. In some fields, frozen soils may be required before tankers or spreaders can manoeuvre them.

For application that must occur in wet conditions, the ideal option is still to surface apply manure onto crop residue followed by incorporation of the manure as soon as possible after application. Where this is not possible, a common sense approach is required to minimize water or soil contamination. This includes identifying and managing high risk areas. |READ MORE