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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #192739
Title: ABILITY OF WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMERS TO CONFORM TO 590 NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT STANDARDS.

Author
item Powell, Joseph
item JACKSON-SMITH, D - UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2005
Publication Date: 1/17/2006
Citation: Powell, J.M., Jackson-Smith, D.B. 2006. Ability of Wisconsin dairy farmers to conform to 590 nutrient management standards. In: Proceedings of the 2006 Wisconsin Fertilizer, Aglime & Pest Management Conference, January 17-19, 2006, Madison, Wisconsin. p.139-145.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Most (approximately two-thirds) of Wisconsin's dairy farms are self-sufficient in grain and forage production, and therefore have more than adequate cropland area for manure spreading. Recent studies revealed, however, that many dairy farmers use only a portion (25-45%) of their total cropland area for manure spreading. Manure spreading on Wisconsin dairy farms can be linked to the amount of manure actually collected, and therefore that needs to be land-spread (for example, less manure is collected in the southwest (56% of total annual herd production) than in the south central (72%) or the northeast (68%) regions); the presence of manure storage; labor availability and machinery capacity for manure spreading; variations in the manure "spreading window", or days that manure can be spread given regional differences in weather and soil conditions; and distances between where manure is produced and fields where manure can be applied. Although Wisconsin dairy farmers face these and other challenges in manure management, most farmers appear to be adhering already to the 2005 Code 590 Nutrient Management Standard. Information provided in this presentation was gleaned from the "On-Farmers' Ground" project that studied nutrient management practices on 54 representative dairy farms across Wisconsin during the period 2002-2005. Detailed records were kept on the types and amounts of feed, fertilizer and manure used, and legume nitrogen credits available during the period October 2003 to September 2004.