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This publication discusses the environmental benefits of planting miscanthus — a tall, perennial grass — on lands that otherwise have poor results with traditional row crops.
This factsheet explains the three factors of proper swine manure management: the nutrient content of the manure, the percentages of those nutrients that are available to the plant and the nutrient requirements of the plant.
This factsheet describes the nutrient composition of poultry manure and land application techniques based on matching the nutritional requirements of the crop with the nutrients available in manure. This publication also includes a worksheet to determine the nutrient needs of your crop.
This factsheet explains how to use dairy manure as a fertilizer source. Included are descriptions of nutrient content, application rates and application methods to ensure optimum benefit from the manure. A worksheet is provided for calculating application rates.
This publication for lagoon managers and operators describes how to carry out a sludge survey and discusses sludge depth measurement, volume determination, and nutrient sampling. It draws upon and supplements the information in another publication on sludge management in anaerobic lagoons: Sludge Management and Closure Procedures for Anaerobic Lagoons (AG-604).
A summary of North Carolina rules and regulations governing the purchasing, handling, application and reporting of poultry litter by commercial haulers. This publication also includes a sample agreement between growers and haulers regarding who has responsibility for the various stages of litter handling.
Anaerobic swine lagoon sludge sampling allows operators to determine the nutrient concentration in the sludge through laboratory analysis. This publication provides information about different options for sampling sludge in these lagoons.
This publication provides basic information on animal production systems and reviews the movement of nitrogen in concentrated feeding operations for swine.
Applying animal manure to forestland can help animal producers manage waste and supply forest owners with low-cost, slow-release nutrients that enhance production of forest crops. This publication is based on a research project designed to investigate factors that make forest fertilization with animal manures successful in North Carolina.
This publication explains the weight-area method, one of the two methods in which solid or semi-solid applicators can be calibrated. Proper calibration is required by law.
This publication provides information on using surplus milk for land application, as a waste product or fertilizer, or as animal feed. Topics include practical and nutrient management considerations, safety, and nutrient information for feeding.
This training program is designed to provide operators of animal waste management systems with the basic understanding needed to operate and maintain these systems in an efficient and environmentally sound manner. This manual is not intended to provide all of the technical details for the complete design of a waste management system or an approved animal waste management plan.
Changes in the interpretation of North Carolina water quality rules and technical standards allow for the use of on-farm records in the development of waste management plans. This publication describes the use of such records, citing examples. The use of on-farm records can work to an animal producer’s benefit by providing more site-specific information about how an animal waste management system should be operated, particularly with respect to the number of acres of crops necessary to properly utilize the nutrients (mainly nitrogen) in the wastewater.
This publication discusses using poultry waste as a nutrient treatment for field crops. It provides practical information that can be used to calibrate spinner spreaders for the most effective land-application of poultry litter. A spreader calibration worksheet is included.
This publication summarizes research conducted in North Carolina that evaluated sorghum's potential as a bioenergy feedstock when planted on land that receives large quantities of animal waste effluent.
Transporting livestock manure to nutrient deficient fields can often be cost prohibitive without manure processing. Pyrolysis converts manure solids into biochar resulting in significant mass and volume reduction, while retaining high nutrient value. This fact sheet introduces the basics of pyrolysis technology, discusses the benefits and end uses of manure-derived biochar, and provides an overview of cost and technology limitations.
This fact sheet discusses different types of amendments that can be used to manage ammonia levels in broiler houses.
Screw press separators can divide a single by-product stream into a solid and liquid stream to improve handling and management. These processing systems are commonly used in manure handling systems but can be used for management of many organic streams. For example, a wet digestion system that accepts food waste may also integrate the technology following anaerobic digestion. Regardless of the application, screw press separators are more efficient in removing solids from manure slurry streams (greater than four percent total solids or dry matter content) than with more dilute liquid manure streams. The systems are known to improve manure handling as well as reduce environmental impacts of livestock systems.
This publication provides information about building a simple yet effective system for reducing odors and dust emissions from swine barns.
This factsheet summarizes key technologies used to produce pellets from animal manures and the impact of process variables (temperature, pressure, moisture content) on the final product. The factsheet reviews key quality indices used to evaluate manure pellet quality. It also presents an overview of how scale, cost and environmental benefits, and trade-offs impact technology adoption.
This training program is designed to provide operators of animal waste management systems with the basic understanding needed to operate and maintain these systems in an efficient and environmentally sound manner. This manual is not intended to provide all of the technical details for the complete design of a waste management system or an approved animal waste management plan.
Manure is among the lowest methane yielding feedstocks in digesters, but it is widely used in agricultural anaerobic digestion systems due to its continuous availability in one location, its capacity to resist changes in pH, and its relatively easy integration into existing manure management systems. System types, costs, and environmental benefits are discussed.
