Using manure to its maximum value for crops

As fertilizer input costs continue to rise, farmers are looking for alternatives ways to cut their costs. A recent article in “Manure Manager” magazine titled “Valuing Manure Nutrient Resources” explains the benefits of maximizing the nutrient content of the manure you apply to your fields.

Doing soil analysis will tell you what your nutrient requirements are. Once you know the requirement for the crop you plan to plant, the manure needs to be analyzed for nutrient values. Manure analysis focuses on analyzing the plant-available nutrients, mainly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

In this organic form, the nutrients phosphorus and potassium are as available to the plants as in most commercial fertilizers. However, the nitrogen in manure is found in the form of organic nitrogen and ammonia (also known as Ammonia - N). It needs to go through a biological break-down to make it available to the crop. This nitrogen is usually available to the next crop.

The organic matter is also an important component of manure, but it is difficult to place an accurate dollar value to this. Manure is considered a complete nutrient for the plant as it has all the necessary components for a plant to grow.

It is important to do a nutrient analysis of the manure because of the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is not balanced as it is in commercial fertilizers. Because of this, your application of manure for nitrogen benefits may be limited by the amount of phosphorus your land can handle. However, this will still reduce the amount of commercial fertilizer required at time of planting.

Using manure to supply your crop with the nutrients needed for the crop is an efficient and an environmental way to maximize profits and crop yields. Businesses like Bartels Environmental Services Inc. provide these analyses to farmers to help them utilize the manure to its maximum effectiveness for the crops. As they also use GPS (tracking) to apply the manure, Bartels Environmental Services Inc. are fully equipped to help you maximize all the benefits your farm’s manure has to offer.