Livestock producers who make winter manure applications must follow required industry guidelines to reduce any pollution risks. Helping them understand the rules is the goal of a public-private partnership that includes Ohio State University Extension.

Letters and educational materials dealing with manure management issues and application regulations are being mailed to livestock producers throughout Ohio. In addition to OSU Extension, the collaborative effort includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Ohio Livestock Coalition, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Soil and Water Conservation, Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

“The collaboration is in response to a rash of calls Soil and Water Conservation District offices and Ohio EPA have been receiving regarding concerns over manure applications on frozen or snow-covered soils,” said Jon Rausch, OSU Extension animal manure management program director. “There’s a greater risk of pollution, such as run-off, with manure applications during freezing/thawing events. Producers need to stay within application guidelines to reduce those risks.”

Many livestock producers apply manure in the winter because their operations do not have enough manure storage to get them through the winter, Rausch said. Producers also take advantage of the availability of labor and equipment, and the reduction of compaction on frozen soils, to apply manure.

“Manure is applied to the soil as a fertilizer and to improve fertility,” Rausch said. “Producers should be applying manure at a rate suitable for plant utilization and not for disposal, especially with the price of commercial fertilizer continuing to increase.”

Manure application on frozen and snow-covered soil is not recommended. However, if application is necessary, based on NRCS Practice Standard 633, all of the following criteria must be met:

• Application rate is limited to 10 wet tons per acre for solid manure more than 50 percent moisture, and five wet tons per acre for manure less than 50 percent moisture. Liquid manure application rate is limited to 5,000 gallons an acre.

• Applications are to be made on land with at least 90 percent residue cover, such as good quality hay or pasture field, all corn grain residue remaining after harvest, all wheat residue remaining after harvest.

• Manure cannot be applied on more than 20 contiguous acres. Contiguous areas are to be separated by a break of at least 200 feet.

• Use areas for manure application that are farthest from streams, ditches, waterways and surface water to prevent run-off.

• Increase the application setback distance to a minimum of 200 feet from all grassland waterways, surface drainage ditches, streams, surface inlets and bodies of water. This distance may need to be increased based upon local conditions.

• Additional winter application criteria apply to slopes of more than 6 percent. Manure should be applied in alternating strips 60 feet to 200 feet wide generally on the contour. Generally, manure should not be applied to cropland sloped more than 15 percent or to pastures sloped more than 20 percent.

Following winter manure application guidelines is important because any pollution violation could result in the loss of the winter application option.

“For many producers, it could become economically challenging for them to find ways to store manure through the winter,” Rausch said. “It’s not worth it to take those kinds of risks, especially when the outcome has the potential of impacting all of animal agriculture by banning winter application in Ohio.”

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