by Glen Arnold

Most of Ohio is very dry, and there is no nearby forecast for substantial rainfall. Livestock producers applying manure to farm fields need to take extra caution to prevent liquid manure following soil cracks to field tile.

Dry wheat stubble fields are notorious for soil cracks. In these instances, tillage is considered the best management practice before liquid manure is applied. Corn and soybean fields will also have more, and larger, soil cracks than typical this fall. If you have tile control structures, they should be closed at the time of manure application.

While livestock producers and commercial manure applicators often inject manure to better capture the nutrients, the extremely dry soils will cause excessive wear on shovels and coulters.

It might be worth considering disking the field in advance and applying the manure on top to get even coverage and rapid absorption. H2Ohio requires the manure to be incorporated to a depth of 2 inches for potential payments, so check with your soil and water conservation district office in advance of manure application.

To make the best use of the nitrogen in manure, apply the manure to a growing crop. Dairy and swine manure can both be used successfully to encourage the emergence of wheat or fall cover crops.

In past years, farmers have applied dairy manure ahead of wheat planting or applied it on top of newly planted wheat. At 12,000 gallons per acre, it can provide moisture to get wheat started.

Swine-finishing manure is higher in nitrogen and can cause germination and emergence issues if incorporated into the field just before wheat planting. Getting the swine manure on a week ahead of wheat planting should help this issue.

If you are applying solid manure, again the best use is with a growing crop, or a crop planted soon afterward to utilize the nutrients. Solid manure tests indicate nutrients per ton of manure.

If you can estimate the tons of manure applied to an acre you can calculate the nutrients applied. The best way to do this is by having a small tarp that is 56 inches by 56 inches. Weigh the tarp empty, then place the tarp in a field and follow your normal manure spreading pattern.

Collect the tarp and weigh it with the manure collected. Each pound of manure collected is equal to 1 ton applied per acre. If you collected 10 pounds, your manure application rate was 10 tons per acre.

Arnold is a certified crop adviser.