Winter is upon us, and that means winter manure-spreading regulations are going into effect.

Not all states have the same regulations. Some states ban winter manure spreading outright, while others allow it under certain conditions.

Read up on the winter manure-spreading regulations for your state:

Connecticut. There is no winter manure spreading ban.

Delaware. The ban is in effect from Dec. 7 to Feb. 15. Liming, free of nitrogen or phosphorus, is permitted. Outside of that time frame, applying nitrogen or phosphorus fertilizers is prohibited if the surface area is covered by snow or frozen.

Maine. The ban is in effect from Dec. 1 to March 15. You may be eligible for an exemption. Read more here.

Maryland. The ban is in effect from Dec. 16 to March 1. Farmers may resume spreading March 1 based on their nutrient management plan recommendations, and as long as fields are not saturated, snow-covered or hard-frozen. 

The department is authorized to work with farmers to prevent overflows from storage structures to minimize effects on water quality. In these instances, farmers must contact the Nutrient Management Program for emergency authorization before spreading occurs. 

Temporary field-stockpiling of “stackable” poultry litter and other qualifying organic nutrient sources is allowed if the moisture content is 60% or less. Farmers may not apply stackable organic nutrient sources to fields in winter under any conditions. 

For more information, visit the department’s Nutrient Management Program website. 

Massachusetts. There is no winter spreading ban. However, the Department of Food and Agriculture offers these recommendations:

Michigan. There is no winter manure ban, but the following guidelines should be followed:

In either situation, provisions must be made to control runoff and erosion with soil and water conservation practices, such as vegetative buffer strips between surface waters and soils where manure is applied.

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are banned from winter-applying manure for the first three months of the year, unless the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is notified and along with these stipulations:

New Hampshire. There is no official ban, but the Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food recommends farmers not apply nutrients during winter when ground is frozen or snow-covered because of the high risk of runoff.

New York. There is no official ban. However, there are guidelines pertaining to CAFOs that must be followed. There are no specific regulations for farms outside the CAFO permit program related directly to winter manure spreading, but under the state’s Environmental Conservation Law, farms are not allowed to create a water quality violation. 

Ohio. Ohio has adopted the Natural Resources Conservation Service 590 code revised in 2000 for the entire state, with the exception of the Grand Lake St Marys watershed. In the GLSM watershed, there is a winter ban on manure application, regardless of farm size, from Dec. 15 to March 1.

In the remainder of the state, permitted farms are not allowed to apply manure in the winter unless it is an extreme emergency, and then movement to other suitable storage is usually the selected alternative.

For non-permitted operations, if the manure can be incorporated at application time, or incorporated with 24 hours after application, frozen ground application is allowed. The old rules allowing manure application in the Western Lake Erie Basin are now assumed to be overruled by the revised 590 standards.

Winter manure application standards limit solid manure application amounts to 5 tons per acre and liquid manure application amounts to 5,000 gallons per acre. These have 200-foot setback distances from ditches, streams and creeks and must be on slopes of less than 6% and less than 20-acre areas in size without additional buffers.  

Pennsylvania. Manure spreading is discouraged between Dec. 15 and Feb. 28, any time the ground is snow-covered, or if the soil is frozen 4 inches or deeper. The following guidelines are for farms operating under a Manure Management Plan. Concentrated animal operations or CAFOs should consult their nutrient application plan:

Vermont. The ban is in effect from Dec. 15 to April 1. An exemption may be considered for emergency situations only, such as structural failure of a waste storage facility. If a farmer anticipates having an issue before or during the ban, call Nate Sands for assistance with planning winter manure management at 802-224-6850.