The producer with a broiler operation in Kosciusko County, Ind., had a problem he wanted to resolve. He was storing manure from his relatively new broiler barn outside on dirt. It was compacted and could hold up to some abuse, but it wasn’t covered, meaning when it rained, the area became sloppy. He also didn’t have an area to compost dead birds, which are a fact of life with a poultry operation.

Enter his local Natural Resources Conservation District personnel, working with Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation District staff and other Indiana Conservation Partnership staff.  He entered into an Environmental Quality Incentives Program agreement. This NRCS-based program provides federal cost-share funding for projects that help make better use of natural resources on the farm.

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Kris Vance, Indiana communications director for NRCS, reports that the manure storage and animal mortality structure was built as part of a longer-term EQIP agreement addressing a number of natural resource concerns. Many EQIP agreements have more than one moving part and last longer than one year.

UNDER ROOF, ON CONCRETE: Here is the facility the operator uses today to store manure and compost dead birds. This facility with a roof on concrete helps preserve nutrient value, reduce runoff, and prevent rutting and a muddy mess at the site.

In this case, Vance says the building with a roof, concrete floor and outside storage was built for manure storage. Part of it is used to compost dead birds. “It allows him to keep the manure in storage until closer to the time that plants need it in the field,” Vance says. “The end goal is that plants better utilize the nutrients. There is less runoff and nutrient loss.”

Other parts of the EQIP agreement in this situation relate to no-tilling, using cover crops, instituting pest management practices and developing a nutrient management plan. The net result is that nutrients from the poultry manure are being better used in a complete system with less potential loss of nutrients to the environment, she concludes.