Sometimes it’s easy to spot fields where solid manure has just been spread because of the uneven chunks scattered on the soil surface. However, when M&W Farm Supply applies manure, the soil surface might not look much different. Their spreaders put out an even flow of manure in pieces about the size of a thumbnail.

Tim Wood, sales manager for the manure application business, remembers one customer calling to ask when they were going to apply manure on his land. “I told him that 22 dump trucks said we already did.” The manure was spread so evenly, it wasn’t noticeable when the farmer drove past the field, Wood explains.

M&W makes it a top priority to apply manure precisely, so that farmers get full advantage of the nutrients and environmental problems can be avoided. For many of their customers, they use variable-rate application based on grid or zone soil tests provided by the farmers. Whatever the prescribed rate, the application is even throughout the management zone.

More farmers are asking for variable-rate application every year because they can put their nutrient investment where it is most needed, Wood says. For instance, a farmer might have a budget for 2 tons of manure per acre. With variable-rate application, some areas of the field might get 3 tons and others might get none. “In the end, they won’t have gone over their 2-ton budget, but the manure will have gone where it was needed.”

Going big
M&W Farm Supply handles poultry manure from six farm sites with laying hens and four farm sites with pullets scattered around central Ohio. The business started in 2013 when Brad Mattix approached Trillium Farms about buying manure for the land he was farming in Marion County. “I only wanted 36,000 tons,” he recalls.

But at that time, the poultry farm was looking for someone to manage application of all their manure and asked Mattix if he was interested. He ended up expanding his plans, enlisting Wood to help manage the enterprise, and building a storage building to stockpile manure when weather doesn’t allow for application.

The manure business now includes a staff of 15 full-time employees. They handle about 150,000 tons of manure a year, working with about 350 crop farms in 11 counties in central Ohio. M&W takes care of the sale of the manure to crop farmers and the custom application of the manure on their fields. Then they pay the poultry farm for the manure they have applied.

The application season is generally from mid-September until mid-December and from Mid-April through May, but M&W employees stay busy all year hauling out about 550 tons of manure per day from the poultry barns.

Applying technology
To help keep track of manure applications, Mattix hired a friend who is a specialist in logistics to custom-build a computer program. It allows them to organize application records, weather conditions and soil tests for each application site.

“Every field where we’ve ever applied is in our system,” Wood says. The system also includes “as applied” maps showing the rate applied across each field, and operators can monitor those rates as they go.

The spreaders even have electronic scales to record the weight of each load so they can double-check their application accuracy. With the system in place, there’s not much room for error, Wood says. For instance, for a 300-ton job, they nearly always finish within a ton or two.

Besides application rates, their maps include setbacks required by Ohio’s manure nutrient management regulations. The Tebbe manure spreaders they use are equipped with deflector shields that can be controlled hydraulically from the cab of the tractor.

They allow operators to “paint a line” along the edge of waterways or field borders, Wood says. Without a shield, it can be hard to prevent occasional chunks from being flung beyond the application pattern into setback areas, he adds.

Ongoing challenges
One of the challenges that remains for M&W Farm Supply is managing the dust from manure they get from some of the poultry facilities. In some of the management systems, the fans are run continuously to dry the manure, which helps control flies. However, Mattix explains, they sometimes have to shut down application on windy days because the dust would blow off-site.

Another challenge for the business is getting enough truck drivers to haul manure to fields when weather is good for spreading. A spreader can apply 1,000 tons or more in a day, while one semi can carry about 25 tons per load (less if the manure is dry and fluffy).

“We can’t get it hauled to the field as fast as we can spread it,” Mattix says. And hiring more truck drivers is difficult because demand for drivers is currently so high.

As they look toward the future, Mattix and Wood are concerned new manure application regulations will affect them and their customers, especially those in the western Lake Erie watershed.

Following Ohio’s manure application rules requires good communication with the Ohio Department of Agriculture and careful record keeping, notes Mattix, but they have always made it a priority to comply. As regulators work to improve Lake Erie water quality, he’s hoping they will find ways to limit nutrient runoff without putting excessive restrictions on those who are already doing things right.

“If we don’t figure this out soon, we’re going to have serious restrictions,” he warns.