Livestock Producers Can Take Steps To Increase Efficiency Of Fall-Applied Nutrients

If you are making a fall application of manure, the chances are high that you can lose a substantial amount of your nitrogen to leaching, denitrification and volatilization, and your phosphorus to lock-up. The hard fact is those nutrients may not be there in sufficient amounts when your next crop is up and growing. Without those nutrients being present for plant uptake, you can anticipate a resulting loss of vigor, growth and, ultimately, yield. 

You can minimize and reduce these nutrient losses by using More Than Manure® (MTM®) Nutrient Manager, a new product offered by SFP. MTM is applied at a rate of 18 oz. per acre in liquid or dry manure systems. 

MTM has no rotation restrictions and is formulated for use in all manures. For liquid manure, MTM can be applied in confinement lagoons or pits, transportation or application equipment, or injected through irrigation pivots. 

Sam McKnight, a producer and custom applicator in Afton, Iowa, was looking for a way to reduce nitrogen losses when he chose to use MTM. “When we apply manure in the fall, it can be six months before the corn is going to use that nitrogen,” McKnight says. “We’ve been losing a lot of nitrogen during wet springs, so we are looking for a way to keep it there so we don’t have to buy additional nitrogen in the spring.” 

According to manufacturer’s research, MTM has been shown to reduce solids and lower ammonia levels in livestock-confinement operations when added to an in-ground pit or lagoon. 

“We’ve had issues in the past with solids in our manure. The solvency of the manure coming out of the MTM treated buildings is significantly different than the untreated, and that’s a positive. I’ve been aware of these types of products for a long time, but I’ve never seen this level of performance,” says Jack Wyttenbach, a farmer in Sauk City, Wisconsin. 

In 2011 corn trials conducted by Innovative Ag Services in Alden, Iowa, fields treated with hog manure yielded 205.1 bushels per acre, while fields treated with hog manure plus MTM yielded 213.6 bushels per acre. In a similar trial conducted by Farmers Cooperative Company in Afton, Iowa, corn treated solely with hog manure yielded 163 bushels per acre. Those fields treated with hog manure and MTM, which was added to a lagoon and agitated prior to application, yielded 176.9 bushels per acre. 

For more information on MTM, visit morethanmanure.com.