Improving Manure Management

Improving Manure Management

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

The WSDA’s Dairy Nutrient Management Program recently awarded grants to two projects that aim to improve manure management on dairies in two very different ways. WSDA’s Ginny Prest explains.

PREST: One was for $20 thousand to Whatcom County Conservation District for the waste storage pond evaluation and seepage rate, and then the second was for $14 thousand to WSU Prosser for providing weather information for manure applications in the Yakima Valley.

Prest says that both the projects chosen this year have near term expectations.

PREST: Like providing the weather information - WSU Prosser is going to upgrade their weather stations to include sensors at two inches, and then they’re going to use that information to be able to push out alerts to dairy producers or anybody for that matter that will let them know when that two inch soil level is approaching 32 degrees. That will help them make some decisions about when they’re applying manure. We don’t want it to go on to frozen ground because then it’s available for runoff.

Prest explains the innovative way in which the grants are funded.

PREST: Any penalties that are paid by the dairy producers, whether it’s administrative or environmental non-compliance, are put into an account and they are specified to be used for grants for either education or research.

Prest says that this year when the WSDA put out the actual proposals there was approximately $60 thousand in the account.

Back in a minute.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.