January 2003
Using manure as fertilizer will help dairy farmers prepare for regulatory changes
Keeping records of manure fertilizers will help dairy farmers when EPA regulations go into effect in 2006.(photo by Marco Barzman)
"Revised federal EPA regulations for concentrated farm animal operations will eventually require producers to submit documents showing they are applying manure nutrients at appropriate rates," said Alison Eagle, project coordinator of the Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) dairy project, administered by the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). "We have found that by keeping good records now, farmers can be good stewards of the land, save money, and be ready for the environmental regulations-a real 'win-win' situation."
On Dec. 15 the EPA signed regulations that were open to public comment until last August. They will be published in the public record in January 2003, and final compliance with the regulations will be required by January 2006.
Growers have long known that dairy manure water pumped onto adjacent farmland where corn or winter forage for cow feed is grown contains useful nutrients, but because it hasn't been easy to estimate nitrogen and other plant nutrients in dairy manure water, farmers have added additional commercial fertilizer. But data from the BIFS project and several other UC research projects using flow meters and nitrogen "quick tests" on dairy manure water has made it possible for farmers to measure nutrients in the lagoon water, enabling them to reduce or eliminate use of synthetic fertilizers. The results have been cost savings to the growers and reductions in groundwater contamination from both chemical fertilizer and dairy manure water.
"Participating dairy farmers save money, maintain their yields and reduce groundwater contamination when they use the flow meter and rapid ammonia test we've developed," said Marsha Campbell Mathews, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor from Stanislaus County and principal investigator on a SAREP project on dairy manure management. She is also a cooperator on the dairy BIFS project, headed by UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialists Stu Pettygrove, Deanne Meyer and Dan Putnam.
The BIFS dairy project has been working with 11 dairy farmers since 1999. Many of them are very enthusiastic about results on their dairies, which include cost savings of up to $80 per acre.
"We're saving enough money with the flow meters that it should get the attention of every dairy producer," said Rich Wagner of Wagner Dairy in Escalon, a farmer-participant in the BIFS project.
Wagner said he had always used fertilizer on the corn he planted, but learned during the BIFS project that it wasn't necessary if he added the nitrogen-rich lagoon water.
He noted that the BIFS dairy project encompasses a diverse region, with several soil types and conditions. "There are huge differences in the soils," Wagner said. "Our ground is a lot heavier than other San Joaquin County locations and our water table is a lot lower, but I think the end result is probably the same, using the flow meters."
Dairy farmer and project participant Steve Wilbur of SBS Ag in Tulare was similarly enthusiastic.
"We cut our commercial fertilizer use way back and still managed to maintain our yields," Wilbur said. "My neighbor has begun to do the same thing. I think there has been a transition in the whole dairy industry."
Tom Barcellos of T-Bar Dairy/Barcellos Farms in Porterville noted that his operation has seen positive results from the very beginning of his participation in the BIFS dairy project.
"We tried a test plot," Barcellos said. "We put in water metered right from the beginning that proved really beneficial because that told us what we were doing wrong. We were actually just about drowning the corn in nutrients. Wherever I can manage lagoon water properly with a meter we don't put any commercial fertilizer on at all-we haven't had to put zinc, we haven't put any boron, we haven't basically put any micronutrients either, because there were already enough there, accumulated over the years. This just gave us the opportunity to manage it better."
Jeff Strom of Clauss Dairy Farms in Hilmar said that educating farmers about the benefits of the meters would help them in all regions and with all management styles.
"All dairies are set-up differently-the way they feed their cows, the way they match nutrients, the ground, the irrigation system. So not one way to do something is a fix for everybody," he said. "Everybody's got to be able to have some flexibility and be able to make that work for them."
"It is very exciting to see growers so enthusiastic about this," said Janet C. "Jenny" Broome, SAREP associate director. "Their enthusiasm will help convince other dairy operators throughout the state that using flow meters and monitoring exactly what is leaving their lagoons and going onto forage crops will maintain yields and save them money."
Funding for this BIFS project came from California Assembly Bill 1998 (Helen Thomson, Yolo County) via the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Department of Pesticide Regulation, and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 Agricultural Initiative.
BIFS projects' main components include a team approach to project management involving UC scientists, farmers and consultants, on-farm demonstrations, monitoring of key biological and economic variables, and farmer-to-farmer information exchange.
"The dairy team BIFS project addressed the main environmental challenges faced by Central California dairy operators without compromising their economic viability," said Stu Pettygrove. "By promoting a system that integrates soil fertility, plant nutrition, and pest management decisions, the project has helped reduce excessive nutrients and chemicals moving into aquifers of the San Joaquin Valley."
"Growers participate in the project because they believe that it is an important process, and they can see we can save them money and reduce groundwater contamination," said Deanne Meyer. "It is critical to communicate their successes to other dairy producers. All dairy producers will eventually be subject to a variety of regulations from counties, water districts and other jurisdictions. But all of them will benefit from keeping track of manure nutrient applications-if they start keeping good records of how they manage their fields and lagoons now, it will be a lot easier to fill out the forms that will be required."
For more information on this project or for other BIFS projects, see http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/bifs/
Media Contacts:
Lyra Halprin, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
