What Pepper has learned is that when he spreads 7 tons per acre of his hogs' manure on the land he farms, he nearly meets the nutrient requirements for corn. Pepper also learned that he improves his stands by applying the manure in the fall. Crewell noted that the closer to the time of planting the manure is applied, the more problems producers are likely to encounter. Application of manure on wet soils in the spring can cause compaction problems that can affect plant stands. In addition, manure applied at reasonable rates, such as 7 tons per acre, may cause difficulty with good seed placement in the soil as the planter goes through the surface applied manure.
Pepper applies manure solids with a small box spreader.
After analyzing the nutrient content, Creswell helped him calibrate his spreader. The message, he said, is that it's easy to put nutrient information to work. While Pepper contributed to the nutrient management workshop by hosting a research plot, he gained information, as well. When I wrote the plan I found that we were already doing a pretty good job. But I also found that it helped in the area of fine-tuning what we're doing.