Hog manure will almost never crust and generally has a higher odor. There have been many ideas to place a cover or artificially cause a crust to form on a hog manure storage unit, but most have not been used because of the cost. Since odor is more of an issue, these covers are now receiving more attention. By adding a high fiber ingredient to the ration, storage units have been observed to crust. In North Dakota when barley was fed in place of corn, a crust formed on the lagoon and also in the pit in the barn.
More research is needed on changing the ration to control odors.
Tree wind breaks around a lagoon or a storage basin will break up the plume of odor coming from the surface. The trees may also remove some of the particulate from the surface of the waste. Spreading manure on top of the soil either by tankers or irrigation can cause high odors. High trajectory guns with small droplet size are the worst combination for odor. Using less pressure results is largera droplet size and less intense odors.