A mail survey of 1,200 farms across 16 states was conducted to identify the number, type, and size of manure storages per farm, as well as safety-related behaviors or actions related to entry into confined-space manure storage and handling facilities. Respondents provided data on 297 storage units and facilities, with approximately 75% reporting up to three storages per farm operation. Dimensio...

The utilization of dairy wastewater for producing algal biomass is seen as a two-fold opportunity to treat wastewater and produce algae biomass, which can be potentially used for production of biofuels. In animal agriculture system, one of the major waste streams is dairy manure that contains high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. Furthermore, it is produced abundantly in California's dairy in...

the sustainability of farming system (sofs) is considered to be an important principle in a broad concept of sustainable agriculture. variables affecting sofs include alternate crop farming (using nitrogen-fixing plants as alternate crops), utilizing farm animal manure, using plants and crop residues back into the soil system, and utilizing a variety of protective plowing schemes. overuse and p...

A dairy herd submodel was created for integration with other farm submodels to form DAFOSYM, a dairy farm simulation model. The herd submodel determines the best mix of available feeds to meet the fiber, energy, and protein requirements for each of six animal groups. The groups are early-, mid-, late-, and nonlactating cows, heifers over 1 yr old, and younger heifers. Feed intake, milk producti...

Disposal and storage of raw poultry manure has become an environmental problem because of the associated air, water and soil pollution. Poultry manure begins to decompose immediately after excretion giving off ammonia which, in high concentrations, can have adverse effects on the health and productivity of birds as well as the health of the farm workers. Application to land is the most common w...

Beef production is a recognized source of greenhouse gas (GHG) and ammonia (NH(3)) emissions; however, little information exists on the net emissions from beef production systems. A partial life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted using the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) to estimate GHG and NH(3) emissions from representative beef production systems in California. The IFSM is a process-le...

Characterizing labile P forms in animal manure is a challenge due to their susceptibility to hydrolysis. In this study, we enzymatically characterized P forms in dairy manure (no bedding), collected from a representative dairy farm in New York, by separating into soluble and residual components under mild assay conditions using water and sodium acetate buffer (pH 5.0). About 75% of total manure...

Dairy farms comprise a complex landscape of groundwater pollution sources. The objective of our work is to develop a method to quantify nitrate leaching to shallow groundwater from different management units at dairy farms. Total nitrate loads are determined by the sequential calibration of a sub-regional scale and a farm-scale three-dimensional groundwater flow and transport model using observ...

In the European Union, groundwater should contain less than 50 mg of nitrate/L. Individual countries have developed alternative strategies for phosphorus (P). In The Netherlands, regulations based on P limited the amount of manure applied per hectare. A more balanced P supply to the land has been achieved by transport of manure from surplus to deficit regions. Costs of processing of manure to p...

Manure application increases pasture crop production and minimizes manure storage costs. Excess N not absorbed by pasture vegetation can leach past the root zone and into ground water. A yearlong study was conducted on grazing pastures at 2 dairy farms to monitor potential nitrate (NO3) movement from the surface through the soil profile toward ground water. Precipitation, irrigation, manure app...