Educating Custom Manure Applicators: An Innovative
Approach to Manure Management Implementation

Kevin A. Erb
Nutrient and Pest Management Specialist, UW-Extension

Mark DeBaker
Wastewater Specialist, WDNR

James Hunt
RDistrict Conservationist, USDA NRCS

Robin Shepard
Water Resources Education Coordinator, UW-Extension

Goal

The success of state and federal programs encouraging dairy producers to install manure storage structures in northeast Wisconsin is creating a significant for-hire, custom manure application industry. An estimated 40% of farmers with storage currently hire custom applicators, and more than 50% of the firms serving northeast Wisconsin have expanded, adding equipment and staff since 1990. Due to the volume-type nature of the industry and seasonal time constraints, water quality concerns and nutrient management was not a factor considered by these firms in 1990. As a result, in some cases the runoff and water quality problems created were greater than if the farmer had continued to daily haul manure.

One of the goals of the USDA-Water Quality Demonstration Project-East River (Northeast Wisconsin) was to convince farmers to adopt nutrient management plans, including manure-spreading restrictions (both rates and locations). After only one manure-spreading season, it quickly became apparent that educating these firms to read and properly implement nutrient management plans was essential to the success of any farmer educational program. Based on individual conversations with landowners, crop consultants and agency representatives, an educational program targeting these haulers was created.

The program's goals were to:

• Make custom applicators aware of the potential negative water quality impacts of their businesses.
• Convince the applicators that they needed to ask dairy farmers if they had a nutrient management plan, and apply manure according to that plan.
• Prove to applicators that there is a business advantage to being able to meet plan requirements.
• Open lines of communication between the parties involved.

This educational effort originally targeted applicators serving one county, but as the applicators cover multiple counties (each with different requirements and expectations of their farmers and the haulers), the focus was expanded to include all applicators serving farmers within a 120 km radius of Green Bay, WI (a majority of the Lake Michigan drainage basin within Wisconsin).

Extension and Education Activities

Several tactics were combined to achieve the desired effect. UW-Extension and DNR staff met one-on-one with applicators to correct problems and recommend improvements in application methods. A workshop created by a neighboring county was expanded regionally to foster open communication between applicators and local agencies. This has now become an annual event, drawing more than 30 applicators and their employees. Educational presentations, including phosphorus/soil interactions, herbicide/manure interactions, human health and runoff prevention, targeting needs specified by the haulers during one-on-one conversations. The Custom Haulers Update, an as-needed quarterly newsletter, was created to keep these businesses informed as regulations changed and to prove that the agencies were a reliable source of valuable information. Two workshops on marketing their services by proving the value of manure nutrients to farmers and by writing nutrient management plans were well attended. NRCS and UW-Extension also offered to calibrate the applicator's equipment at no charge during the first 3 years of the project.

The programs were, and continue to be, a joint effort between UW-Extension (WQDP-East River, later the Nutrient & Pest Management Program), Wisconsin DNR, local county Land Conservation Departments (SWCD s), USDA-NRCS, and local watershed projects.

• Based on informal conversations with applicators during the past eighteen months, the applicators have made significant changes since the educational effort began. These include:
• Average manure application rates fell by more than 33%.
• 80% of the firms with irrigation hose have purchased flow meters, and can fine-tune application rates to within 4% of the planned application.
• >85% of the applicators are asking farmers if they have a plan, with approximately the same percentage asking for maps highlighting high hazard areas on the farm.
• More than 33% now promote their ability to meet nutrient management plans in their promotional literature.
• Applicators are more willing to contact agencies when a problem or concern is encountered.

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