Environmental Laws Impacting North Carolina Livestock Producers.

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Using a question – answer form, the document goes through all aspects of the U.S.regulations and states regulations having an impact on Iowa livestock producers. At the Federal level, the Clean Water Act (CWA) consider water pollution under two categories: point sources and nonpoint sources. The point sources are regulated by the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) which controls by permit emissions the discharges of pollutants from a point source. Most states administer the NPDES. To the NPDES permits may be added water quality standards specific to a state that are more restrictive; the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) may review the permit emitted and in some cases disapprove it. CWA also enacted several provisions to address the non-point source pollution problems affecting rivers, lakes, and wetlands. The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) requires each state containing coastal zone (coastal areas including the Great Lakes waters) to adopt a management program for those areas. The Clean Air Act (CAA) has currently no application for the odor problems and thus considered as nuisance, they are handled under state common law. Right-to-Farm Laws provide some protection concerning nuisance lawsuits but not for pollution suits in general.

Equipements d'application des lisiers en post-levee.

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A review of all liquid manure spreading systems is made. The tank spreader can be mounted on axles and towed by a tractor or directly mounted on a truck frame. Those spreaders are of two kinds: Vacuum type that can load itself directly and need from 6 to 10 kW of power per cubic meter to operate (cost range from 1 200 to 2 400 CAN$ per cubic meter) and the conventional type that have to be filled from the top and use a rotary pump to empty itself. The conventional spreader needs from 6 to 9 kW per cubic meter to operate and costs from 800 to 1 500 CAN$ per cubic meter. Considering the cost, the conventional spreader is more interesting than the vacuum type. For manure spreading, different systems can be used: broadcast spreading, boom for spreading closer to the ground or boom using drop tubes, injection or incorporation systems. If a boom is used it is important that the flow rate be adjusted to the width of the application surface. Considering only the investment cost, the easy maintenance and use and the power needed, broadcast spreading is the most interesting system. However the application uniformity, the nutrient losses from volatilization and drift and the resulting odour emissions associated with broadcast spreading are the negative points compared to the use of boom spreading and also injection systems. Considering tank manure spreaders, considerations has to be put on the combination spreader/tractor for hydraulic power compatibility, total spreader tank vs. tractor weight and draw bar capacity, proper signs for the spreader and independent braking on the spreader if its total load exceeds the tractor weight. The number of axles or a track system on the spreader has also to be considered in order to lower the compaction induced by field traffic. Continuous application systems have to be considered for large farm that have to spread important volumes of manure. As manure can be pumped on relatively long distances the spreading capacity is generally increased by this technique compared to conventional manure hauling. The irrigation technology with rigid pipes and a reel will be used if manure is applied with an irrigation gun or a wide-span boom with or without dropping tubes. Rigid pipes and a flexible hose is used on equipment mounted on a tractor for boom spreading or injection. The flexible hose present an advantage as the system doesn’t have to follow specific trajectory for spreading however spreading in row crops is not possible which is not the case with the reel technology which used a more rigid pipe. When using a reel, transversal path ways have to be designed in order to move the reel and the boom between each passes. Hybrid systems can also be considered where manure hauling is done by trucks equipped with a tank or by pipes. The manure is then transferred to a temporary storage to feed an irrigation type spreading device or fill manure spreaders.
In order to select the appropriate spreading system for a given farm many aspects have to be considered such as the volume of manure to be spread, the time available for spreading, the soil propensity to compaction, the type of culture in the fields, the acceptable level of nuisances associated with spreading for a given farm, labor availability, the reliability of the system chosen, the accuracy of the application rate and also the uniformity in the rate applied considering lengthwise and widthwise sections of spreading.

Water Management – Best Management Practices.

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General information is given on water and water cycles around the homes, barn and farm buildings, the fields and also the wetlands, watercourses, woodlots, and ponds. The information presented is general and consider all agricultural practices and the best ways to do things in order to maintain good water quality or improve the water quality. Reference to other guides (nutrient management, livestock and poultry waste management) is given for further details has the information presented is more general for all agricultural productions and practices. The use of buffer zones and wetlands are discussed as means to lower nutrients levels in watercourses.

This guide is general and present different practices about water on the farm and rural facilities such as wells and septic systems.

Etude des solutions de rechange a la gestion sous forme liquide des dejections de porcs : rapport final

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Different alternatives to liquid manure management have been evaluated to find the more promising techniques for swine manure under a solid or solid – liquid forms. An evaluation of all the organic material that could be used such as straw, wood chips, saw dust, peat moss, news paper and other plant absorbent material was done. And the potential of those products was considered for their absorbent capacity, their availability and the area where they are available. Different technologies of solid or solid – liquid of manure were also considered in order to select the techniques presenting a good potential for the region where manure is produce in excess. The techniques selected as the most promising ones and also explored further in this project are the deep litter, screw separator and the filtering conveyor under the slatted floor. The deep litter systems is a good alternative however in some areas, the material used would represent a cost which would be higher than conventional manure systems. The depending on the area and the productions surrounding the pig farms, straw or wood products could be used. However variable yields in the cereal production could lead to important price fluctuation also a important demand on the products that could be used for litter would results in higher prices. The screw separation technique is interesting for farms that have to haul their manure on other farms however the technical efficiency of this technology has to be verified as its efficiency is proportional to the dry matter content of the manure and for pigs, it is fairly low (generally under 10%). The filtering conveyor as a high theoretical efficiency that has not been verified on our conditions. The investment costs are around $50 000 for a 2 000 swine building.

This work presents different alternatives to liquid manure systems and wanted to present solution to farmers in areas where manure are produced in excess. As for the deep litter, the amount of available straw, wood chips, saw dust could become a problem in some areas. As for the other techniques, they are presented on the base of their theoretical efficiency but no testing have been done in our conditions.

Livestock and Poultry Waste Management

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Different aspects associated with manure are covered in a general matter within this guide. The manure handling, storage and application systems are discussed for different solid or liquid management practices and for most livestock and poultry units. Environmental aspects as well as safety guidelines are also presented and discussed.

Part of the information given is contained in the Nutrient Management – Best Management Practices. The subject is address in a very general matter and cover most aspect of the manure management chain.

Nutrient Management – Best Management Practices

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The nutrient in agricultural production is presented with the plants’ needs and the supply of those nutrients from manure and slurry and from fertilizer. Best management is presented as the optimal use of nutrient in order to maximize the crop yield, minimize the cost associated to fertilization and lower to a minimum the environmental impacts. Consequences of over supply of nutrients to the plant and soil are presented with the damage done to water courses with the development of aquatic plants and algae with high phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) (nitrate (NO3) and ammonium (NH4)) concentration and in some case to health through water consumption when nitrate concentration exceeding 10 mg/L. The dynamic of the nutrients are well presented with the transport phenomena that can lead to water quality problems (leaching for the NO3 that is very mobile and P that is very immobile and its losses through erosion and particle transport and runoff).

This document provides general information on the nutrient cycle and presents very well the phenomena associated with nutrient uptake by the plants and nutrient leaching or accumulation (depending on the elements) in the soil and environment.

Technique d'analyse de l'etat de structures d'entreposage des fumiers en beton arme et de selection des modes de refection

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This guide is meant to help in the evaluation of concrete manure storage facilities (CMSF) presenting structural and leakage problems. This tool has also been developed to help select the appropriate methods and material needed to repair the tanks. The whole approach is divided in different steps, the first one being the detection, quantification and evaluation of the default or damage of the CMSF. The next step is the determination of the means (method, material) needed to eliminate or reduce the damage of defaults. The final step is to evaluate the economics of such repairs or improvements and to estimate the profitability of such measures. This guide is to be used by engineers that have to find a solution to existing CMSF that present leakage or potential problems.

CMSF are important investment in the manure management chain and leakage problems that happen before the CMSF life is over always cause problems to the farmers. In Quebec many CMSF have been reported as presenting problems and few solutions where available. This guide is an attempt to help deal with the situation and solve problems.

Manure Management Effects on Surface and Groundwater

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Monitoring of surface and groundwater has been done on a two years period on corn fields that have been provided the needed crop nutirents by the injection of swine manure. The injection was done in the fall preceeding corn planting. The three years application rates were 10,000, 11,125 and 8,500 gal/acre for 1992, 1993 and 1994 respectively. In the experimental conditions, the results showed that little water losses occured through surface drainage consequently most of the nutrient loss were observed through tile drainage.The Nitrate-N levels in the tileflow was slightly above the 10 mg/L health level with an average of 13.8 mg/L. However this level was slightly lower than what would be expected from commercially fertilized crop ground. Phosphorus levels measured averaged 0.6 mg/L. The nitrate-N levels that were measured in the shallow water from the manure plots were higher the year after manure application. Overapplying manure resulted in higher nitrate-N levels.

Noise in the countryside

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Water – Forgotten Nutrient and Novel Delivery System.

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Different aspects of the water in swine production are discussed in this article. The water consumption and the wastage and approaches can be taken to minimize the water wastage without lowering the pig performances and/or its welfare. Steps have to be taken to reduce the spillage by the pigs: first by selecting proper drinker design and also by adjusting to the pig drinking behavior and drinker operation. The diet of the animals can also be formulated in order to reduce unnecessary water consumption and be the closer to the animal’s requirements (lower salt content, lower dietary chloride and lower potassium concentrations, lower total nitrogen intake). Elements on water qualityand their effect on the production, water treatment and water medication are also discussed. Liquid feeding systems are also discussed and are presented as being efficient in the reduction of manure volume and improvement in the pig performances.

Different aspects of water utilization are presented and discussed. Water spillage and wastage can contribute to increasing the total volume of manure. Liquid feeding systems can be an avenue to reduce also water consumption however, no reduction are presented and special care has to be taken to these systems as all the feed manutention has to be done through pumps. The maintenance of such systems requires attention.