A survey of the production and use of animal manures in England and Wales. I. Pig manure

Abstract

A survey of manure management practice was undertaken in 1996, by postal questionnaire submitted to a strati®ed sample of egg and broiler producers in England and Wales. Out of a target of 500 laying hen and 500 broiler (chickens produced for meat) production units in the survey sample, 356 (36%) returned questionnaires. The survey provided information on amount and type of manure production, manure storage and land application strategies (timing, techniques and awareness of nutrient content). Within the survey, no attempt was made to differentiate between organic and conventional production systems.About 45% of manure production was estimated to come from layer holdings, 55% from broiler litter. It was estimated that 70% of the national manure production is litter-based and about 30% are droppings collected without litter. Sawdust/shavings are the most popular bedding material, with an average ®nal depth of 100 mm for broilers and 140 mm on litter-based layer units. Commonly, storage is available within housing for at least the length of the cropping cycle (6 weeks in broiler production, or 12 months in deep pit laying houses); around 60% of poultry manure is stored for a period following removal from the house, most commonly for 3-6 months.Overall, autumn was the peak period for manure spreading, with over 40% of laying hen manure and 50% of broiler manure applied at that time. On grassland, spreading was reasonably evenly distributed throughout the year but autumn application was favoured for arable crops, especially before the establishment of cereals and root crops; overall, almost 50% of layer and broiler manure was applied in the autumn. In the survey, up to 10% of manures were claimed to be incorporated within a day of application and about 60% within a week of application, presumably because of concern about odour nuisance. Around 25% of poultry manure was applied by contractors. A high proportion of farmers (c. 40% with layers; c. 60% with broilers) exported manures from their holdings, the proportion removed amounting to almost 90% on these farms.Although evidence elsewhere indicates that farmers make little allowance for manures in planning crop fertilizer inputs, the survey responses suggested that farmers do make an effort to allow for manures but that their con®dence in the advice available to them is lacking, or they may have other technical reasons for not taking advantage of the manurial value.Information provided by the survey is of signi®cant importance to policy makers (e.g. for the construction of environmental emissions inventories), researchers, consultants and farmers.

Analyses of Livestock Production, Waste Storage, and Pathogen Levels and Prevalences in Farm Manures

“…A likely explanation for this apparent contradiction was that most farms do not manage their waste stores as batch operations. In reality, most stores are subject to constant additions of waste (Table 2) (25,26) and, thus, potentially, continual additions of pathogens. Such practices have implications for food safety because there were no significant differences between the pathogen levels in stores containing wastes that were designated 1 to 3 months old and those of 6 to 9 months of age.…”

Are farmers in England equipped to meet the knowledge challenge of sustainable soil management? An analysis of farmer and advisor views

“…A poor knowledge base coupled with lack of experience of complex new technologies and practices has been highlighted as a constraint to more sustainable management of the soil. This has been demonstrated for other knowledge demanding practices which provide soil and environmental benefits such as integrated farming systems (Morris and Winter 1999), reduced tillage (Tebrugge and Bohrnsen 2001;Davies and Finney 2002;Coughenour 2003), managing nutrients in manures (Smith et al 2000(Smith et al , 2001) and organic farming (Burton et al 1999). Concerns expressed in 1970 about farmers' lack of awareness of soil condition when cultivating (MAFF 1970) appear to be still valid (Davies and Finney 2002) while today farmers are reported to have insufficient understanding of the reasons and techniques for soil management (Central Science Laboratory 2004).…”

Agronomist–farmer knowledge encounters: an analysis of knowledge exchange in the context of best management practices in England

“…The knowledge and management richness of BMPs such as integrated crop management (Park et al 1997), conservation tillage (Coughenour 2003), nutrient management (Smith et al 2000) and soil management (Auerswald and Kutilek 1998) has been emphasized. The need for more observation, monitoring and judgment when implementing them, which calls as much upon local or tacit knowledge as scientific knowledge, is also stressed (Kloppenburg 1991;Pretty 1995;Morris and Winter 1999;Tebrugge and Bohrnsen 2001).…”