Applying fall manure: Tools & temps for MN farmers

University of Minnesota Extension manure nutrient management specialist Melissa Wilson talks to the Linder Farm Network about applying fall manure after soil temps have dropped to 50 degrees.

transcript

Linder Farm Network: It’s time for the AFREC Spotlight, the Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council. And joining us, Melissa Wilson, University of Minnesota manure management specialist. Melissa, what recommendations do you have for farmers when it comes to the soil temperatures and manure management?

Melissa Wilson: When it comes to fall application, the cooler the soil, the better. We usually recommend trying to get manure applied after soil temperatures at four to six inches have reached 50 degrees or cooler. That’s coming pretty rapidly here this fall.

But right now, if I pull up a map of the soil temperatures, and this is kind of a cool resource, It’s called the Minnesota Runoff Risk Advisory Forecast, and there’s a couple different things that it does. It looks at runoff risk, but it also has soil temperature depth.

So if you click on the soil temperature six inch tab, it will show you roughly what the soil temperatures are across the state. And so far, we see that the northern portion of the state is probably 40 to 45 degrees. The middle portion of the state is 45 to 50, so those are looking great. This is a great time to apply manure. But the southern third of the state still has some spots that are 50 to 55.

And with the current weather conditions, it’s gonna change here pretty rapidly. So if you can wait just a few more days to get manure on at this point, you’ll be saving yourself some nitrogen for in the spring for sure. Site is manure.umn.edu and they should be able to find a link to the runoff risk advisory forecast as well as, like, best management practices, manure application recommendations, that sort of thing.

LFN: And visit mnSoilFertility.com.