Hopefully everyone is giving this month’s Ask Extension question serious thought. As fertilizer prices continue to shoot higher and higher due to global demand and the link to the petroleum price, your manure is worth more than ever.

To learn how much value is in manure on your farm, consider these factors:
• Soil test. This is more critical than ever. Spread your manure on fields that need fertilizing the most and apply to nutrient needs.
• Manure test. When’s the last time you had manure analysis done? Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)-regulated farms need to test manure for their plans, but all livestock farms should have manure analyzed at least twice a year. Dairy One in Ithaca will test manure for $35. It can supply a kit, or you can call your Extension office. To find a sample drop-off site in the region, call Dairy One at 800-496-3344.
• Nitrogen conservation. Incorporation is the key to capturing ammonia in manure. And think about your neighbors – they will look at you more favorably when you incorporate or inject.

Check out the Manure Credit Calculator at the Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program website. It’s a very cool tool that lets you plug in manure analysis and current and past application rates. You earn more nitrogen (N) credit with timely tillage.
See Calculator example

Fertilizer costs can be added in the calculator on a per pound basis. The example calculator sheet shown here is for Aug. 6 when rates for N, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were 45, 58 and 36 cents per pound, respectively. Using a recent manure analysis, the fertilizer value was $45 per acre.

Find the calculator under Software Tools at http://nmsp.css.cornell.edu/nutrient_guidelines/.
If you don’t have Internet access, let me know and I can help you out.

Nancy Glazier, the Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops team’s Small Farms Support Specialist, answered this month’s Ask Extension… question. Contact her at 315-536-5123. Cell: 585-315-7746. Email: nig3@cornell.edu
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