Swine Effluent as Natural Fertilizer Alternative
Welcome to SUNUP. I'm Clinton Griffiths. This morning, I hope you brought your rubber boots. Today we're talking effluent. Oklahoma State has a team of researchers studying the effects of swine and beef effluent for nearly a decade now. Their goal is find out if this watery waste can be used safely and effectively as a fertilizer alternative. So grab your hip waders and join us as we start in the panhandle.

Jeff, it looks like you have a big stand of sunflowers here, but it's part of bigger research in the panhandle.

We've been looking at using swine effluent and other waste products like beef manure in this semi arid region of the united states. About 10, 12 years ago we saw an increase of swine production in this part of the country, and so with that, since it was a high concentration of production, there was not a lot of management practice, so what we wanted to look at is what the impact of using swine effluent in the production process would be for producers.

How have you gone about doing that?

We set up some trials that would be long-term in nature, so we've got several projects out here going for about ten years. This particular rotation year looking at a corn-wheat-sunflower rotation that's a no-till production system. With that we're incorporating and comparing the use of swine effluent as our nitrogen source with commercial fertilizer.

What kind of rates are you looking at, and what are you seeing as far as results go?

What we did is we're looking at standard rate for out here, what would have been considered a standard rate and 2 x rate on that and also comparing where we got tillage, tillage pass in here in addition to no-till, and so what we're finding is by using this, we're able to -- using that production system we're able to maintain our yields where we want in the production system but at the same time we're having a lot of benefits when we're looking at increases in organic matter content, soil quality factors and things like that. It's mr. Bennett: official from tha -- it's been very beneficial from that standpoint. One of the things we found from the swine effluent is most of the nitrogen is in the ammonia form, excuse me, ammonium form and we need to treat it like we would anhydrous or urea, for example. In this part of the united states, in these soils with drying conditions, lots of warm days with evaporation taking place, we can lose a lot of the nitrogen if we're not careful. If we learn that to manage, our anhydrous, this time we're putting it out with our effluent, we can have an excellent source of nitrogen for the crops. We have some drip irrigation. We've got another study going on where we install a subsurface drip irrigation system to maximize our utilization in this production system.

All right. Let's go check it out.

All right.

Drip Irrigation Systems & Incorporating Effluent
Mike, here at the Goodwell research center you're studying on you effluent can help with your crop production. Can you tell us about that?

We started looking at this several years ago, how to use effluent for nutrient in our crop production with a drip irrigation system and there are challenges associated with that but we've managed to keep it going for four or five years now, and we've had some, I think, interesting results with it.

What kind of equipment do you guys have to use to put this system in place?

First of all, we have to plow the drip tape, this product here, into the ground. It's buried about 14 inches deep and it's between every other crop row, so each row of tape irrigates two rows of the plants. We had to tie it all together back to the water shores, and that's one thing to keep in mind, is effluent's only a small part of what actually goes through this. We put on typically about an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half of effluent every season and we're putting on maybe 12 inches of fresh water irrigation from the ogalala aquifer as well. When we run it through the water and the effluent through this product it has to be filtered because the emitters in the product have very small openings whereas sprinklers are probably putting on several gallons of water per minute through each device. This puts on a fraction of a gallon per hour, so we have to make sure all the particles are removed from it.

How does that monitor that? The water comes through here, and what happens?

The water comes through here, and we have this little device here, the emitter, that actually dissipates all the pressure. The pressure inside this pipe is going to be about 10 psi, and then it comes out this opening here. You can see this small, little flap that acts like a check valve so soil particles and plant roots can't get back inside the emitter, but when it's under pressure, water trickles out of here, and this particular emitter, about four-tenths of a gallon of water per hour. We run the drip system five days a week for about three hours, and it depends -- we have four different rates on each of these plots but we put on anywhere from about 15-hundredths of an inch of water her day up to 25-hundredths of an inch per day, about a quarter of an inch.

The effluent is seasonal?

We just do that at specific points through the first part of the season just to meet the nutrient needs of the crop. Typically we put on 500 applications on each plot. Each plot is about eighth-tenths of an acre, and that will meet the nutrient needs of the crop. We only put on about as much nitrogen and phosphorous as the crop will remove each season.

All right. What have you guys found? You guys, what, soybeans and corn out here. What kind of results have you had?

We've been doing a bean-corn rotation. This is our fourth year. Last year our corn plots, not having any commercial fertilizer for three years, just nutrients from effluent, and we put infuric acid through the fresh water to make sure we don't have build-up on the emitters, on the high rate of irrigation we got 187 bushels per acre and the low rate we got 145 bushels per acre of corn. The beans have been a little more problematic because of the cool weather early on in the season. We haven't got as good of results as we'd like with them. But the corn, I think we've been able to prove that we can sustain this without using commercial fertilizer.

What do you guys see for your future out here?

We'd like to show that this is a system that is sustainable and it's also economically competitive with other forms of irrigation. If you look at the nutrient utilization and the improved water use efficiency, the up-front cost of this system is about twice as much, 2-1/2 times as much as a center pivot irrigation system acre for acre but if we can use a little bit less energy, get more efficient use of the water, we can make more efficient use of a resource like swine effluent for fertility source, maybe over the 20-year life of the product, we can make it pay. That's what we hoped to demonstrate.

Thank you for your time today.

Okay.

Applying Effluent to Your Crops as Fertilizer
So, Jeff, looks like producers out here may not have a drip irrigation system. What other way can we apply the swine effluent?

One of the ways in the Oklahoma panhandle is to incorporate the effluent into the existing center pivots or lateral move systems like we see here. Those producers can tie in their effluent application with the existing equipment. They can get that nitrogen out through this system. It's an effective way to use the waste product to get it out of the lagoons that they have to do on a frequent basis but also it's a great supplement for the fertilizer needs for the particular crop.

Okay. Now, is there anything they need to know about how to put it down or how close to the plant it needs to be?

One of the keys is that they need to get the effluent and the water in contact with the ground as quickly as possible and get that into the ground before the nitrogen's lost. We found that in Oklahoma conditions where we have soils that have high ph, we've got drying conditions, we've got windy conditions, it's -- we can lose 75 percent of the nitrogen after it's applied if we don't get it in the soil quick enough. Now, the surprising thing is as much as 90 percent of the 75 -- so 65 percent of the nitrogen can be lost within the first 24 hours after application, so having that nitrogen enter the soil as quickly as possible is key to maximizing the fertilizer use of that product.

Getting the most out of it. Another aspect you talked about earlier was this looking at swine versus beef, and what did you see there?

We found that when we look at the nitrogen content, the plants can utilize that nitrogen, whether it's from the beef make sure, from swine effluent or from our commercial fertilizer equally if we can get it in the soil. As long as we look at the recommendation, we follow our soil test guidelines and we follow the normal or the recommended rates of nitrogen, we'll get the equal amount of benefit from all products.

All right. Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate you showing us around.

All right. Thanks a lot.

Cow-Calf Corner
We estimate that about 20 percent of the gross income of any cow-calf operation comes from cull cows and cull bulls. At this time of the year when we commonly do cull those spring calving cows, it's important to know what the market value of those cows is going to be because that enters into our decision as to whether we're going to keep those cows a little bit longer and perhaps put more flesh and weight on them. As you look at the market news reports, you'll notice cull cows come in four different grades. Usda grades them as breakers, those are the very fleshy cows in the one through nine body scoring condition, we expect them to be sevens, eights or nines. Very fat cows. The boning utility or boehner cows are in the score of five through seven, pretty average body condition for commercial beef cows. The thinner cows fall in the categories of leans and lights. The leans being those normal size cows that are really quite thin in body condition. The lights being those that are not only very thin but they're also very small cows. And you'll notice some of the biggest price differentials come between the lights and the leans and also between the leans and the boning utilities. Take a good look at these pricing structures of cull cows before you make your decision as to when and how you're going to market cull cows this year. Hey, we'll visit with you again next week on SUNUP's Cow-Calf Corner.

Market Monitor
Corn and soybean harvest are all behind schedule and we see a 40-cent jump in wheat prices. Here to talk to us about this is Kim Anderson. Thanks for being here. Let's start talking about corn and soybeans. How is the market reacting to the delay in harvest?

I don't think the market itself is reacting very much. The analysts are evaluating alan dale did a study and they looked at corn over the last 15 years and there was no significant impact on yields. Bean prices have increased a buck and a quarter and so they're looking for some reason for the prices to have increased but I don't think you're going to see it in the delayed harvest, at least not yet.

What about the other side of the coin, wheat plantings for next year, the delay there?

Well, again, there is talk about the delayed harvest, but looking back over the last few months, USDA reports every report that come out, they increased the ending stocks, increased the production numbers, so I don't -- again, the market is watching closely the delay in the plantings, and the biggest delays in the winter wheat areas, wheat following soybeans is not getting harvested, but, again, I don't think that's the big factor driving prices, and I don't think most analysts believe that either.

So it's not a delayed harvest. If it's not delayed plantings, it's got to be the weak dollar.

That's the other thing you're reading a lot about, is the decline in the dollar, and if you'll go back to September, you know, actually go back to May and June and the dollar has declined about five points, and during that time we had a two-dollar decline in wheat price. You had a decline in soybeans and corn prices. Over the last three weeks or so the dollar's declined another two points and wheat prices have went up 90 cents. So I don't think you can get the association there.

Is there anything you see out there as a possible link?

I think the link that I'm reading from most analysts, the hedge funds and index funds. You look at corn, they're about 300 and 400 million bushels of corn. They bought substantial amounts of beans and wheat. Gold, 150-dollar increase, oil, 114-dollar a barrel increase. I think the funds are looking to commodities for a place to invest money as a safe-haven against the inflationary fierce.

Kim Anderson, thanks for being here as always, grain marketing specialist.

AGWEATHER
Hi. I'm Al Sutherland with your Mesonet AGWEATHER report. We're transition from his those hot summer temperatures to the cooler temps of winter and we can see that in our first map. This is a map of soil temperatures, a three-day average for 4 inches under bare soil conditions. We can see how the northeast is really starting to cool off, dropping down into the mid 50s. We come back across the state towards the southwest, and we get into those mid 60s. We're going to see the temperatures just continue to fall off as we move along. One of the things we hope for each winter is enough rain to really soak up our soil good and be there available for spring, and we can see already that at 24 inches the east side of the state has good soil moisture in those dark greens. As we move out to the west, we've got the areas down in the southwest, up near woodward and in the far panhandle that we hope get impacted from some recent rains. Here's cindy morgan to talk about our freeze dates and to look at November.

Thanks, Al. We're halfway through fall now, and so far parts of north western and far north central Oklahoma have already dipped below the freezing mark, but the rest of the state has yet to see it. On average the first freeze happens during the last half of October for northern sections and the first week of November for the southern half of the state. Looking ahead to the November forecast, there is a slight chance of above-normal temperatures in northwestern and north central Oklahoma and a slight chance of below-normal temperatures across far southern Oklahoma. As for precipitation, there is equal chances of above, below or just normal values for the entire state. With November only a week away, we can't forget to remind everybody about the upcoming national weather festival. This year's festival will be saturday, November 7, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the nationally weather center in norman, Oklahoma. This event is perfect for people of all ages and includes a storm chaser car show, weather balloon launches and tons of kids' activities. It's a lot of fun, and al and I hope to see you there. That's all we have for this week's Mesonet AGWEATHER report. We look forward to seeing you next wheat.

Livestock Marketing with Derrell Peel
Fall weather is here and a lot of producers looking to taking the calves to the market. How is the market holding up right now?

We've seen the calf prices drop, cattle feeder prices in general fall in september and the first half of October. We didn't see the wheat pasture demand for cattle develop quite as fast as we thought so that's allowed the prices to sink a little bit. I think they've bottom and and will stabilize. Fairly large numbers coming for the next month or so but at the same time we'll see additional demand for cattle to go out on wheat. That will probably offset and looking for prices to be steady and perhaps slightly higher.

What kind of prices?

Five-weight calves jump back up a little bit, 1.13 to 1.15 range right now.

A lot of producers still looking at their herds and trying to make management decisions going into the winter. Cull cows, are we still seeing the same issue, low prices?

Fall of the year, pronounced seasonal low in the first part of November for cull cows, so most years there is an opportunity to think about feeding those cows. This year even more so. Prices have been weak since summer. There is a lot of pressure in the markets due to some meat industry issues, meat supplies that are affecting processing beef markets. And also, of course, we've got the added pressure right now of some additional dairy cow buy-out, dairy cow culling through the latest buy-out. That will be coming in in November as well. Producers ought to evaluate the potential they might have for hanging onto these cows, putting additional weight back on them through the rest of the year and into the first part of next year.

Talking about meat markets, we've been fighting a recession all year. Are we still working our way through that?

Still are. Again, we see lots of general signs that the economy has probably bottomed, beginning to stabilize and recover a bit. So far that hasn't translated into a lot of help in the beef industry yet. Competing meats are offseting some of that right now. We have seen some signs for the fourth quarter of the year that maybe we've bottomed out, probably stabilized and we shouldn't -- we probably won't go up a lot but we should stabilize and increase slightly toward the end of the year.

Thanks for being here, and hopefully people will be watching real close how the holiday season shapes up.

The Benefits of Effluent and Poultry Litter as Fertilizer
In Oklahoma if we're putting down an acre inch of effluent we're putting down from 150 to 200 pounds of nitrogen.

It's that nitrogen content that can make swine effluent a cost-effective and highly effective fertilizer.

It's a different thing to put it on the ground and to incorporate the nitrogen into the sale.

90 percent of that nitrogen, there is a potential for it to be lost in the atmosphere through ammonia I don't volatility.

Important to this process is understanding how and when to apply the effluent.

Applying it to the crop minimizes the wind speed losing the effluent. If you apply it in the evening hours the wind doesn't below as much and the humidity is higher, you can reduce your ammonia loss.

Swine effluent isn't the only animal waste product that is useful as a fertilizer. Poultry waste is used, too. Producers must again be mindful in application to make the most nitrogen available to their crops fifrjts --

If it's applied to cultivated land, we can rapidly apply that within 24 hours and loss can be minimized.

You're talking about you're going to till this in?

Yeah.

We're talking about a solid versus liquid?

With the liquid swine effluent it would be difficult to get out there within 24 hours after application because you've just irrigated and it's difficult to cultivate after a rainfall event, but with this you can apply almost immediately depending on our production capabilities, so that can minimize ammonia loss from a cultivated system. Ammonia loss from poultry litters is primarily in a no-till or grassland system where you're planting to the surface.

Maybe not the best idea in those situations?

Well, it's a give and take because if you're applying it to grassland, then that's your production system, but you have to take into account that ammonia loss as a part of that production system.

Thanks again.

No problem.

Fertilizer Interactions with Soil Organisms
For centuries animal manure has been used as an organic fertilizer. What you may not know is that it also has a major impact on all the tiny organisms living in the ground. We stopped by to visit Shiping Deng to learn about what's living below the soil.

It is diverse. In each teaspoon of soil there are as many as one billion?

One billion?

Bacteria alone.

You are saying there are one billion bacteria in that teaspoon?

It ranges from 100 million to a billion.

All of the bacteria have an important job to do.

Since they're very diverse, the waste product can be the best food source for the next group. Therefore, they can process waste for us. The chain forms from organic to inorganic. What we have been finding is we have been taking soil samples from fields that have been applying manure for a long time compared to the ones that have not been applying make sure and look at micro organic communities and diversity.

Through their research they find the ecosystem is boosted but there are concerns.

If you have a lot of animal make sure added to the soil and excess sulfurs could be leaching in transport to add adjacent bodies.

Deng hopes through future research we'll learn more about what these small organisms can do for agricultural production.

The idea is if we can find organisms that specially induced by manure application, actually a lot of applications. For example, in the soils that have nothing applied manure, maybe we add the organisms in the place of fertilizers with sulfurs. Might be able to make sulfurs more available for plant uptake.

It's a benefit for the crops and a great way to use what is now a by-product for the animal industry