State moves to OK emergency manure applying

CELINA - Ohio Department of Agriculture officials are developing a plan to allow livestock producers to apply manure over the winter since the weather in recent months has been especially wet, according to a local ag official.

The annual manure application ban in the distressed 58,000-acre Grand Lake Watershed takes effect Saturday and runs through March 1.

Most Mercer County land is in the Grand Lake Watershed, except for acreage in Blackcreek, Dublin, Union, Center, Hopewell, Liberty and East Jefferson townships, which is in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Most Auglaize County land, except in Goshen Township, is located in the Western Lake Erie Basin. Western Lake Erie Basin livestock producers do not have specific manure-application dates, Mercer County Soil and Water Conservation District Administrator Nicole Hawk said at Thursday morning's board meeting.  

Recognizing the difficult, wet conditions hindering livestock producers from applying manure the last few months, ODA is working on a procedure permitting emergency manure applications under certain conditions, Hawk said.

"However, under Senate Bill 1 there's to be no manure fertilizer application on frozen or snow-covered ground unless there's a growing cover crop in the application field," she added.

"We don't yet know the timeline of any decision on allowing some emergency manure application. These decisions will be made by the administration of ODA," Hawk said.

SWCD employees are working with ODA officials to determine how much manure livestock producers are holding.

"ODA has requested an inventory be completed by Grand Lake livestock producers to determine the extent of the issue," Hawk said, noting that letters and 2018-2019 winter manure storage inventory reports were sent on Monday to 144 producers.

They must be returned to the office by 4:30 p.m. Monday, she said.

"If a producer will need to request permission for emergency application at any point this winter, it's highly recommended and encouraged that he or she completes and submits that inventory form prior to the deadline," Hawk said. "If no form is received it's assumed that the producers have completed all necessary manure application and that they have adequate storage to get through the winter."

ODA Resource Management Specialist Frances Springer also spoke on the matter.

"I encourage anyone, no matter where you're at in the county, if you have a manure storage or land application concerns or challenges to reach out for technical assistance," she said.

Springer said many livestock producers last year were able to apply manure in late October and November because of the cooperative weather.

That's not the case this year.

"So if we consider when they last applied, those manure storages are above a year's capacity right now. We're looking at 14 months of storage in those," Springer said. "I just want people to realize that it's not that we don't have enough manure storage. It's we've had a lot of rain this year and our manure storages are exceeding what we had hoped that they would hold."

Heavy rains in the spring and summer created a perfect storm, district technician Matt Heckler said.

"And then to finish off the year we've had nothing but moisture in the ground and moisture in the air, and conditions haven't been fit to get out," he said. "We should respect the guys for not going out and just putting it out when the conditions aren't fit."

Springer agreed, applauding livestock producers for not applying manure in questionable conditions.

"It's been wet since about Oct. 23," she said.

"We still got crops out there. It's hard to get manure out when you've got crops in the field," Heckler added.

Manure, which contains phosphorus and nitrogen, is more prone to run off into water bodies during rain or snow- and ice- melt events. Though toxic algae - the scourge of waterways - feed on both phosphorus and nitrogen, phosphorus is the algae's favorite food source.

Phosphorus-fed toxic blue-green algal blooms have resulted in state-issued water advisories on Grand Lake every year since 2009 and millions of dollars in lost tourism on the 13,500-acre lake.

Correction:

Most Mercer County land is not located in the distressed 58,000-acre Grand Lake Watershed. The error was made in editing.