North Temperate Lakes LTER: Manure Managment in Urbanizing Settings 2003 - 2004

The management of manure in urbanizing settings is a critical issue in the Lake Mendota
watershed. The primary focus of this project was to examine the difficulties faced by
livestock operations when managing manure on field systems that are fragmented by
development. A survey regarding manure management was sent to Dane County, WI farms within
the Lake Mendota watershed. The survey was conducted in two phases; March to May 2003 and
March to May 2004. This dataset and accompanying survey entitled "Manure Management on the
Urban Fringe" is available for users wishing to ascertain animal feeding operation size and
management patterns in the Lake Mendota watershed. The data also include the distance from
animal feeding operations to nearest urban centers via Euclidean (crow flies) and Road
Network distances. Results suggest that exurban developments exert a strong influence on
manure management routines of livestock producers. This influence is very local. Farmers in
an urbanizing setting were more likely to encounter problems during manure hauling when the
fields they were accessing were in close proximity to urban developments, regardless of
their proximity to the urban core. The distances and times required to haul manure between
the farm and the most distant field increased in the last five years. Land rental rates
steadily increased at the same time that lease lengths shortened. Cash grain land tends to
be sparse as livestock producers compete with developers for tracts on which to distribute
manure. Manure brokering is a possible strategy to monitor land availability and coordinate
manure placement between farms Cabot, P. E., S. K. Bowen, and P. J. Nowak. 2004. Manure
management in urbanizing settings. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 59:235-243. The
survey "Manure Management on the Urban Fringe" was developed with assistance from Roger
Schmidt and Charmaine Tryon-Petith with the Integrated Crop and Pest Management Program,
University of Wisconsin-Madison. Number of sites: 83 farms