By John Roberts, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets 
Remember, that on the 15th of December any manure in a pit or stack is there to stay, until after April 1st. As many of you will recall 2018 at this time, things didn’t look too bad, crops were being harvested and it seemed there was plenty of time to get the corn off, the manure spread, and the cover crop planted. Then it began to rain, followed in early November by snow, this led to an unprecedented situation of too many pits, too full of manure and nowhere to spread. The Agency received more applications for manure spreading variances than ever before.
What needs to be done this year to prevent that situation arising again, and what may be the causes of such an event (other than weather)?
It is very easy to postpone spreading manure. There is always such an intensity of work to be done at the end of the season that prioritizing can be problematic. Corn chopping is done, or 3rd, 4th or even 5th cutting, satisfaction at getting that completed. The silo is sealed, tires have been lugged on then it’s on with fall cover cropping. That last repair or construction project before winter sets in, even making sure there’s enough firewood. The best conditions for spreading manure are first when it is dry, and second when the temperature is at least above 45’ F, when grass is still growing, soil microbes are still active, and the manure nutrients will be utilized and retained in the field. Of course, pay attention to any required manure spreading setbacks and buffers. If you rely on a custom spreader to do your work, be in communication with them to make sure you’re a priority for them. If the circumstances are such, make sure you have financing available or an agreed plan, to pay the custom operator in a timely fashion. They really appreciate that.
If it looks like you are not going to able to spread all your manure to assure adequate storage capacity to take you through the period of the spreading ban, what are you going to do? Talk to any of your friends and neighbors to see if they might have pit capacity to which you could move some manure. Figure out a possible stacking site that is accessible during the winter months but will not lead to runoff reaching surface water.
Are you short of storage capacity every year? Do your storage resources seem strained? In this case start talking to your local USDA-NRCS office or signing a BMP application with the Agency, to initiate technical assistance to plan to rectify the situation. Perhaps calculate whether all the cows you have are pulling their weight, economically, and maybe cull those who are a drag on the bottom line. A tough problem but a necessary solution.
Finally, if you are caught short and circumstances beyond your control intervene, a significant weather event, for example, reach out to your small, medium or large farm coordinator to discuss possible courses of action.
Let’s plan that this fall’s manure spreading season will be significantly better than the fall of 2018.