Poultry Education, Environmental Module

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Oklahomas Outstanding Water Resources
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Beef Cattle, dairy cattle, and poultry
production provides a major source of nutrients
to streams. US Geological Survey (Water Quality
in the Ozark Plateaus, 1992-95)
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Poultry has brought many benefits to Eastern
Oklahoma

• Improved economy, not just on farm
• Support for the family farm- many could not farm
  otherwise
• Increased soil fertility and productivity

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The value of Poultry Industry

• Direct employment 5337 jobs
• Annual 72.8 million
• Capital investment
• companies 124 million
• producers 256 million
• OSU 1995

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Butwithout good waterWhere would we be?
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Environmental Concerns Associated with Poultry
Litter

• Poultry Litter Management Training
• 1998 - 1999

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What caused the current issue to gain attention?

• Lake Eucha study - Algae growth, taste odor in
  water supply
• Lake Wister Study - Algae growth, taste odor in
  water supply
• Illinois River Studies - recreational impact

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Watersheds

• Everyone lives in a watershed.
• All land use (all activities) in the watershed
  affect water quality.
• What watershed do you live in?

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We all live in a watershed.
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Animal Agriculture and the Environment
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US Geologic Survey study of the Ozarks found

• Higher nutrient concentrations in streams
• Higher bacteria counts in streams
• Higher nitrate concentration in ground water
• Changes in fish community
• Associated with agricultural land use
• (or waste treatment plants)

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Which Animals are the Worst?

• Swine?
• Cows?
• Horses?
• Sheep?
• Chickens?
• Ostriches?

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Which Animals are the Worst?

• Swine?
• Cows?
• Horses?
• Sheep?
• Chickens?
• Ostriches?
• NONE OF THE ABOVE ?

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People are the Worst!

• They pollute the water.
• They pollute the air.
• They damage habitats.
• and most of the pollutants are the same!

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What are the Environmental Concerns of Animal
Agriculture?Particularly the Poultry-Cattle
Combination
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Environmental Concerns

• Air Quality
• Water Quality
• Ecosystem

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Air Quality Concerns

• Odor
• Ammonia
• Germs
• Dust

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Ecosystem and Habitat Concerns

• Destruction of fish habitat
• Destruction of Riparian Areas
• Eutrophication (enrichment) of lakes, rivers, and
  creeks

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Water Quality Concerns

• Organic Matter (BOD)
• Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) in surface water
• Nitrate in ground water
• Germs
• Salts, Arsenic, Copper, Zinc
• Antibiotics and hormones

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BOD of Animal Waste
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Germs in Poultry Manure

• E. coli - intestinal bacteria can cause illness
  or death.
• Salmonella - intestinal bacteria causes food
  poisoning or worse.
• Viruses?

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Other Concerns

• Hormones - Poultry manure (like other manures)
  contains small amounts of estrogen.
• Not much effect on humans
• Effect on ecosystems is uncertain.
• Antibiotics - Bacteria can develop resistance to
  antibiotics (recently documented in Salmonella)

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Ammonia(a form of Nitrogen)

• Kills fish
• Consumes Oxygen (more Oxygen Demand than organic
  matter)
• Is a plant nutrient
• Converts to Nitrate

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Plant Nutrients

• Nitrogen and Phosphorus (fertilizer)
• Cause excessive growth of aquatic plants
  (particularly algae)
• Result moss on the water, taste and odor in
  drinking water, fish kills.

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Where do N P come from? -- where do they go?

• Nutrients come into the watershed every day as
  feed. Less than half goes out in the meat.
• The rest stays behind in the litter.
• We need to keep it out of the water.

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How do litter nutrients get into water?

• Stacking litter without cover
• Runoff from fresh waste application areas
• Runoff from fertilized pastures
• Application to waterways
• Leaching to ground water

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Why do we focus on P?

• Fresh water (especially lakes) are very sensitive
  to P.
• Small additions of P cause a large response from
  algae.
• Background P level is quite low.
• Manures are not balanced fertilizer.
• P-enriched soils cause water pollution.

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Litter vs. Commercial Fertilizer

• One pound of available N or P from manure equals
  one pound from fertilizer.
• Either one can grow grass, and either one can
  pollute the water.
• Any unmanaged fertilizer is a threat to water
  quality.

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Manure is not a balanced fertilizer

• Grass needs 10 parts N to 1 part P.
• Manure has about 1 part P to 1 part N.
• As the N is used up by plants, P is left behind.

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Soil Test-P Buildup in Demo Plots
600
9 tons
500
6 tons
400
fertilizer
Concentration, ppm
300
3 tons
200
Control
100
0
Jun-91
Dec-91
Jul-92
Jan-93
Aug-
Mar-94
Sep-94
Apr-95
93
Date
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Other ways P can get into water

• Erosion of high P soils
• Leaching from high P soils
• Movement by cattle that graze on forage and
  defecate in or near the stream

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Summary of problem areas

• Stacking litter outdoors
• Application to wet or frozen soils
• Application too close to a stream
• P build up in soils
• Erosion of pastureland
• Erosion of stream banks
• Destruction of riparian vegetation

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Research Results

• Rainfall Simulator Studies

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What we learned from rainfall simulator studies

• N and P runoff increases with application rate.
• A grass buffer reduces N and P runoff (very
  significantly!).
• Slope (3 to 15) has only a small effect
  compared to application rate.
• Light rain (without runoff) reduces N and P for
  later rainfall.

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What else we learned

• Grass height has little effect.
• Light tillage or soil aeration has little effect.
• Commercial fertilizer is the same as litter
  (maybe worse!).
• N and P in runoff can be very high!

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Runoff P vs. Litter Application Rate
Concentration, ppm
Application Rate, tons/acre
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Runoff N vs. Litter Application Rate
Concentration, ppm
Application Rate, tons/acre
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Effect of Vegetative Bufferon Phosphate in Runoff
No Buffer
Buffer
Concentration, ppm
Application Rate
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Pollution Control in Buffer Strips

• Dilution
• Deposition
• Infiltration into the soil
• Stabilization
• Denitrification
• Plant uptake

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What happens if we get rainfall without runoff?

• (the greenhouse rainfall simulator)

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Ammonia in runoffcompared to the first event
Percent
Event
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Phosphorus in First Runoff Event
Percent
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P in Runoff from Pastures (6 months after litter
application)
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What does all this mean?

• Base litter application on soil test
  recommendations.
• The higher the application rate, the higher the
  runoff concentration.
• Dont apply to wet soils, frozen soils, or rocky
  areas.
• Dont apply when heavy rain is likely.
• Light rain can move litter into the soil.

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What else it means...

• Summer is a good time to apply litter, after the
  first hay harvest.
• Soil P can increase to very high levels in just 3
  to 5 years, at 3 tons/ac.
• Soils with high soil test P contribute P to
  runoff.
• A vegetative buffer reduces runoff P.
• Applying on a P-basis, supplementing with N
  reduces runoff P.

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The USDA-EPA AFO Strategy

• (AFOs, or Animal Feeding Operations, include
  hogs, chickens, cattle, etc.)
• The strategy establishes a national performance
  expectation that all AFO operators implement
  Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMPs).

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USDA-EPA AFO Strategy expects

• Animal diets and feed to be modified to reduce
  the amount of nutrients in manure.
• Manure to be handled and stored to prevent water
  pollution.
• Land Application of Manure to be managed to
  minimize water quality and public health risk.

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Oklahoma is ahead of the curve!

• We are implementing a more aggressive strategy
  under SB 1170.
• Our program has industry support.
• Our producers are becoming educated.

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Pollution control is becoming part of every day
life.

• We expect
• Automobile industry to have smog control,
  recycling of oil, batteries and tires.
• Cities and towns to have waste treatment plants.
• Homeowners to have septic tanks or sewer
  connections.
• In another generation, our children will assume
  that pollution control was always part of
  agriculture, just like other industries!

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Water
Our most precious Resource