Wisconsin Soil Health Scorecard
The Wisconsin Soil Health Scorecard assesses soil health as a function of soil, plant, animal and water properties identified by farmers. The scorecard is a field tool to monitor and improve soil health based on field experience and a working knowledge of a soil. While the scorecard is best completed near or just following harvest, […]
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Building Soil Organic Matter with Organic Amendments
If you follow practices that build and maintain soil organic matter, especially through the addition of organic amendments, you will improve the quality of your soil, reducing compaction and crusting, and increasing drainage and water holding capacity. Plants will be healthier, may yield more, and will be more tolerant of drought, insects and diseases. You […]
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The Art and Science of Composting
Composting is controlled decomposition, the natural breakdown process of organic residues. Composting transforms raw organic waste materials into biologically stable, humic substances that make excellent soil amendments. Compost is easier to handle than manure and other raw organic materials, stores well and is odor-free. This paper describes the composting process, general guidelines for pile management, […]
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Composted manures offer yield and disease resistance benefits (Research Brief #45)
Composted manures offer promise as beneficial soil amendments for vegetable growers. New research results show that composted manures can increase vegetable yield, influence crop diseases, and bring about changes in soil microbial life. These research findings are from an on-farm collaboration between vegetable growers and research scientists at UW-Madison. The project began with Richard DeWilde […]
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Outwintering dairy cattle: the fate of manure components (Research Brief #35)
Farmers who wish to outwinter their cattle to decrease facility and labor costs can do so in environmentally sound ways. In a study conducted during the winter of 1997-98, manure from outwintered cattle on three Wisconsin dairy farms retained nutrients rather than releasing them to the environment where they could pollute ground or surface water. […]
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Outwintering dairy cattle: manure management issues (Research Brief #28)
The sparkling, frozen world of Wisconsin in winter presents several challenges to its dairy farmers. One of these challenges is how to manage dairy cattle wastes so that nutrients and organic matter are added to fields and pastures instead of streams and water sources. Ed Brick, a civil and environmental engineer, has completed the first […]
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Outwintering dairy cattle: animal health issues (Research Brief #27)
Farmers are finding that dairy cattle are a lot tougher and more resourceful than they have been given credit for. —Ed Brick Can dairy cattle stay healthy and comfortable outside during a Wisconsin winter? The answer appears to be yes, with careful management, according to findings from the first year of a two-year CIAS outwintering […]
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Manure management research from an integrated perspective (Research Brief #24)
Solving complex agricultural problems like how to improve manure management systems requires strong disciplinary research combined with farmers and scientists coming together to apply adaptive, collaborative approaches to problem-solving. And existing institutional and reward structures need to be explored and developed to support long-term, collaborative research. That’s the conclusion of a CIAS-sponsored study, commissioned in […]
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