MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Commissioners attended the annual Knox Soil & Water Conservation District tour Thursday. The highlight of the tour was a stop at the new James McDonald chicken operation on Wooster Road near Paige Road.
The purpose of the stop was to highlight the SWCD’s nutrient management service. The McDonald operation is one of the service’s latest projects. Manure testing is conducted to determine its nutrient content which helps to promote proper nutrient application to fields. Over-application of manure can lead to water quality problems resulting in a nearby stream.
“The local SWCD provides a comprehensive planning service for any livestock owner in the county that comes to us and requests that service,” said Rob Clendening, district program administrator. “It might be a poultry operation, it might be one of the local dairies, or it might be one of the swine contract feeding operations we have around the county.”
McDonald had previously served on the SWCD board. When he decided to start the chicken raising operation he went to the SWCD to help him come up with a plan for management of the manure output.
“So we sat down with Jim and started going through the planning process with him for that,” Clendening said. “There is now an approved plan for Jim’s nutrient management on file with the Soil and Water Conservation District.”
The SWCD looks at producer’s livestock operation and what they plan to do with it as a basis for formulating a plan.
“We look at what kind of bedding they use,” Clendening explained. “We look at whether they are using straw or saw dust for bedding. We look at what kind of livestock they have and what they expect in the way of manure production.”
“We use sawdust here,” McDonald explained. “It’s lighter and easier to handle. Because it’s drier, though it’s a little harder to spread.”
Other factors examined include land resources. They look at what kind of cropland the manure can be spread on and how much will be used. Soil test levels for existing nutrients and what kinds of crops are planned for the land are also taken into account.
“We basically grow wheat grass here,” McDonald explained. “So we don’t have much erosion.”
Manure storage is also looked at in formulating the plan. The type of manure storage structure needed depends upon your livestock operation, animal waste management system and planned field application. Types of storage include earthen storage pond, above or below ground tank or a pit underneath a confinement facility. Manure can be pumped, scraped and hauled, pushed or flushed into the storage facility.
Plans for export of material are part of the overall plan. Producers more and more are using manure as fertilizer, based on soil test results. Sometimes a producer will need more than the operation produces. In other cases, depending on the nutrient used, manure may be exported or sold to other farmers in the area.
McDonald had expressed his desire to start the chicken operation, in part, because of the manure it would produce. McDonald runs a small dairy operation across the road and wanted to have the extra manure for that operation.
Clendening said the Nutrient Management Service was open to anyone in the county with any kind of livestock operation and that participation in the plan was voluntary.
Other stops on the tour included a stop at the farm of Gary Curry on Sycamore Road. The group looked at two different grass waterways Curry had constructed. They also saw a precast concrete grade stabilization structure made by United Precast Inc. The second stop on the tour was a storm water retrofit the county commissioners had completed in an area behind the county jail. The two detention ponds there brought the site into compliance with the storm water management regulations.
The final stop on the tour was at Dan Emmett Elementary School. Amy Seward, the education coordinator with Mount Vernon City Schools showed the tour group an activity she was preparing to give to a class. The activity involved a stream table which simulates the activity of a stream within a flood plain.
Clendening said the SWCD has been giving this tour to local elected officials for more than 20 years.
“The elected officials we work with don’t always get a chance to see first-hand the conservation projects we have going on in the county,” he explained. “They may not know the individuals we are working with in any individual year. It’s an opportunity to acquaint them with the work we are doing and what the landowners are doing.”
