Experts’ advice on manure handling

By Sonja Leitner, David Ngome and Daniel Mulat

Animal manure is a valuable resource in the farm as it contains important nutrients that are vital for plant growth. Today there is a growing trend of farmers who do not have livestock in their farms purchasing animal manure from farmers with livestock. This is because animal manure can be used to increase crop yields and improve soil fertility at a cheaper cost compared to synthetic fertilizer. However, if not handled properly, crucial nutrients can be lost in the collection and storage process. Biovision Africa Trust in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) share the following tips on proper manure handling to ensure nutrients are retained for plant use.

Keep your animals in a housing with a roof that allows easy holding and collection of manure

Animal manure contains a solid component – the dung – and a liquid component – the urine. Both dung and urine contain valuable nutrients. Dung can be easily collected when livestock are confined at least some of the time and manure accumulates. However, urine can easily drain into the soil if there is no floor.

House your animals in an enclosure with a roof to protect animals and manure from sun and rain. The housing should have a solid floor that allows urine and dung from the livestock to sit until collected, or to drain into a central collection point

If you cannot have an enclosure with a solid floor, use bedding materials that soak up urine and prevent its loss and hold the dung for easy collection

In all animal housings, both dung and urine should be collected as frequently as possible, ideally once a day, to preserve the nutrients and to keep the area where livestock are kept clean and safe

Properly store manure to avoid nutrient loss through exposure to elements and contamination. Once you have collected manure from the animal enclosure, store it in a way that preserves the nutrients and prevents contamination until the manure is used.

If it is dry enough, manure can be stored by stacking it in a heap and letting it sit, or it can be composted to further improve its value. Heaped manure can be compressed to reduce the loss of nutrients.

Cover the stored manure to protect it from sun and rainfall

If manure is not covered properly, nutrients will be washed away by rainfall or can be destroyed by the sun. You can construct a simple roof over the manure using low cost
and locally available materials.

Another way to protect the manure is by covering it with a plastic sheet or with banana leaves. Any material that prevents the manure from getting wet and protects it from the sun can be used as a covering.

Store your manure on a waterproof surface to prevent nutrient leaching. Roofs and coverings can already reduce the loss of nutrients from manure during storage. But manure that is stored on top of bare soil can still lose nutrients through leaching of urine and water. You can avoid this by constructing a floor beneath the manure heap

Floors should be constructed from solid, waterproof materials that eliminate contact with the soil surface and prevent nutrients from being lost.

A good type of flooring is concrete, since it is very solid and will prevent any leaking of nutrients into the soil. If concrete is too expensive or not practical, you can place a plastic sheet beneath the manure heap. The plastic sheet should be made of sturdy materials and should be free from holes.

Composting of the manure to improve its quality and remove pathogens that cause diseases

In addition to building a roof and waterproof foor, a very good way to improve manure quality and make it safe for use is active composting.

The biggest benefit of composting is the development of heat. A compost heap gets hot on the inside, and this heat kills any dangerous pathogens and bacteria that can
cause animal and human diseases. It also destroys weeds and reduces the need for weeding on the farm later.

Also, during composting beneficial soil microorganisms eat the bulk materials in the manure that are not useful to plants but preserve the valuable nutrients. This makes
the handling of compost much easier.

Composting can be done on any farm, no matter its size. There are two common methods of composting which include; the heap method suitable for areas that receive a lot of rainfall and the pit method, which is good for dry areas.

By applying manure, you will improve your soils, increase yields and save money that would have been used to purchase synthetic fertilizer.

This article has been adopted from the script Simple manure management to retain plant nutrients for farmer training video developed by The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Program for Climate Smart Livestock Systems. For more information visit https://www.ilri.org/programme-for-climate-smart-livestock-systems.