Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship advised that soil temperatures have risen to the point that the restriction for the application of nutrients to agricultural land has been lifted effective from 1 April.

Doug Redekop, the president of La Broquerie-based Precision Pumping, said that the first default is to put manure down in the spring just prior to planting, however the bulk of the manure is applied in the fall.

Doug Redekop-Precision Pumping:

If I go back to my hog development days and we were looking at cost recovery for manure, we were able to charge in the neighbourhood of about 60 per cent of the nitrogen value, with the balance of the nutrients coming along for the ride so to speak, including the application.

The biggest bang for the buck for manure is definitely where the livestock owner owns the land that the manure is applied onto and therefore reaps all of the benefits of the manures going onto his property.

I can't really comment on the efficiency or the cost comparison between commercial fertiliser and manure.

However what I will say is when you take a look at the benefits of the commercial fertiliser would definitely be the balance of nutrients, that you basically get what you pay for.

You know exactly what the spec is that you've ordered and is being applied, so there's a little more precision when it comes to the balance of nutrients going onto the land in comparison to manure.

Redekop said that his company has typically seen anywhere from 15 to 20 per cent of its work being completed in the spring prior to seeding, about 40 per cent post seeding onto grassland and alfalfa and the balance completed after the crops start to come off in early to mid-August.