The two-cell manure storage system consists of a primary cell where many of the solids, which tend to contain most of the phosphorus settle, and a secondary cell which contains a higher water content manure which tends to contain more of the nitrogen.

The Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative (MLMMI) has issued a call for proposals for projects in the area of beneficial management practices for the optimal removal, transportation and land application of nutrients, particularly phosphorus, from two-cell earthen manure storage lagoons on grow-finish operations.

Executive director John Carney said that the objective is to help producers using this system better understand how they can optimise nutrient channelling.

John Carney-Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative:

We're going to generate a rigorous set of data to show the varying phosphorus removal contents under current manure handling practices for producers with a two cell storage, which will be essentially establishing our baseline but then go beyond that to determine what advanced segregation techniques could be used to optimise our ability to segregate phosphorus within those two cells.

MLMMI did a similar project a number of years ago and what we're going to do is build on what was learned on that project and seek to advance the industry's understanding of how to optimize the use of two cell lagoons.

Mr Carney said the knowledge gathered would improve understanding of the nutrient contents of the different manure streams which will help producers, manure applicators and nutrient planners optimise the targeting of nutrients to the fields' requirements.

It will also help reduce volumes of manure that would have to be transported away from farms located in a livestock intensive area, that need to relocate some of the phosphorus.