If you keep livestock, even just one or two, you can play a role in keeping our state’s waters clean. Livestock manure can be great fertilizer, but when it’s exposed to the weather, it also can be a source of water pollution. Water running off manure carries nutrients and bacteria that cause problems when they enter Washington’s waters. Nutrients from manure can promote excessive algae and aquatic plant growth. As the plants decay, they deplete the oxygen that fish and other aquatic life need. Just as manure can pile up quickly, runoff from even small piles of manure can add up to big problems. Many livestock owners may not be aware that manure in their yards and pastures is polluting waters miles away.
For Proper Storage
- Locate barnyards, stockyards, feeding and watering areas well away from surface waters, to prevent runoff from reaching them.
- Use downspouts to direct runoff from buildings away from manure.
- Pile manure and keep it under cover in a convenient site that’s sheltered from heavy winds.
- Pick up manure from farm yards and paddocks at least every 3 days.
- When using a tarp for a cover, use a durable, heavy-weight one large enough to fully cover the pile. Secure it well.
For Proper Disposal
- Apply manure evenly as a fertilizer to pastures, fields and gardens.
- Apply only as much as your crop or pasture can use. Excess manure will wash off into surface waters or leach into groundwater systems. Test soil to determine how much manure to apply
- Till manure evenly into soil whenever possible to maximize nutrient use and minimize runoff.
- Do not apply when soils are frozen or saturated, or when plants will not use the nutrients.
- Leave an adequate buffer strip between manure application sites and surface waters.
Manure Exchange - Contact the following to place material on an exchange site or to list as a give away.
Dispose of as Solid Waste
If you are unable to dispose of the material through land application, composting or through a material exchange program, then for proper disposal, use your self-haul option and take to one of these Solid Waste Transfer Stations: