Kevin Prevo farms with his family near Bloomfield, Iowa, where they grow corn, soybeans and cereal rye. They also raise 12,000 custom-fed hogs and have a 150 head cow-calf operation. With the time to fertilize his cereal rye fast approaching, Kevin shares his late fall hog manure application strategy. This approach allows him to curb reliance on synthetic off-farm inputs that he’s used in the past.
Manure timing: In late November or early December, Kevin uses a hooded splash bar to apply 1,500 gallons of hog manure to 150-200 acres of rye in 4-ft bands. This is when the “cereal rye is green and growing, just before the rye’s dormancy period,” says Kevin. His banded application provides approximately 70 lb N and 50-60 lb P and K per acre.
Trial and error: Too much nitrogen increases the risk of lodging in cereal rye. At his current rate of 70 units, Kevin has not had lodging issues. For those applying in spring instead of fall, he advises decreasing the N to 60 lbs. In the spring following a fall hog manure application, Kevin has observed more tillering and shoot growth, which he largely attributes to the fall phosphorus.
