Do you have a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) for your farm? While it is not mandatory for small to medium sized AFOs to have a NMP, it is a proactive approach to show legislatures that beef producers are taking the best management practices into consideration. To support this initiative, IBA and UI Extension are hosting webinars this winter to assist producers in developing NMP. It is in the Illinois cattle industry’s sustainable interest that every animal feeding operation (whether large CAFO or medium size AFO) have an NMP.

To simplify things, with the assistance of Ted Funk and UI Extension, the IBA will assist producers in developing working NMPs. This working NMP is not as complicated, for example, an NRCS-funded Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan (CNMP) developed by a technical service provider, but it does provide the necessary components required for sustainable manure management. If your operation, regardless of size, does not have an NMP, consider attending one of the up-coming NMP webinar workshops. The goal of the webinars is to help you develop a tailor-made NMP for your operation, and to give you the tools to manage and organize the plan as efficiently as possible.