DISCUSSION 



The Value of Rotovation as a Method of Manure Management 



After three years of experience dealing with tilling and manure 

 management, ! have made the following observations concerning rotovation 

 as a manure management tool . 

 The Use of Tilling f or Drying Manure 



Manure may stay dry without tilling. Tilling manure does not 

 necessarily guarantee that manure will be dry (McKeen and Rooney , 1976), 

 and abstention from tilling does not necessarily guarantee that manure 

 will be wet. During the 2 years that tilling experiments were conducted, 

 manure at the tilling site was very wet. These normally unfavorable 

 conditions were very suitable for our experimental purposes. After 

 tilling experiments had been terminated, a new flock of chickens was 

 housed and the manure the following year was the driest it had been in 

 over 3 years. 



The wet conditions during the first 2 years were attributed to two 

 main factors. First, the summers were unseasonably hot. On one particu- 

 lar day, 50 chickens died as a result of tne heat. Second, in an 

 effort to cool themselves, chickens drank large amounts of water which 

 caused droppings to be semi liquid throughout the spring, summer, and 

 fal 1 . 

 Rotovation as a Management Tool 



Rotovation is not a substitute for good management practices. In- 

 stead, it i s an additional management practice which can be used to dry 



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