Due to the chronic heavy rainfall in North Carolina in recent months, many animal waste lagoons are at or near their freeboard limits. Many animal operations have met the nutrient based waste application limits on their winter overseeded crops due to volume of waste water applied.

At this time, the Division of Water Resources (DWR) will allow the application window for Bermudagrass to begin for all North Carolina counties. The following conditions apply to this early application window. Please be sure to follow all of these conditions in order to avoid a violation of your Animal Waste Permit:

1. The owner on the animal operation must have the Waste Utilization Plan (WUP) amended by a technical specialist to reflect the extended application window. The owner must keep this temporary amendment with the WUP for review during the farm’s annual inspection.

2. The application of waste during the entire crop window, including the early application period, shall not exceed the specified PAN rates for each field.

3. The early application window is valid for this year only. For any questions related to this extension and how it may apply, please call Christine Lawson, Animal Feeding Operations Program Manager at (919)807-6354.

Information obtained in this article was from a memo written by Christine Lawson of the NCDA Division of Water Resources.

Reminder: There is a $4 fee per sample for all soil samples during the peak season dates (through March 31, 2016). There will not be a fee from April through November.

Upcoming meeting: Initial Animal Waste Management System Operator Certification Training on Thursday, April 21 – 9:30 am to 4 p.m. and Friday April 22 – 10 am until pm.

Registration required by April 8. To register and for more information, call 910-592-7161.

This article submitted by Max Knowles, an Extension Agent specializing in livestock with the Sampson County Cooperative Extension Center.

By Max Knowles

Contributing columnist

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