Recipient Organization
TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY - TIAER
201 Saint Felix Street
STEPHENVILLE,TX 76402
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Manure management continues to be a major hurdle for the majority of confined livestock facilities and even some pasture-based operations. A major reason for this is that as a byproduct of production processes, manure handling and utilization can be a costly process with limited financial benefit to the producer. This project will develop, analyze and synthesize data on economically viable manure byproducts that can be beneficial to a wide variety of livestock operations, including dairy, beef, poultry, and hog operations. The byproducts will provide alternative income streams while mitigating environmental pressures that currently hinder these operations. The proposed multidisciplinary integrated project will build upon previous and ongoing efforts of Tarleton faculty and also enhance their ability to generate high-quality actionable research that will position them to contribute to agricultural research needs, while they collaborate with major land-grant research institutions such as Texas AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension.The proposed project will combine technical and research expertise in Agribusiness (M), Animal Sciences (A), and Environmental Sciences/Management (L), to identify and promote innovative value-added products that can be generated cost-effectively from livestock manure in order to enhance the economic viability of confined animal feeding operations. The outcome of the project has substantial potential for economic benefits to livestock producers and environmental benefits to watersheds across the nation, chiefly those that are impacted by high concentrations of livestock manure.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of the project is to develop Tarleton faculty and student research capacity for enhancing environmental sustainability while providing data that will enhance the viability of managing manure on livestock operations across the nation. This overall goal will be achieved through the following objectives:Objective 1:To identify appropriate value-added manure products for each major type of livestock operations.Objective 2: To establish baseline manure management practices for each major type of livestock operation.Objective 3: To simulate economic and edge-of-field impacts of each value-added product as compared to baseline management.Objective 4: To demonstrate the benefits of selected biochar products for dairy producers in north central Texas.Objective 5: To synthesize the economic and water quality benefits of utilizing selected value-added manure products in the setting of each major livestock operation.Objective 6: To disseminate the results of the study through Texas AgriLife to producers in Texas.Objective 7: To educate K-12 students through Tarleton's outreach programs.Objective 8: To publish results of the study through peer-reviewed journal articles and extension publications.
Project Methods
1.Identify appropriate value-added manure products for each major livestock operation2.Establish baseline manure management practices3.Simulate alternative value-added manure products3.1. Calibrate and validate the bio-economic modeling system (APEX-FEM)Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender(APEX) will be used for daily time step edge of field agronomic and environmental simulationsFarm Economic Model(FEM) will be used for annual time step economic simulationsThe (APEX-FEM) system will be calibrated and validated using measured data3.2. Simulate baseline and alternative manure management systems that entail value-added manure productsLinked (APEX-FEM) system will generate agronomic, environmental and economic indicators for each scenario4.Showcase alternative biochar productsLeveraging ongoing and previous work, performance of biochar products will be demonstrated to target audiences including livestock producers and K-12 students5.Augment results with data from previous studies and produce synthesis of resultsMeta models will be used to snythesize output from the simulations as well as existing academic publications6.Disseminate results to farmers7.Educate K-12 students and teachers and college studentsProject team will leverage extensive educational outreach to K-12 students and teachers through annual FFA contests and other events8.Publish findings of the study?