Managing and Using Feedlot Environmental Monitoring Data to Understand and Simulate the Utilisation of Manure and Effluent

Abstract

Data from long-term monitoring of a feedlot and its environment is used in this study to investigate the sustainable utilisation of feedlot manure and effluent in a crop production system. The sustainable utilisation of the nutrients in manure and effluent and the partitioning of these nutrients into output pathways, as opposed to the disposal of the waste by-products from a beef cattle feedlot, is an important focus of the study. As a means of achieving the objectives of this study, the relevant literature was investigated to develop a broad understanding of the issues associated with the utilisation of manure and effluent from a feedlot. Development of an Environmental Monitoring Database (EMD) is the first objective of the study. This database stores data that has been collected from the University of New England's feedlot research facility, "Tullimba" and data from other feedlots. The primary aim of the EMD is to provide safe, efficient storage of data. Another important aim of the EMD is to have the ability to manipulate the datasets to investigate the relationships in monitoring data. The final objective of the overall study is to develop a stochastic Effluent and Manure Utilisation (EMU) model to investigate the output pathways of N, P, Na, K, Ca and Mg, within and from the utilisation area. Two important aims of the EMU model are the use of data from the EMD as input, and the use of the model to run 'virtual experiments'. The final stage of the modelling phase of this study is the evaluation of the results of the simulation and a demonstration of the usefulness of the model output in defining sustainability and adjusting management practices to optimise the likelihood of system sustainability.