Nutrient management is an important component of a dairy waste utilization plan. A plan is essential for any dairy, especially after a holding pond is installed. “Nutrient management depends on knowing the fertilizer value of the effluent in a dairy waste holding pond,” said Jose’ Bicudo, an agricultural engineer in the UK College of Agriculture’s department of biosystems and agricultural engineering. “These ponds are high solids-liquid waste structures that contain dairy manure, milking parlor wastewater and rainwater runoff from confinement floors and loafing areas.”To address the needs of dairy farmers in the state, the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture is hosting a dairy nutrient management field day October 30 at Long Farms in Barren County. The field day will include information about manure sampling and testing using rapid tests, nutrient management planning, storage basin construction and maintenance, strategies to reduce nutrient output through diet manipulation, economics of manure application, and land application equipment.“Ideally, the dairy farmer should be able to have an estimate of the nutrient contents of the manure as it is being applied to cropland,” Bicudo said. “Rapid tests may enable fast, on-farm assessment of manure nutrient content and can significantly enhance manure management practices when calibration curves for individual nutrients are specific to a group of farms in which common manure handling practices are used.” The field day begins at 11 a.m. CST and concludes at 2 p.m. The Barren County Cattlemen’s Association will provide lunch. A 319-H Non-Point Source Grant through the Kentucky Division of Water and the Kentucky Division of Conservation is funding the event.Long Farm is located on Morrison Park Road in Barren Co. near Glasgow. For directions or more information, contact Barren County Extension Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resource Garry Tilghman (270) 651-3818 or Bicudo (859) 257-3000, ext. 104.