Description: This chart shows the use of manure management practices by different sized Wisconsin dairy farms in 1997. Dairy farmers were asked how they managed their manure (e.g., whether manure is spread directly, piled on a slab, stored in an unlined pit, stored in a concrete pit or clay-lined basin, etc.). We aggregated responses into two categories - those farmers who use a lined facility (whether concrete or clay) and those who spread manure daily or frequently. The results were tabulated for each size class of farms. The graph indicates that farms with larger herds are more likely to store manure in a lined facility, whereas farms with smaller herds are more likely to spread manure daily or frequently. Totals do not equal 100 percent, because farmers utilize a wider range of manure management practices than are tabulated for this graph. The triangles on the chart reflect the percent of all farms in a given size category that have received public cost-sharing funds to construct manure storage facilities.

Source: PATS Dairy Farmer Poll, 1997