UGA Cooperative Extension is a collaboration between UGA CAES and UGA FACS.
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Our Impact
Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans are required for all Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) with more than 300 animal units. In Morgan County, 10 of the 36 dairies met the criteria and were required to submit a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan. The UGA Cooperative Extension agent in the county attended the first Certified Nutrient Management Planning Specialist Training in November 2000 to learn how to prepare a Certified Nutrient Management Plan. He also attended the first Certified Operator Training in Tifton to have a better understanding of what was being required of certified operators. The agent developed plans for the 10 dairies required to be certified in Morgan County and helped seven other Cooperative Extension agents prepare CNMP's for their dairymen. These plans required 30 to 40 hours per plan to complete. Independent planning specialists were charging $2,000 to $15,000 to help dairymen complete their plans. In 2003, the agent revised five of the eight plans submitted in October 2002 and the Georgia Department of Agriculture has approved those plans. In 2004, he revised the other three plans submitted and those plans have since been approved. In September 2005, the agent completed a CNMP from the only remaining CAFO in Morgan County without a plan. In September and October 2007 the agent served as lead agent for Environmental Management Systems Conservation Initiative Grant working with area dairymen and the Extension Water Quality Coordinator to access potential for the program and its use in a dairy situation. The agent saved 12 dairymen in Morgan, Putnam and Jasper counties more than $24,000 in planning costs, along with using 70,294 pounds of nitrogen and 59,213 pounds of phosphorus per year with on-farm applications. The savings in nitrogen fertilizer cost alone would be more $52,849 per year by using these nutrients available from the manure.
