Released April 10, 2008

WOOSTER, Ohio — Hear what Grade-A dairy farms do, or can do, to keep Ohio waters clean in a free public talk at Ohio State University.

Jon Rausch, animal manure management specialist with Ohio State University Extension, will present “Manure Handling, Storage and Recycling on Ohio Grade-A Dairy Farms” at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16, by video link to the university’s Wooster, Lima and Columbus campuses.

The presentation will look at best management practices, or BMPs, used by the state’s Grade-A dairies, including large ones, to keep manure out of water supplies.

Rausch, of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, has surveyed those dairies to see what they do with their manure and to gauge their knowledge of and attitude toward the environment. Results will be shared in the talk.

Grade-A milk is produced according to sanitary standards that let it be consumed as a beverage, as opposed to Grade-B milk, usable only to make dairy products.

Attend in 121 Fisher Auditorium on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s (OARDC) Wooster campus, 1680 Madison Ave.; in 244 Kottman Hall on Ohio State’s Columbus campus, 2021 Coffey Rd.; or in 207 Public Services Building on the university’s Lima campus, 4240 Campus Drive.

Contact OCAMM Coordinator Mary Wicks, (330) 202-3533, wicks.14@osu.edu, for more information.

OCAMM works to research, develop and communicate sustainable strategies for managing animal manure and nutrient inputs on Ohio farms.

OCAMM participants include livestock producers, livestock system consultants, equipment manufacturers, trade associations, compost users, public agencies, and Ohio State faculty and staff.

Funding for OCAMM comes from OARDC, the research arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

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http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~news/story.php?id=4564

Contacts: Mary Wicks, (330) 202-3533, wicks.14@osu.edu

Kurt Knebusch, (330) 263-3776, knebusch.1@osu.edu