Nutrient Balance on Nebraska Livestock Confinement Systems

1998 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Swine Reports. Managing the environmental risk associated with livestock production is a significant challenge. The degree of imbalance between the amount of nutrient input and nutrient output for a livestock operation provides insight into the underlying causes of nutrientrelated environmental challenges. A nitrogen and phosphorus balance was constructed for 33 Nebraska livestock operations (including 17 swine operations). On most farms, substantially more nitrogen entered the farm (through purchased feed, fertilizer, etc) than left it in the form of animals, crops and manure sold. Most farms also had an accumulation of phosphorus. Size of the operation and the degree of integration between livestock and a cropping operation provided only limited explanation of the variation in nutrient balance observed among the individual operations.