Design and operation of a manure management system requires simultaneous consideration of environmental and economic outcomes, in 1999, an interdisciplinary research team released a software program, MCLONE4, for use by farmers to help in selection and management of a manure system. The Windows 95, 98, or NT program requires user information about animals (dairy, swine, or poultry), manure type (liquid or solid), feed rations, barn construction, manure storage, field, crop, and application components. MCLONE4 provides manure application rate recommendations but also manure system ratings for cost, labour, odour, nutrient efficiency, and environmental risks. Ratings are weighted according to user priorities to give an overall system rating. Environmental risks are odour pollution, ammonia loss, phosphorus runoff, nitrate leaching, and bacterial transport to a water resource. These risks are evaluated and averaged according to user weighting values to give an overall environmental risk rating. The odour risk rating evaluates dispersion of odour for various climatic and topographic conditions and determines the risk of offensive levels of odour reaching the nearest neighbour. The economic evaluation includes a database of purchase costs for all equipment used in common manure systems. The user can modify manure system components to achieve a better balance of economic versus environmental results. Extensive documentation of program inputs and why they are needed is given in online help.
