The Georgia Poultry Federation and the University of Georgia have developed a web site aimed at connecting poultry farmers with those desiring litter from their operations.
Poultry litter has proven to be an excellent fertilizer and can supplement nutrient-poor soils.
The web site, launched Oct. 18, is located at http://www.galitter.org.
Titled the Georgia Poultry Federation Litter Market, the site features a database of both buyers and sellers of poultry litter. The "ads" are set up including the amount of litter and price being offered along with contact information. Sellers list their litter type, for example, if it came from a meat-type chicken operation or an egg-laying operation.
Other information includes the chemical makeup of the litter -- nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium -- similar to what is listed on a bag of commercial fertilizer. Also available is a list of services provided such as cleaning, loading, spreading and delivery.
Litter handlers are identified with contact information, services provided and other details such as truck capacity, the distance the handler will travel and whether or not they are registered as a manure handler.
Last December, the Georgia Department of Agriculture set forth a regulation requiring handlers of animal manure to have a permit.
However, there are individuals who are exempt from the permits. Those include people handling less than 5 tons or 5,000 gallons of manure in a year, those who handle manure from their own property and place it on their own property, those applying the manure to their own property that came from another operation, or those handling manure used for other purposes such as pelleting or processing.
"We are very excited about this and believe it will be extremely helpful to growers and particularly to those looking for poultry litter," says Georgia Poultry Federation President Abit Massey. "With the web site in operation, we think it will provide the opportunity to buy and/or sell to many others across the state."
University of Georgia Ag Pollution Prevention Specialist Mike Risse says the project, which had its beginnings early last year, has had a lot of input from poultry companies in developing the features.
"We felt that the easier we could make it, the better it would be," he says.
Risse points out the site is a work in progress and that the database will increase in size as more people check it out and use it.
