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Visit the Price-Barnes Organics Web site and you will find a product called Barnyard Cafe Blend. The Delaware County farm is not marketing a cup of coffee, rather a mix of composted manure and coffee grounds for your garden.

In Harrison County, Farmers Ethanol has plans to use manure from a 2,000-head dairy and 10,000 head feedlot to produce green energy with an anaerobic digester.

Researchers at the University of Illinois recently discovered a way to convert hog manure into crude oil, with one pig producing up to 21 gallons of oil during the production cycle.

And for the vast majority of farmers, manure still can provide an inexpensive, organic fertilizer.

Advanced technology and unique uses for manure are good news for the livestock industry, but they are not a replacement for good management, explained OFBF Senior Director of Policy Research and Development David White.

"There's no doubt there are a lot of innovative opportunities for livestock farmers when it comes to utilizing manure," he said. "And the key to reaping these benefits, regardless of the system, is sound management."

No matter where you go, manure management options can range from creative -- one farmer in Connecticut is turning cow manure into flour pots -- to the highly advanced -- scientists in Canada are researching a transgenic pig that better utilizes phosphorous.

"Good manure management is necessary for every farm, large or small," White said. "No matter what method you use, if you do the right things right, you won't have a problem."

White said the greatest benefit of manure technologies is that farmers are much less at the mercy of Mother Nature. He said the winter months can be a challenge for livestock farmers who must spread manure on frozen or snow-covered ground.

While the practice is not recommended, farmers who find it necessary to spread manure on frozen or snow-covered ground must follow Natural Resource and Conservation Service Practice Standard 633. According to Ohio State University Extension, the criteria for the standard include:

• Application rate is limited to 10 wet tons per acre for solid manure more than 50 percent moisture and five wet tons per acre for manure less than 50 percent moisture. Liquid manure application is limited to 5,000 gallons per acre.

• Application must be made on land with at least 90 percent residue cover.

• Manure shall not be applied on more than 20 contiguous acres.

• Apply manure on areas furthest from streams, ditches, waterways and surface water.

• Increase the application setback distance to a minimum of 200 feet from all grassland waterways, surface drainage ditches, streams, surface inlets and bodies of water

• Additional criteria apply for slopes of more than 6 percent. Manure should be applied in alternating strips 60 to 200 feet wide generally on the contour. Generally, manure should not be applied to cropland with more than 15 percent slope or to pastures with more than 20 percent slope.