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NMAN Nutrient Management Software
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| Author: | Amy Bihari - Environmental Program Information Specialist/OMAFRA |
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| Creation Date: | 30 June 2003 |
| Last Reviewed: | 15 May 2008 |
A. NMAN is a decision-making software. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) developed NMAN. The software guides you through the required components of a Nutrient Management Strategy (NMS) and/or Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) and does all of the necessary calculations for you, except for the necessary farmstead and field sketches. A paper-based workbook version is also available as an alternative to the software.
A. NMAN files save as ".nmp" or ".nm2" (depending on the version you are using) files, which can be stored anywhere on your computer. Once you begin using NMAN, the "open" function defaults to the last directory from which you opened a file. When you install a new version of NMAN, the program automatically selects the 'My Documents' folder for saved NMAN files.
A. Click on the "Print" icon on the "Main" toolbar or select the "Print" option from the "Menu" toolbar. NMAN prints to an Acrobat file. You may then print your file from Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, a free version is available with this software. During installation, NMAN detects if Acrobat Reader is installed on your computer. If NMAN does not properly detect the absence of Acrobat Reader, you can access it from the CD and manually install it. You can also visit the Adobe website and download the Reader.
A. NMAN uses a colour scheme to flag numbers that fall in or out of an acceptable range.
- A GREEN number flag indicates the value received is within an acceptable range.
- A YELLOW number flag indicates a caution flag (indicated by a yield sign on printouts). With suitable management practices, caution flags are acceptable. Additional documentation is required to justify caution flags when submitting a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) or Nutrient Management Strategy (NMS) for review.
- A RED number flag indicates a warning flag (indicated by a stop sign on printouts). A warning flag represents an area of environmental concern. Changes are needed in the nutrient planning system to eliminate these flags. Only under special circumstances, a NMP or NMS submitted for approval under the Nutrient Management Act (NMA) with warning flags may be acceptable.
A. Nothing. Upon submission, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) will label each regulated NMP with an Operation ID.
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A. Yes, NMAN 2.0.1 opens and upgrades files created in NMAN programs from 2003-04. Once you have upgraded a file, it is important to update the flags and calculations in your file. Until you update the flags, the "Material Graph" and "Material Remaining" calculations will not reflect your information. It is also important to review the entire file because many calculations have changed and will have an affect on your previously calculated values. The calculations changed due to a regulation amendment, which is why we strongly recommend you review the entire file. Special attention should be paid to the MSTOR and Material Transfer sections of your file as these sections have undergone the most changes.
A. Transfer contacts are kept in a separate table from transfer details in NMAN 2.0.1.
Older NMAN versions kept transfers together in a single table, making you enter the contact information for a transfer destination each time you entered a transfer event. NMAN 2.0.1 makes a copy of this information, which results in duplicate contact information.
Once the file is open in NMAN 2.0.1 you can delete the duplicates, and link each transfer with the corresponding transfer contact by:
If you are running NMAN 2.0.2:
A. The link between MSTOR and NMAN in your old file must have been broken. You can either re-establish the link in your old NMAN program before re-opening it in NMAN 2.0.1 or you can use the Convert this material type to a storage system button on each Material Type's General tab. The Convert this material type to a storage system button requires you to re-enter the MSTOR data, but maintains the material type's association with any transfers or field applications.
A. When adding livestock in MSTOR a new manure form is available: Pasture. Using the input fields on the Livestock Information screen you can enter the appropriate utilization time that your animals will be on pasture. Pasture material is represented as Grazing Units (GU) and is not included in the "material remaining" calculations.
A. No, you can change your file type at anytime without losing any entered information. The file type changes the tabs and calculations available in a file.
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A. MSTOR will only allow three storage systems, so this is a MSTOR issue. NMAN can accommodate an unlimited number of storage systems. Since you require more than the three storage systems that MSTOR allows, you will need to run a separate MSTOR file and manually transfer the information into the NMAN Manure/P.Mat'l Strategy screen. In this screen you will manually enter the livestock type, the yearly amount generated and the days of storage. A new release of MSTOR is currently under way for early 2006. The above situation has been brought to the development committee to include in the revisions in MSTOR.
A. NMAN will default to the current cropping year. In order to go back cropping years such as the cropping year 2004 - 2005, you will need to click on the Location/Year Manager button anywhere in the program. From the Location/Year Manager screen you will need to click on the Add/Edit Year List button. From the Edit Year List screen you need to click on the Add button. By selecting the Add button, the Year List screen will pop-up with a Current Year and a defaulted New Year. On the New Year drop-down box instead of scrolling down, scroll up to the cropping year desired, cropping year 2004 - 2005. In order to work in only one year you will need to delete the defaulted cropping year 2005 - 2006 from Year List, since information entered in cropping year 2004 - 2005 will not automatically be copied over to the cropping year 2005 - 2006.
A. You could put the additional roll numbers in the comment box of the Farm screen.
A. You are required as a user to have at least June 30, 2003 version of NMAN on your computer to be able to download an upgraded version of the software from the OMAFRA website. If you have NMAN2001 or previous versions of NMAN on your computer the only way to obtain a copy of the latest version of NMAN is to take Introduction to NMAN Course which we strongly recommend because of all the enhancements but we are more than willing to mail you a copy of the software.
A. NMAN has been primarily developed for intensive livestock facilities, so pasture has not been a pressing issue. Currently there isn't a way to shift manure production from the barn to the pasture. The best approach for dealing with pasture is to allow NMAN to show all of the manure that is generated in the barn but select the days of storage when the cattle are in the barn rather than on pasture. For the manure accumulated in the barn, spreading would follow like normal procedures in NMAN. For the manure that is deposited on pasture the easiest way to account for the tonnage of manure would be to use a ratio approach. For example, 100 Cow/Calf produce 300 tons of manure annually and will be on pasture for four months on a 50 acre field. The amount of manure being deposited on the pasture field from 100 cattle would be calculated as follows:
100 cows = 300 tons of manure/year
100 cows for four months produce = 300 tons/year*(4/12) = 100 tonsTherefore, 100 tons will be applied on the field over four months. You have the option to represent this into NMAN as a daily application or as one single application or an application every month. The daily applications are much too difficult to represent in NMAN; it is recommended either using monthly or bi-monthly applications.
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A. NMAN has a newly updated databank with new manure/prescribed material samples, more accurate crop requirements and removal numbers, plus updated township, county and provincial yield averages. The new databank will be used to calculate the yearly N, P and K balances. Information such as field acreage, slope, soil test, crop rotation, manure/p.material and fertilizer application rates will not change. NMAN will ask you to update soil series which was not required in NMAN 2001. See Question 4 for more detail.
A. No. Similar to other software, new files cannot be recognized by older versions of the program. If you would like to keep a copy of the old NMAN2001 file, we suggest you save the new NMAN file under a new name.
A. There is no distinction between farms that generate or receive manure in NMAN2001. Due to this lack of information, NMAN assumes that all farms are generators and receivers. The user may enter the Farm/Field/Section Manager or the Farm screen to change the designation of each farm within the NMP. Keeping either the receiver or generator designation will open applicable options in NMAN.
A. When an old NMAN2001 file is loaded into NMAN June 14, 2004, the program prompts the user to enter a default soil series. The default soil series that is prompted is based on the soil texture and county entered for the first field in the NMAN2001 file. Once a default soil series is entered the program assumes that this soil series is constant through all the fields or sections within the NMP. The user must change the soil series of every field manually if each field in the NMP differs in soil series. Note that changes that occur in one year will not carry through to all the years in the NMP.
A. The help manual may be reached from any screen by pressing F1.
A. Nothing. Upon submission OMAFRA will label each regulated NMP with an Operation ID.
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BMP: Best Management Practice
Grazing Unit: The amount of nutrients, generated from livestock when kept on pasture
Imp: Imperial units of measurement
Material: Prescribed Materials as defined by the Nutrient Management Act
MSTOR: Manure Storage Sizing Program
NMA: Nutrient Management Act
NMAN: Nutrient Management Program
NMP: Nutrient Management Plan
NMS: Nutrient Management Strategy
NU: Nutrient Unit as defined by the Nutrient Management Act
P.Mat'l: See Material
SI: Metric units of measurement
US: US Imperial units of measurement
Watercourse: Surface water as defined by the Nutrient Management Act
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