cattle manure is the excrement and waste excreted by animals alone or mixed, even though it might have been transformed. Normally, different types of cattle manure are distinguished (solid manure, liquid manure, hen droppings) depending on the origin and dry matter content.

The natural, most immediate destination for the cattle manure is the application in agricultural lands, as in the majority of cases it helps in maintaining/increasing the soil's content in organic material (and indirectly its physical fertility) and always a source of nutritional elements for crops. When the stockbreeder does not have a sufficient territorial base to correctly apply the cattle manure generated on the farm from the agricultural view, they must resort to a treatment system in the farm itself, either a waste manager or a system that gathers the two previous aspects.

The implementation of any type of treatment on the farm must be considered before the objectives are pursued, the suitability of the treatment system for the objectives, the by-products obtained in the treatment system and the destination of the by-products. For example, one possible alternative is to adopt a system that involves nitrogen elimination and another is simply the installation of a mechanical system to separate phases and its later transfer to a solid phase waste manager.

The intervention of a waste manager is necessary when part of the waste generated by the agricultural activity has to be managed outside the framework of the farm operation (due to the lack of availability of a sufficient territorial base to allow correct agricultural management). In this case, part of the cattle manure is transferred to a third party (manager) who takes responsibility for managing it correctly.

The cattle manure storage system is constituted by siloes (for solid manures and hen droppings from poultry installations), pits inside warehouses and exterior basins (for liquid manures and semiliquid hen droppings from laying installations).

According to the Order of 7th April 1994, setting regulations for pig, poultry, rabbit and sheep farms, the elements of the solid and liquid manure storage system must be built with materials and forms that guarantee their seal. As a result, the solid and liquid manure collection and storage system must avoid the entry (running waters, freatic waters, etc.) and output (manures, leaches, etc.) of liquids from the deposit. In the case of exterior basins, they may be in construction (concrete), impermeabilised with plastic sheeting or any other system, so that they guarantee the complete seal and impermeabilisation of the deposit. In the case of using plastic materials, it is convenient to follow the recommendations for building manure basins of the Department of the Environment and Housing and the recommendations for the construction of basins: storage of manures and other organic liquids of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya.

According to the Order of 7th April 1994, setting regulations for pig, poultry, rabbit and sheep operations, the storage system will have a cattle manure and waste water storage capacity for a suitable period of time for the possibilities of agricultural use which, in the case of poultry and sheet operation, will be equivalent to their production for four months. To calculate the storage capacity, the guidelines may be used of the liquid manure management manual and its agricultural reuse or the annexes of the environmental evaluation model of stockbreeding activities. In the case of exterior basins, it must be remembered that it will be necessary to consider the incidence of waste waters and, in the case of uncovered units, rainwater.