Adoption of dairy manure injection has increased recently due to cost share for the practice. Injection puts the manure in bands underneath the soil surface, leading to spatial variability in soil nitrate. This publication addresses 1) how this spatial variability impacts small grain growth, as there have been anecdotal reports of banding/ differential growth, and 2) how to take a representative soil sample for nitrate testing. This publication is based on recent Virginia research on these topics.