The adsorption characteristics of ammonium from aqueous solution onto biochar derived from dairy manure were investigated as a function of parameters such as solution pH, particle size, adsorbent dosage, temperature and competitive cations. The results indicated that the effects of other cations on the adsorption of ammonium followed the order of preference Na > Ca2+ at identical mass concentrations. It was observed that pH played an important role in the ammonium adsorption and the optimal pH values ranged between 5 and 8. The kinetic data fitted the pseudo-second-order model (R2 = 0.967 3) but showed very poor fits for the pseudo-first-order model (R2 = 0.765 9) and the Elovich model (R2 = 0.724 9). The results from the Intra-particle model also showed that there were two separate stages in sorption process, which were external diffusion and the diffusion of inter-particle. Adsorption isotherms for dairy manure biochar were fitted the Freundlich model (R2 = 0.976 2) more effectively than other models. Thermodynamics parameters such as free energy (ΔGθ), enthalpy (ΔHθ), and entropy (ΔSθ) were also determined, which indicated that the adsorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process.