In 2003, Northern Plains Dairy introduced the practice of mortality composting to Minnesota. As the first dairy in the state to dispose of dead cows via composting, it has refined and replicated the process to create the correct conditions for complete disposal of the animal. “It was done for biosecurity reasons,” says James Ailsby, operations manager at New Sweden Dairy. “They didn’t want the trucks carrying other dead animals coming onto the dairies.”

A few years back, I was working on a big project. I needed to plant 120 acres of triticale for a dairyman. I got everything greased, lubed and fueled up the night before and thought I was all ready to go. The next morning I was up early and out in the field working. I noticed that I wasn’t sitting square in the seat, but I thought it was just me. When I finally decided to get off and look at it, the right outside tire was flat and the sidewall was eaten up because I had driven on it for so long. It was an older tire and in a newer application it probably wouldn’t have done that, but this one was old and brittle and it really flexed it. In the end, I found out that something in the field had punctured the tire. This is an example of how easily things can go awry in the field, regardless of the preparation.

In early October, construction was completed on a solar energy system at Whitesides Dairy near Rupert, Idaho. This is the first dairy operation to install a solar energy system of this size in the state of Idaho. Carl Simpson, CFO for Silk Road Solar and Silk Road Environmental, based out of Kennewick, Washington, helped coordinate, design and install the system. Simpson also helped organize and write grant applications that helped to make this project feasible. Simpson initially met Steve and Brandon Whitesides, owners of Whitesides Dairy, on a trip to look at their dairy’s digesters, which were shut down. He had thought of purchasing and restarting them in the future. On a following trip, Simpson mentioned Silk Road’s solar energy systems.

Engines run on combustion. Combustion creates heat. Although heat is good for oil to work properly, some engines will get too hot and that causes problems. The energy we want to use in an engine is combustion and the pressure that is caused by that combustion. Heat is just a byproduct. We hope that a big percentage of the heat goes out as exhaust. However, there is still conduction going on inside the cylinder and heat is absorbed in the parts and casing of the engine. The heat then needs to be dissipated into the oil or the coolant. In turn, the oil cools through convection, while the coolant dissipates the heat into the air as the coolant runs through the little tubes in the radiator. As the air flows through the radiator, it pulls the heat out.

Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, has been selling the Apollo Solar Light Pipe commercially for more than four years to be used in warehouses, factories, supermarkets, etc. This summer it introduced this technology to agriculture with its first installation on a dairy. The concept started in agriculture when as a small child Orion’s CEO Neal Verfuerth saw how much light could enter through a knothole in vertical barn board. He used this idea to develop an award-winning technology.

Last issue I tested your knowledge to see if you could identify the parts of an engine that were circled. Now I would like to point out what some of the lesser-known or often-neglected parts do and how they are important. 1. Turbo oil feed line: This line takes cooled, filtered and clean oil to the turbo charger. The turbo charger is flooded with oil so the quickly-revolving parts can work properly.

Click the link below to download a pdf of this column. http://www.progressivedairy.com/downloads/2010/1310pd/1310pd_mechanics_corner.pdf