I recently interviewed Terry Feldmann, head of Maurer-Stutz’s agricultural engineering division, about the manure management landscape that dairy producers face today. Feldmann assists livestock producers planning, designing, siting and building new or expanded facilities in Illinois and surrounding states.

Leon Weaver hopes new changes to his manure management system cut in half the time and management it currently takes to manage his dairy’s 40 million gallons of manure. Weaver, an owner of Bridgewater Dairy in Montpelier, Ohio, jokingly admits that if his new McLanahan sand separator system works using manure press effluent as wash water, he’ll use the extra time and money he’d otherwise spend managing manure to go fishing.

Unlocking the full potential of manure as a resource and defining that resource so it is environmentally friendly: that’s the overall vision. Industrialized anaerobic digestion holds this kind of promise and extends the renewable energy-producing capabilities of rural America – beyond the limitations of corn and soybeans. But how do we get there? California has already moved in this direction as environmental pressures on large dairies have created opportunities for producing biogas, converting it to biomethane and delivering pipeline-quality renewable natural gas.

Originally conceived as a cement pump, the hose pump is fast becoming the technology of choice for transferring abrasive dairy waste like sand-laden manure.

Animal waste storage and treatment systems have historically been selected and designed to efficiently use valuable fertilizer nutrients for crop production while protecting soil, air and water quality. The primary reason to store manure is to allow the producer to land-apply the manure at a time compatible with the climatic and cropping characteristics of the land receiving the manure. Manure nutrients can be best utilized when spread near or during the growing season of the crop. Therefore, the type of crop and method of manure application are important considerations in planning manure storage and treatment facilities.

Mass balance is the balance between the inputs and outputs within a system. With manure, phosphorus (P) mass balance is used to estimate the acres of land or the amount of “root zone” needed to use livestock manure nutrients. Simply, P balance equals P imported minus P exported.

Fisher Pumps The Fisher Pump is a submersible centrifugal unit that does not require priming, draining or sealing.

We live in changing times. Farming like your grandparents, your parents or even like your older siblings did may not be possible anymore. Agriculture still has not completely come to grips with the vast changes environmental concerns will thrust on the industry. We can’t even predict which environmental issue will overwhelm us next. There are so many possibilities: sediment, nutrients, biological oxygen demand (BOD), pathogens, antibiotics, hormones, heavy metals and others. Then there are the air issues: ammonia, PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns), VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and any kind of odor.

Today the spotlight in the United States is on the increasing world demand for energy and the high cost of oil and natural gas. This has heightened interest in alternative and renewable energy sources such as biofuels, forests, wind, solar and animal manure.

The application of animal manure to farmland is an economically and environmentally sound management practice for most feedlot operators and farmers. Land application returns nutrients from manure to the soil and helps build soil fertility. Manure provides nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium, magnesium, micronutrients and organic matter. Applying manure to soil has been shown to improve soil tilth, increase water-holding capacity, reduce wind and water erosion and improve soil aeration. Land application of manure should be managed to recycle plant nutrients rather than used as a disposal method.