In partial response to the energy crisis in the early 1970s, anaerobic digesters were installed at nearly 200 dairy farms across the U.S., only for the vast majority of these systems to shut down or fail after just a few years of operation. However, with improvements in anaerobic digester technology, as well as a better understanding of the anaerobic digestion process, there was a resurgence of anaerobic digesters being installed on large dairy farms beginning in the late 1990s and continuing to this day.

Since 2000, anaerobic digesters on livestock farms have reduced greenhouse gas emission by 19 millionmetric tons of CO2 equivalent. That reduction is equivalent to other potential reductions or mitigations listed in the PDF below.

How much does dealing with manure cost you? Many dairy producers can’t answer that question, and seldom do producers consider their manure management costs per hundredweight (cwt) of milk like they do with their other costs.

An 1,100-cow dairy in southern California became the first-ever operation in the world known to produce no-sulfur renewable diesel products from manure on a livestock facility in late April. The milestone is the culmination of three years of collaboration between Scott Brothers Dairy in San Jacinto, California, and Ag Waste Solutions (AWS), a privately held company that designed the farm’s manure processing system.

Almost seven years ago, Progressive Dairyman told its readers about a new, biodegradable pot being produced by Freund’s Farm in East Canaan, Connecticut. They called them CowPots.

Sustainability is a core mission for the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. To demonstrate this objective, the university commissioned the building of three anaerobic digesters in the state. The first was a dry fermentation digester in the city of Oshkosh. The second was a small, plug-flow system at a dairy with 130 head of cattle near Oshkosh, and the third was a large farm, complete-mix digester system at Rosendale Dairy in Pickett, Wisconsin.