Trending topic article: Manure This article, written by Editor Karen Lee, was chosen as 2011 Editors’ Pick. It was selected as a trending Manure topic article for the March 21, 2012 issue. to jump to the article below. Lee describes Minnesota dairy producer Jon Johnson taking advantage of a unique way to manage manure with sand bedding. He’s using a system where the manure is scraped from barns over a ledge into a storage area. From there, the liquids seep toward screen-lined towers where they are drained via pipes into a liquid storage basin. The process occurs by gravity and without any moving parts.

The theme of the 2011 North American Manure Expo is Professionalism in Manure Management and will include commercial field demonstrations, "hands-on" product and safety education, educational sessions and commercial vendor displays. For the first time the event will be held in Nebraska at the Northeast Community College’s Ag Complex in Norfolk. It will take place on Wednesday, July 20, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Once again the Four-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference is set to take place in early June. It will be held June 8-9 at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa. This conference, a collaboration of Extension professionals from Iowa State University, University of Illinois, University of Minnesota, and University of Wisconsin, was developed to provide timely research information for dairy industry professionals.

Progressive Dairyman Editor Karen Lee discusses the new standards of care for animals raised on dairy farms released by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) with Amber Driscoll, PETA’s corporate liaison. Q. To whom is your new dairy initiative aimed? A. DRISCOLL: Our new standards are directly aimed at the dairy industry from farms to processors and companies like pizza, ice cream and coffee companies that source a lot of dairy products.

Dairy producers, calf raisers and allied industry came together last month to focus on the future of the dairy industry – the calves. “This is where it starts,” said Douglas Braun, DVM, senior veterinarian at Pfizer Animal Health Dairy Veterinary Operations. “The farm’s future for the next year is in the fresh cow. For the next three to five years, it’s in the newborn calf.” Braun performed a wet lab in getting calves off to the right start at the Dairy Calf and Heifer Conference in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He stated, “We are still losing 8 percent of calves before we have a chance to wean them.”

This article was #4 in PDmag's Top 5 most-well read New Technology articles in 2011. to jump to the article. Summary: This new concept in anaerobic digestion was originally designed by researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The sequential batch reactor creates a longer solid retention time without increasing the hydraulic retention time. The average length of stay in each vessel is 3.5 days for a total seven-day cycle, compared to the 22-day hydraulic retention time in other digesters. This digester operates at 68 to 77°F (psychrophilic), compared to the mesophilic and thermophilic digesters, more common in the U.S., that run at 95°F and 131°F, respectively. The lower temperature provides an environment for more stable bacteria to work simultaneously. The energy-efficient digester boasts stability and maximum production, and it is said to be replicable on a larger scale than most. Because this article was so popular, we asked Bio-Terre Chief Operating Officer Elise Villeneuve some follow-up questions: Q: What type of interest have you received? How do you quantify that interest? A: There appears to be growing interest in the dairy sector for enhanced manure management systems that incorporate an anaerobic digestion technology.

What a pleasure I had attending the Western Canadian Dairy Seminars in Red Deer, Alberta, this spring. While there was still plenty of snow and freezing temperatures, the great company and brewing coffee kept a soul warm.