Business studies show that the average dissatisfied customer complains to 10 others. We don’t know how many people a neighbor to your dairy might complain to, but you can bet negative opinions will spread. That’s why it’s important to your business and the whole dairy industry that you reduce bad publicity and stop one person from telling 10 others something negative about dairy farming.

•When building a new facility, locate it far enough away so the odors are diluted before they can offend anyone. Recommendations vary from 1,000 feet to several miles.
Costs: Site-dependent. They may include a longer driveway, increased utility lines and be inconvenient to the rest of the operation.

•Install windbreaks and view screens. People have a harder time smelling what they can’t see, and windbreaks can help diffuse odors.
Costs: Windbreaks that offer protection 10 years from now are cheap to plant. But larger trees that would be effective now are expensive.

•Keep the farmstead clean and dry. Moisture mixed with organic matter creates odors.
Costs: Labor and equipment to prevent spills and to clean them up as they occur.

•Cover manure storage, particularly during the summer when odors from liquid manure storage can be significant.
Cost: A 6-inch layer of chopped straw blown on a manure storage in the spring will cost about 10 cents per square foot. The layer should last two to three months and reduce odors from the storage surface.

•Limit silage spoilage. It can smell worse than manure and be a source of complaints.
Costs: Proper packing, covering and bunk management should be its own reward in better dry matter intake. Drainage, slope and covers that help eliminate or control sources of extra water entering the bunk require investment.

•Incorporate manure as it’s spread. Mixing manure immediately with soil eliminates almost all odors.
Costs: A timely tillage pass may not cost anything if it’s part of field preparation. One dairy calculated a $.0025 per gallon difference between incorporation with a tool bar behind its spreader and broadcasting manure. Any calculation of cost should credit ammonia retained when manure is immediately incorporated.

•Timing and location of spreading. Spreading early in the day and before a light rain can reduce odors.
Costs: You may reduce operational efficiencies and could sacrifice forage quality if it takes too long to spread manure.  ANM

—Excerpts from Lewis County Ag Digest, Vol. 13, No. 3