Manure

California’s third annual Rethink Methane Symposium was recently held to showcase the state’s efforts to use renewable natural gas to help meet ambitious air quality, climate and economic goals. More than 300 attendees were anxious to hear an update on the progress the dairy industry is making.

Recycling dairy nutrients back to the land needs to be timely to preserve nitrogen and to avoid environmental losses. Manure storages are an integral part of the manure management system on the farm to make sure this is possible.

Public policy and regulation is driven by many factors, and public perception is a major component. Avoiding negative public perception is one measure that may help avoid restrictive, unnecessary regulation.

Incremental growth and manure separation were the topics discussed during a panel of Pennsylvania dairy producers who shared their stories at the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania (PDMP) annual meeting.

Over the last several years working as an environmental consultant on dairies, I have heard one question from my clients over and over again: How do we remove solids from our synthetically lined lagoons? Unfortunately, I have learned that removing manure solids once they have accumulated in a lagoon is easier said than done.

Not a single speaker at the University of Wisconsin Discovery Farms Conference claimed to be in possession of a crystal ball, but that didn’t stop them from hypothesizing about what might be next in terms of nutrient applications. Looking to the future is important because today’s best still isn’t good enough.