Manure

When brown water starts coming out of kitchen faucets and filling bathtubs, it is concerning for all involved. One of the first reactions is to point fingers. Local residents point to area dairy farmers and vice versa.

Farm fatalities from toxic manure fumes occur every year. Some appear in the news; some do not – but each one is a heart-wrenching loss for the family and friends the victims leave behind.

For all dairy farms, big and small, managing and disposing of manure is a never-ending job. It’s bothersome to have around and the odor can be offensive, by far the number one reason the non-farming public criticizes animal agriculture.

The weather. A short application window. The volume you have to handle. When it comes to manure handling, whether you’re a smaller operation milking 50 cows and using a skid steer to load your spreader or a custom operator using a large-wheel loader, everyone faces these same challenges.

Liquid manure can be costly to handle and haul long distances, causing dairy farms to consider alternative options to just storing everything in a lagoon.

With the objective to develop novel waste-to-resource technologies capable of converting organic wastes into value-added fuel and chemical products, Dr. Dana Kirk, Ph.D., P.E. in biosystems and agricultural engineering at Michigan State University, had his work cut out for him.