Manure

Nutrient removal systems for manure management have been around the dairy industry for more than 10 years, yet very few dairies in the U.S. are currently utilizing these systems. The cost of equipment, operating expenses and additional labor needs are major considerations when it comes to an installation.

Nearly a decade ago, Prairie’s Edge Dairy Farm LLC in Fair Oaks, Indiana, began looking at manure as more than a byproduct of milk production. The owners decided to install an anaerobic digester to harvest the biogas and begin monetizing the value of the farm’s manure.

Two Wisconsin farm families are grieving the loss of two young men, one a 29-year-old farmer from Amherst, the other a 16-year-old boy from Owen. 

Not wanting to depend on others to help dispose of the farm’s manure, the Ohio Heifer Center in South Charleston, Ohio, decided to set up a facility to recycle the manure for use directly on-farm. In doing so, it has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in bedding and is working to market a novel byproduct.

One of the greatest expenses associated with raw manure is transportation, due to the huge amount of manure (volume and weight) and distances between dairy sites and application lands.

A team of Iowa State University (ISU) researchers recently reviewed 265 academic papers published through the end of 2014 and found that a surprising amount of odor and gas emission mitigation practices for livestock and poultry production never make it to field trials.