A new facility that will compost manure from local farms, food waste from local schools and restaurants, and leaves and yard waste is being built in Lancaster County, Pa. Called Oregon Dairy Organics, the one-of-a-kind facility had its official ground breaking this week, and is set to be selling finished compost by this fall. Most manure composting takes manure from … Read More
Dairy's Day in Copenhagen
Dairy was in the spotlight today in Copenhagen at the Climate Change Summit when U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an agreement with U.S. dairy producers to accelerate adoption of innovative manure to energy projects on American dairy farms. “This historic agreement, the first of its kind, will help us achieve the ambitious goal of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions … Read More
Dairy Farmers Can Get Nutrient Mangement Help From CLEANmp
Dairy producers in the western half of the United States can get free, confidential help to develop and implement plans to limit their environmental impact through a program called Comprehensive Livestock Environmental Assessments and Nutrient management plans, or CLEANmp. The program, which is managed by the Missouri-based Environmental Resources Coalition, is designed to provide services to all types and sizes … Read More
Phosphorus Leaching Differs in Dairy Manures
Ann Perry at the USDA summarizes a study done by the USDA Agricultural Research Service the pros and cons of solid and liquid dairy manure as fertilizer. Here is a brief excerpt from that study… Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found that solid dairy manure is better than commercial fertilizer in mitigating the amount of phosphorus that can accumulate … Read More
Moo-ving and Shaking: Smart Dairy Farmers and Electric Co-Ops Make Hay with Manure
My neighbors up at Morris, Minn. are up to good things with their 12,000 dairy cow operation. They will soon be creating renewable energy for electric generation for Great River Energy. Two local dairy operations have installed anaerobic digesters in their facilities to help control methane emissions. Could this be the new wave for livestock producers? It keeps popping up … Read More
Dairy Installs WasteSolver System
TyraTech Inc., the pioneer of safer, effective natural pesticide products and automated manure management systems, announces that the Rancho Teresita Dairy has signed an agreement to purchase and install the TyraTech WasteSolver™. This will be one of the first systems to be installed in California. With ever-tightening environmental regulations, it is increasingly difficult for dairy producers to manage their cows’ … Read More
Pro-Act Releases Video
Pro-Act Microbial now has an eight-minute video posted on their website to help dairy producers understand their product and learn more about the benefits of using it on their farms. The video provides a virtual tour showing how Pro-Act’s system stratifies nutrients, reduces solids and odors, prevents slippery barn floors, provides cleaner flush water, excellent fertilizer and more. “It’s wonderful … Read More
Website Helps Manage Nitrogen
A new website is can help you manage nitrogen on your dairy operation. The site is free and interactive and covers management of crops and soils, feed storage, nutrition and manure use. The N Management on Dairy Farms web site has been developed by researchers and extension educators at Cornell University (Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and Department of … Read More
Have Manure, Will Travel
Pro-Act Microbial Inc. has announced a portable floating pump called the Scavenger. The portable pump will allow producers to remove bottom water between multiple lagoons. Sounds like a great addition to manure management to me! The Scavenger is a portable floating pump that gives farms the flexibility of removing bottom water from their lagoons without disturbing the stratification of nutrients. … Read More
Ethanol Plant Powered by Manure
Here’s more news out of California – a new ethanol plant in the San Joaquin Valley that will utilize dairy manure. Human BioSystems (“HBS”) announced today that HBS BioEnergy (“HBSE”), has formed a joint venture with Visalia based Dairy Development Group and Agrimass Enviro-Energy to build a park in the San Joaquin Valley of California, which will utilize waste from … Read More