I— Lancaster Forming. Saturday. September 12.1970
Fig Men !! Daily Removal. One-third Weight. Little Odor. Better Product. Small (.osl Hike
Automated Manure Disposal
I»v O. O. Bresslcr
Peon Stale I’niverslty
Poultsy m.imuc handlin'; and
disposal. offensive odois. and
fl.e-s have become problem.', of
urea: magnitude in todavs poul
trv industrv
Increase in size of flocks and
iMCeatntion of huge numbe.s
•f chickens in limited aieas have
treated these p:ob!enis
When laigc poulliv opeiations
are located neai le-ideniial
areas, flock owners often have
been forced to abandon then
operations oi ic locate n le.ss
urbanized aieas
Since 1963 research and dev el
opment vvotk a: Penn State has
been dnectid tow a d finding a
solution to the \ i.iotis pioblems
associated w.th poult \ manme
Because handl ng ma ire in a
•.quid oi 'onr 1 q i.d to-m is
widely Used wi voir pioviding
'atisfaCton solution o the p.ob
iinis tno e\pe me" al ipp’Oach
used was delud ion The objec
tives we'e 'li to umove as
much mo stu e s pos.-ibie f.om
the poult \ manu e rs.de tne
poultiv house to lessen ‘he
weight of mate a. o oe handled
(2) to eliminate odois and flies
and (3) to develop an automatic
svstem of mature Handling to
eliminate manual labo
Th-ee diving pnnciples
we t applied expei imentallv (1)
appl.cauon ot huh velocit> au
to the accumulating mamue t 2)
stirring the manuie as it accum
ulated to aid in bringing the
rapidl> moving an to the mois
ture in the manuie and (3) use
of supplemental hea: in the
door to drive off moistuie
The drjing svstem was incor
porated into the sloping wne
floor sjstem developed at Penn
State for leghoin laveis and
oieeders housed at 0 5 to 0 6
square foot floo space pei bud
tVr.h this svstem dioppmgs are
-piead thinlv ovei die ent..e
n oor aiea unck'neath the wne
door and a*e exposed to lapid
air movement vvh.ch s.aits the
drvmg piocess immed a elv Tnis
is i n -.hai p conti a=t to sv 5 ems
in whum we. v'd;.v d’oppings
are concent ated m 1 m.ted mt
areas where d' ..’,c is ccusac-’-
abl.v moi e difficu t
Tn ee flocks o: egho r s >ve c
u-ed rrvo ma'-uie ctcma ation
e\pe- ments Toe n s experi
ment. oeg n” \ugiu. 1 1967
The 30 per cent dried manure leases the Cloister
dale building and flows b\ comevor directly onto a
waiting truck. Only one of nine Cloisterdale buildings
Ed Bowser, farm manager at Cloisterdale. inspects
new manure svstem Fans drv the manure as it drops
from the 30,000 caged hens above: the rig on the floor
pulls the manure to the front ot the bui'ding and dumps
involved a flock ot 3 000 pullets ro ma. poult'v house ventilation
and 246 2O weeks old svstem Most ventilation sv stems
housed in a 30 teet bv 100 feet p ovide adequate air exchange
window less house on an A fiame foi control of house tempeiature
sloping wi e flooi at 057 squaie and to meet oxvgen demand for
foot per bud The expeiinvent the chickens and eliminate ob
tnded on June 24, 1968. noxius odois
In the second expenment be- However, control of moistme
ginning August 12. 1968 and con has been lacking and this has
tinning foi 12 months, involved mcieased the pioblem in all
two 30 feet bv 100 feet window- aspects of handling poult'v
less houses The A-fiame sloping manure
wne floor svs.em was used in To determine the effect of h.gh
one house ana the ' fiame in ?n velocities, foui h HP single
.he othei \bou 3050 pullets and Phase mo-or dmen fans vvitn a
250 cocke e- 20 weeks old weie 3,000 elm capacity weie spaced
placed .n e dt house at about about 22 feet apa't along a cen
-057 squaie .00. flooi space pe lei lllle lr > e«ch pit unde ncath
bud the chickens on the sloping wne
fioo and hung about 15 inches
Experiment I 1967-68 aboit the manuie All fans weie
t-v ~ , , t. oo'nted tow aid the manmcun
Dning Methods Used loading end of die house This
\entilation piouded air \elocities aiei aging
, an at high itloci- ?bout 250 leet pei minute oiei
the accumula.ing ma- the pit aiea
"j-e \as a tnad dimension Tne air exchange po’tion at
adr ed to wha* i 3 considered a the \enulation sistem consisted
C cul" ' 1
t.ei o' c
now use this svstem. but plans are already underway
to convert the rest of the biddings to the drjing system.
it into a channel, from which it is carried by conveyor
directly to the waiting truck. No shoveling, it’s a com
pletely automated system. Bowser's job largely is to
make sure the equipment functions properly.
of one 48-inch exhaust fan
(20,000 cfm free air deliveiy)
located in the end wall at the
manure unloading end of the 100
feet long house This fan,
theimostatically controlled, was
louvied and piovided actual de
livery rates varying from 15,000
cubic feet per minute to as low
as 3 000 cfm
Air inle.s, 10 inches in diam
eter weie spaced about 12 feet
apait in the ceiling along a cen
tei line o\e, each pit The air
was d’?>\n in between lafte’s.
In hot weathei doois in the
house ne'e opened to pio\ide
additional an jnleis
Gtiiriug Manure
Mamne sti nng was accomp
lished h\ pulhng a spike tooth
haiiow t\pe deuce thiough the
dioppmgs Paitialh dued diop
pings we e diawn into the high
lelocuv an stieam with specially
hinged boaids on the stinmg de
' ice Cleaning was accomplished
with the same mechanism Stu-
ling was done from one to ten
times ovei a 24 hour period by
using a time clock contioiled
limit automatic reversing
switches
Supplementary heat
Heat cable matts 18 indie's
wide (40 watts per square -foot
capacity) thermostatically con
trolled, were installed in the con
ciete floor along the center of
the pit duectlj underneath the
watei troughs
Procedures and Results
Thiee dnmg methods weie
used singh and in \anous com
binations in 39 experimental
peuods \aijing in length f.om
one to 44 da\s Stimng alone
was an aid in dijing but did not
lesult m significant diying
Stilling plus use of the fans
cuculating an underneath the
sloping wne flooi to give a tel
ocity avei aging 250 leet pei min
ute, did an excellent job of
diving
When supplemental heat was
used in the conciete slab with a
heat cable, manure could be
duedundei all circumstances
Stilling twice daily, plus op
ei ation ot the circulating fans to
piovide air lelocities of 250 feet
pei minute, lesulted in diying
the manuie to 30 per cent mois
tme in the September 14 to 25
penod In the liont pit wheie the
heat cable was used the manuie
was dued to 19 per cent In
eilhei case the manuie remain
ing which had to be handled w as
i educed to appioximately J /j the
ongmal weight
An electncal cost analysis of
these two methods indicated sub
stantially- highei costs with the
heat cab'e Electncal reqiuie
ments wee meteied separately
foi fans and heat cable
\
The electucal i equirements
foi dicing the manme were con
sideied as the net mciease for
ventilation in kilowatt consump
tion ovei noimal ventilation for
a sinnlai size flock and for a
similai penod of time, as a le
sult of the additional fans used
foi an cnculation The cost of
electucitj consumed was figured
at I*2 cents pei kilowatt houi
With heat cable drying manme
fiom an assumed 75 per cent
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