Monure Drying System Cuts Odors, Weight; May Lead to Commercial Product
)s Cloisterdale Pioneering Poultry Industry Breakthrough?
Tv,o Long Island, New York
farmers and their county agent
were in Lancastei County re
cently to see a new poultry
manure disposal system in oper
ation
Accompanied by Jay W Irwin,
associate Lancastei County agri
cultural agent, the visitors view
ed the new manure drying sys
tem at Cloisterdale Farms,
Ephiata RDI.
Cloisterdale now has the new
system installed and in operation
at three ot its nine 30,000 bird
houses
The system is the first com
merical operation based on re
search by Dr Glenn Bressler
tad his associates of the Penn
Slate University poultry staff
Basically, the concept involves
a system-of stinmg the waste
with pulley-dnven metal equip
ment and drying it through the
use of large fans.
The concept has two key at
tractions in relation to present
systems.
First, the drying action kills
bactena which cause odors,
thereby eliminating the odor
factor which some poultrymen
have found to be serious, parti
culaily where the farm is near
residential areas.
Second, the system reduces the
weight considerably by eliminat
ing a large portion of the mois
ture The Cloisterdale opera
tion reduces moisture to about
30 per cent. This m turn gisat
ly reduces the weight and
volume of waste to be handled.
Dr. Bressler and the Penn
State staff are/continuing to
worta toward development of a
system for further diymg the
manure to the eight j to tea per
cent level to further decrease the
weight and help make the pro
duct feasible for commercial
sales
It is hoped that manure, in
stead of being a liability to poul
trymen and a waste product
which must be disposed of in
the fastest and least costly man
ner possible, can become a sale
able and profitable asset for the
poultry industiy.
Irwin pointed out that the
Cloisterdaie drying system has
become a model for the industiy
and that the firm is now receiv
ing visitors fiom several states
and from other producers with
in Pennsylvania who have waste
disposal pioblems and need to
find a permanent solution
The visitors from New York
recently were - Pete Kerber,
owner of Kerber’s Poultry Farm,
Huntingdon, Long Island, and
Edwaid Makinajian, owner of
Makmajian Poultry Farm, Long
Island, and their Suffolk County
ag agent, Robert L Brown Ker
ber and Makinajian-each have
about a 12,000 layer opeiation
that includes retail stores
Kerbei in pai titular emphasiz
ed that he is 'sunounded very
closely by residential neighbors
and that he must find solutions
fo his waste problem, particular
ly the odor problem
Keiber has attempted a sys
tem similar to the Cloisterdale
system, but he made the trip
here because it wasn’t working
satisfactorily.
In particular, he indicated that
the manure wasn’t being dried
to the 30 per cent level and he
wanted to find out why
The visitors touied the three
Cloisterdale buildings which
have been converted to the new
system The system was ex
plained in detail and questions
were answered by Ed Bowser,
production manager Later, the
sj stem was further , discussed
with Glenn Herr, farm manager,
and Di Biessler, who stopped by
with other Penn State poultry
specialists.
Kerber was told that probably
the air flow is not sufficient
under his present set-up to
achieve adequate diying Kerber
indicated that his fans blow the
an in one dnection, but the air
is exhausted to one side It was
indicated that he should provide
for exhaust of the air in the
direction in which the air is
blown by the fans Under the
present side exhaust system, not
enough moisture is being re
moved from the building, it was
indicated.
During the discussion, the
necessity of providing a ven
tilation system which will re
move the moisture was re
peatedly stressed
Cloisterdale has gained con
siderable experience with its
new system and has made sev
eral changes and modifications to
make it work better and more
efficiently Staitmg out with 63
fans in the first building, the
number was reduced to 52 in
the second and to 48 in the third
The firm anticipates that further
reductions can be made m the
Grange Leadership School Slated
Key personnel from the 60,000-
membership Pennsylvania State
Grange will be enrolled from
nearly every in the state
in the 48th Qpange leadership
school, June f 2£-24, at Gettys
burg, to A. Wayne
Readinger, ‘rtifefer.
For the fifth consecutive year,
the -three-day in-service training
program will be on the Gettys
burg College campus where dor
mitories and dining commons
will provide food service and
lodging.
See Editorial Page
Editor’s Note See editoii
als, Max Smith column and
Rev. Lawrence W. Althouse
column on Page 20.
This page, which we call
the editorial page, has been
permanently moved to the
fourth page of Section Two.
While it has a new location,
the page itself is the same as
before
It’s easy to find It’s in the
same location as before, ex
cept it’s in Section Two in
stead of Section One.
The change also allows
some of our markets, parti
cularly the poultry markets,
to be carried on page four
Markets now are on pages
two, thiee and four.
Masonic Homes, Conebella Ayrshires Honored
Two area Ayrshire faims re
ceived lecogmtion for outstand
ing achievement at the 96th
national Ayrshue meeting and
banquet in Louisville, Kentucky,
recently
Masonic Homes Farm of Eliz
abethtown received one of 12
French Memorial Trophies
awarded for outstanding milk
production for herds eni oiled
in official DHIR milk testing
programs
Having the second highest
milk production for Ayrshire
herds of 75 to 100 cows, Masonic
Homes’ 86 cows averaged 12,288
future as the firm gams exper
ience with converting its present
liquid system.
Experience has shown, for in
stance, that with an even distri
bution of fans throughout the
building a better drying job is
achieved at the far end of the
building away from the fans
Bowser speculates that this is
tiue because as the fans cany
the moist air from the back oi
the building to the front moia
and more moisture accumulate!
in the air.
Since removal of moisture u
the key to the whole operation,
its believed that in the futuia
a moie even drying can bo
achieved by placing fewer fans
at, the rear of the building and
more toward the fiont
It’s steps like these that repre
sent continued perfection of an
already going system
Actually, the biggest hurdlei
already are past Bowser noted,
for instance, that when the firm
v/as converting the first building,
n nearly gave up on the whole
idea when high moisture levels
began to accumulate in the build
ing The problem became so
serious that the wood was get-
Readmger said discussion and
workshop programs will focus
or- techniques aimed at develop
ing leadeiship potential Tiain
ing will be directed to masters,
overseers, lecturers and chair
men of junior, youth, and wom
-"en.’s activity They will fepre :
sent nearly all of the 57 Pomona
granges and moie than half of
the 623 subordinate bodies
throughout the state.
Heading the four major divi
sions of the school will be Miss
Mildred M Shultz, Somerset,
state lecturer, Mrs Ross Metz,
Allensville, state chairman of
women’s activities, Mr and Mrs
Kenneth Schlegel, Fleetwood
RD3, youth co-chanmen, and
Mrs. Alan Merkel, Kutztown
EDS, junior chairman
0 Walker Shannon, Aliquippa,
Regional Agency Manager foi
the National Grange Mutual In
surance Company, past state lec
turer and past state overseer,
will be keynote speaker at the
opening session Dr Frank B
Williams, dean of students, will
give a welcome address for the
College.
Guest speakers will include Di
William M Smith Jr, from the
Pennsylvania State University,
and L S Willson, liaison man
ager for the Dupont Company
Wilmington, Del Willson will
address the school banquet June
23 Readmgei will pieside
pounds of milk at 4 per cent excels in breeding foi both milk pounds of butteifat for a 46 per
butteifat m 305 days production and superior body cent test A special certificate
A Masonic Homes’ older ma- conformation Some 48 bleeders was awaided
ti on was recognized foi her life- qualified for this honor in 1970 Conebella R C Sue, a iunior
time f m f l]l ; nn P nn 0 n UCtIOn d “T™' On a strict twice-a-day milking , oWned T a . nd
Zo cl I ° o,oo l I T dS dU p ng schedule for 305 days, Gable’s exhibited by Gable was Junior
1970 She was Mt Harmon Pre- cows made an annual productjon Champion at the Kentucky
ferred Behnda with 111,610 Mational Ajrshire Show,
nounds of 4 5 oer cent milk *'eiage of 14,113 pounds of milk
p .. . no „ _ ; ~,, - t . and 561 pounds of butterfat The Latei she sold in the Grand
S c,al'S.Z”fwa"p.ei„ted score avet.se Nat.onal Ayrshire Sale to Pau!
KrtSSeT P “ 85 7 »Iv Hebbe Jf Fort Atkiosoo,
Elsewheie at the annual One of Gable’s older cows was lsconsin 01 >
meeting, Charles H Gable, own- recognized for her lifetime milk R C Sue is sired by Conebella
er of Conebella Farm, Elverson, production achievement of 150 - Ruth’s Commander, a bull bred
earned his thirteenth Constiuc- 000 pounds During 1970, Cone- bj the Gables and in service at
tive Breeder Award in recogni- bella Champion 2nd leached Atlantic Bleeders Cooperative at
tion of herds in which the owner 151,062 pounds of milk and 6,915 Lancaster.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 12,1971
ting wet and if the pioblem
hadn’t been solved the building
would soon have been destroyed
fay rot, Bowser said The fnm
made several changes in the
system at this point and the
problem was solved No one is
ceitain what change solved the
problem but Hen said he be
lieves it was probably the mtio
duction of exhaust fans to take
the moistuie-laden an out of the
building
The fnm previously used a pit
system involving mixtuie of
water with the waste and le
moval of it as a liquid
But the liquid system didn’t
solve any problems and it ueat
ed some Addition of watei to
the waste, for instance, gieatly
increased the weight and volume
of mattei which had to be dis
posed of
With increasing public concern
about the environment and more
stungent enforcement of health
and environment laws by go\ -
ernment, Cloisterdale officials
have indicated theie is gi eater
pressuie to reduce odoi and pol
lution through watei i un-off
A paiticularly critical problem
with the liquid system is timing
Although neighboring farmeis
have cooperated in taking the
waste on their fields, it can only
be taken at certain times that
will not interfere with crops
Severe run-off problems can
occur if the matenal is spread
when the ground is frozen
The combination of restnc-
tions has limited the spieadmg
of the liquid waste to a relative
ly short period during the year
and this period doesn’t always fit
well with Cloisterdale’s own
needs
By eliminating the odor and
greatly reducing the weight,
Cloisterdale hopes eventually to
provide a much broadei usage
of its manure, perhaps even
making it a profitable commer
cial fertilizer or ingredient in
existing fertilizers.
Instead of competing for time
and space to unload a waste
product, Cloisterdale hopes there
will come a time when others
will compete to obtain a desir
able product
Kerber of Long Island thinks
this is a realistic goal Even with
his present product, which isn’t
I Elmn q
Second Section
nearly as good as the Cloister
dale pioduct, Kerber says he al
leady has a demand from his
xesidential customers He en
visions the poultiy feitiluer as
a potential major sale item at his
letail outlet
But fust Kerber has to solve
his production pioblems That’s
why he came to Cloisterdale,
talked to Cloisterdale officials
and the Bressler staff to find out
how to do the jab right
The Long Island group is oirijr
one of many to show deep in
terest in the Biessler Cloister
dale system While the local
operation is one of the most ad
vanced using the new drying
concept, similai research is re
poited underway in many other
slates
There’s growing convicted*
that the new drying system will
be the biggest bi eakthrougfe in
the poultry industry since Mm
Marek’s vaccine.
Many within the poultry in
dustry considei the waste proh
lem as bj far the industry’*
most critical problem. And Mm
ieehng is growing that the Bre*-
slei-Cloisterdale system irfl
solve this problem
Poultrymen Set
Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of tk*
Lancaster County Poultry Asso
ciation has been set for October
14 at the Plain and Fancy
taurant, Bird-m-Hand. ~
Enos Heisey, Agway, Harris
burg, director of public rela
tions, Agway, will present a
slide lectuie on agriculture in
Africa
Plans for the annual event
were made at the Association’s
regular meeting Monday at the
Farm and Home Center.
It was reported that the Asso
ciation has sold all of it’s 111,000
placemats to local restaurants.
The placemats, in cooperation
with the Pennsylvania Poultry
Federation, promote egg con
sumption.
17