—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 5,1977 20 Underground manure pumping gaining favor A manure pumping unit such as this one is taking on manure handling chores at more and more farms across the country. The one above was recently in stalled at the Maplehofe dairy farm near Quarryville. By CARLTON D, STODDARD Pumping solid manure underground to a remote storage reservoir makes good sanitation sense, dairyman-veterinarian Dr. John A. Mehling believes. One such system was recently installed at the Maplehofe dairy farm, south of Quarryville in Lancaster County. Flushing manure with thousands of gallons of water into a lagoon, daily spreading on top of the ground, or stacking manure in a pile, will be obsolete and unacceptable methods of manure disposal in the future, he predicts. Mehling recognized that the new underground pumping system offers possibilities of improved manure management. He journeyed to Minnesota for a firsthand look at new solid piston manure pump in stallations where flies and odors have virtually vanished. Vivid in Mehling’s mind were reports warning of acttle and hog deaths from asphyxiation by fumes from liquid manure pits. He shared the concern of agricultural engineers Dr. Richard Guest at Cornell University and Dr. A Roger Grout at Pennsylvania State University that agitation of liquid manure pits can stir up lethal gas endangering herd owners and animals alike. Reports of methane gas explosions and suffocation from hydrogen sulfide generated in liquid manure pits under slat floors were well known to Mehlmg. He preferred a solid manure system for his own registered Holstein dairy herd near Van Etten, New York. Liquid manure systems with daily or hourly flushing require large amounts of water, and multiply tonnage to be hauled and spread, Mehling noted. Water is a resource which must be preserved and husbanded like the valuable nutrients in manure itself, he insists. Mehling is unusually qualified to evaluate new ideas in manure management. He was student herdsman of the Ohio State University dairy herd, and obtained Ohio State degrees in both dairy sceince and veterinary medicine. Mehling’s new solid piston pump manure system is a model of efficiency. Con ventional manure gutter conveyors empty into a horizontal hydraulic pump with 10%” inch diameter piston. Reciprocating with a long slow stroke like a Corliss steam engine, the big plunger compresses heavily bedded manure and impels it underground through a 12- CLICK'S ROOFING & SPOUTING Handler & Installer Of BAKED ENAMEL TIN ROOFS Colors: Turquoise, Red, Olive Green, Rust, Brown, White and Plain. Sires: 5 ft up to 36 ft. All in one. Also cut to exact length. SAMUEL B. CLICK R.DI, Rimer, Pa PH 17171442 4921 Call in Morning Before 6 30 and Evenings after 6 00 P M No Sunday Calls inch diameter high strength polyvinyl pipe to a remote 40 by 90 foot manure storage reservoir located a safe distance from the dairy barn. Mehling elected the large solid piston pump in preference to hollow piston pumps which are intended to handle only semi-solid or slurry manure without bedding. About six bales of straw a day are used for bedding, which helps to form a heavily matted crust on the manure surface in the storage. Manure from the un derground pipe ejects up ward into the storage from the bottom, unlike manure stackers which add a layer daily on top of a pile, ex posing the fresh manure to flies, and releasing odors. Thick dry crust on the stored manure helps prevent pupation of fly larvae, seals in odors, and insulates against extremes of tem perature. Hot summer sun can drive off fertile nutrients. Heat can overaccelerate bacterial action in manure and decimate nutrients the way it deteriorates silage or wet grain. Winter cold can freeze manure rock solid and delay hauling in spring past planting time. Mehlmg planned the manure reservoir with a concrete floor which slopes from ground level to eight feet depth at the far end. AMERICAN BREEDERS SERVICE ★ ★ SALE TOPPERS ★ ★ THE AMERICAWLABS - SIRED HOLSTEIN SALE OCTOBER 8,1977 49 HEAD REPRESENTING 32 DIFFERENT SIRES TOPPED ALL A.L SALES WITH A >5,4114 AVERAGE BURLEY BOOTMAKER VALID EX-91 $42,000 SIRE 29H1881 BOOTMAKER SKAGVALE FRASEA HATTIE $13,500 51RE29H1958 FRASEA SWEET-HAVEN CITATION TIFFANY VG-89. $12,700 SIRE 29H1883R MAPLE MISS AMERICANA PRINCESS $12,500 SIRE 29H1869 MONITER PAULO-BRO R MAPLE MAID-TWIN EX-94 $12,200 SIRE 29H1883R MAPLE BALLS POLYBOOTS DEMAND $lO,OOO SIRE 29H2510 DEMAND AMERICAN BREEDERS SERVICE CONGRATULATES CLARK E. BAKER of HARRINGTON, DELAWARE on his recent dispersal. 80 percent of the herd was ABS sired. 116 head averaged $870.77.93 ABS sired animals averaged *909.38. CARRIE LONE-OAK BOOTMAKER $2,300 SIRE 29H1881 BOOTMAKER CLARIRL LANCER SAUCY. $2,250 SIRE 29H1866 LANCER QUEEN PEARLIONE OAK SIZZLER $2,200 SIRE 29H1924 SIZZLER ACB ROCKET JENNIE. $2,000 SIRE 29H1830 CENTURION POINSETTA LONE-OAK R MAPLE $1,850 SIRE 29H1883R MAPLE PEONY LONE OAK DOUBLE TRIUNE * $l,BOO SIRE 29H1926 DOUBLE TRIUNE MISS TRACY LONE OAK SIZZLER $l,BOO SIRE 29H1924 SIZZLER MISS ECB DOUBLE TRIUNE JOYCE 51,800 SIRE 29H1926 DOUBLE TRIUNE Bangor, PA EncHeinsohn 215-588-4704 Ephrata, PA Darvin Yoder 717-733-0966 Gap, PA Lynn Gardner 717-656-6509 -*■ nnn Holtwood.PA Paul Herr 717-284-4592 fmfl U||i| Landisville, PA James Charles 717-898-8694 El Kclm HUH Manheim, PA Lamar Witmer 717-898-8694 flUli Mina Port Murray, NJ Robert Kayhart 201-689-2605 wgggggg ■JuSSSB Reading, PA Robert Greider 215-378-1212 HSBSjS wmnam Richland. PA Paul Martin 717-866-4228 VHtfjHHP ® Shippensburg, PA Jerry Baboms 717-532-3711 ® Thomasville, PA Ira Boyer 717-225-3758 Vincentown, NJ Gerald Hall 609-859-3783 Whitehouse Station, NJ Robert Colburn 201-534-4483 , West Grove, PA Maurice Stump 215-869-9187 a serving as a ramp for easy entrance A regular tractor hydraulic scoop loader and conventional manure spreader can be driven down the ramp floor mto the storage. Immediately after it is hauled to the field, manure is plowed under to seal nutrients in the soil and prevent run off. One man on the tractor The top 10 animals averaged $13,190 THE TOP 10 AVERAGED $1,927.50 plow and one man on the spreader work as a team. Mehlmg agrees whole heartedly with Cornell University extension agronomist Dr. Stu Klausner that plowing manure under immediately is a must. Diversion terraces were constructed to prevent barnyard run off water from entering the manure (Continued on Page 21)
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