D3S—Lancaster Farmiig, Saturday; February 23,1980 ‘ 5.5 million tons of manure rthat’s a lot of UNIVERSITY PARK - The average 1500-pound Pennsylvania dairy cow producers about 125 pounds of manure a day. The annual “harvest” from all the state’s dairy cows' is estimated at 5.5 million tons. If all this manure could be turned into a methane fuel called “bio-gas,” the result could meet 20 percent of Pennsylvania farms’ energy needs. That potential never will be realized, but manure derived energy may soon play an important role on large, and even medium sized dairy farms-thanks to Penn State researchers. Minimum tillage saves soil, oil LINCOLN, Neb. - “If farmers want to bold fuel costs down, their best bet is less tillage,” says William A. Hayes, agronomist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Soil Con servation Service in Lincoln, Nebraska. Figures compiled Oct. 15, 1979, by the department show that the price of diesel fuel delivered to farms rose 77 percent during the last year and gasoline went up 51 percent. Conventional - or “dean” - tillage, which most far mers use today, requires an average of 7.4 gallons of fuel for each acre cultivated. In conventional tillage, the moldboard plowing, disking and other operations require many trips over the same field. A no-till system, in which the soil is not touched until ATTENTION FARMERS AND TRUCKERS GO trailers are designed for today’s need on the farm, they can handle heavy loads and resist hard work. STANDARD METAL TOP STOCK TRAILER AS SHOWN ABOVE COMES IN LENGTHS OF 14 & 16 FEET. CHECK OUR PRICES BEFORE YOU BUY FISHER & STOLTZFUS TRAILER SALES Call 717-354-0233 or 717-768-3832 East of New Holland, PA The have developed and built an experimental “anaerobic disgester” that generates methane gas for power and heat, and leaves a rich nitrogen fertilizer that plants can absorb nutrients from more readily than they can from the original manure. Converting the wastes from 50 cows, the device daily produces the methane energy equivalent of 20 gallons of gasoline. About 30 percent is used to run the digester. The rest is available for powering stationary machinery, such planting time and residues from earlier crops are left on the field, requires only about 1.25 gallons of gasoline per acre. “There is no doubt about it,” said Hayes. “Con servation tillage not only reduces oil consumption to about one sixth of that required for ordinary tillage operations, it also reduces soil erosion 50 percent to 90 percent.” \ow-to manual available as an electrical generator professor of agricultural unit or for cooking, and , engineering; Raymond W. space and water Heating. Regan, associate professor “Unfortunately,” says of civil engineering; and of its developers, August E. Branding, agricultural engineering .professor emeritus of dairy professor Howard D. Bar-, science-have written a tlett, “the device presently is manual on construction and expensive to build-at least operation of digesters. $20,000-and only can pay for It will be published in late itself on a large farm, where February by the Umyer all the energy produced can sity’s Agricultural Ex be utilized efficiently.” periment Station. This situation may The idea is not new-Sir change, however, Bartlett Humphrey Davey ex adds, if conventional fuel perimented with a digester prices continue to rise, and if i° 1808; fuel-starved Ger the basic digester com- many built 30 of them during ponents begin to be mass World War H; and small produced. models are today used in y Seeking to design a China and India for cooking relatively efficient and and as fuel forengine driven economical digester that generators. But digesters could be modified and have not been economical manufactured by industry, enough to warrant Bartlett and his colleagues widespread use in the United completed, in 1975, one of the States, nation’s first large-scale The P enn State resear anaerobic digesters for ' chers hope that, as more are processing dairy manure, built, with varying (The University of Missouri specifications, the systems built one for swine wastes.) whl become more efficient Since then, the original and less costly. Penn State model has been What is an anaerobic modified, and the 3500-cubic digester? foot device has been “Essentially,” explains operated successfully at a Bartlett, “it’s a device that University dairy barn. And speeds up and controls last fall, a digester was nature’s process, which started at Mason-Dixon occurs spontaneously, dairy farm to fuel an engine- ‘ ‘Bio-gas is like marsh gas. generator for supplying It results from acid-forming most of the farm’s electrical bacteria decomposing needs organic materials in the To encourge and aid other absence of air. Thus, by farmers, the Penn State sealing appropriate bae scientists-Bartlett and teria, along with manure Sverker P.E. Persson, and/or other farm wastes, in a n j> tCUADDC —l THE MOWER THAT MAKES OTHER MOWERS OBSOLETE ,/ • - - ' 1. ELIMINATES HAND TRIMMING (Because your' mower deck is out front) 2. 2. HAS ZERO TURNING RADIUS OPTIONAL ATTACHMENTS AVAILABLE • Snowthrower or snow plow • Vacuum grass catcher PENNSYLVANIA A.F.M. EQUIPMENT CO. Plainsville, Pa. Luzerne Co. 717-824-7918 BLUE MOUNTAIN ENT EH PRIZE Jonestown, Pa., Lebanon Co. 717-865-2994 CH Alt LIE’S SALES! SERVICE Broeue, Pa., York Co. 717-927-6500 IMS LAWN MOWER SERVICE Harrisburg, Pa. Dauphin Co. 717-545-5114 AVAILABLE AT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING DEALERS: KOCHS NURSERY! EQUIPMENT CO. Sinking Spring, Pa., Berks Co. 215-777-2021 LAWN CARE OF. PA. Martindale, Pa.. Lancaster, Co. JOHN McCLURE JR. Warriors Mark, Pa., Huntingdon Co. 814-632-5955 NEMAN EQUIPMENT Dover. Pa., York Co. 71^-29^-2101 SEE US AT THE 1980 FARM EQUIPMENT EXPO., FARM SHOW BUILDING FEB. 28 - MARCH Ist r-» 215-445-4541 an airtight tank called a digester, and regulating the temperature you get methane and carbon-dioxide gases, and a large amount of nitrogen-rich effluent “Only a small percentage of manure becomes bio-gas, mainly because manure is 85 percent water. In the Penn State digester, 20 to 30 New & Used Silos New & Used Extensions Tear down & Rebuild Replastering, roofs, permanent pipe & distributors Jamesway Uiiloaders Barn Equipment Write or Call DETWEILER SILOS Rd 2 Box 267-0 Newville, PA 17241 Phone:- 717-532-3039 717-776-7533 717-776-3288 3. ALL HYDROSTATIC DRIVEN 4. MOWER P.T.O. SHAFT DRIVEN $ lOO CASH REBATE On Purchase of any 1980 Model Grasshopper Mower now thru March 4th. Make your best deal then get an extra *lOO cash from Lawn Care Distributors. 12 or 16H.P. Engine In 44", 52", and 61" Mower Deck Widths ROGLEN EQUIPMENT THOMAS POWER EQUIPMENT Elverson. Pa., Chester, Co. Avondale, Pa.,'Chester Co. 215-286-9648 215-268-2181 DELAWARE STAUBS MOWER SERVICE Arentsville, Pa., Adams, Co. KEENER A SENSENIG CO, 717-677-8444 Wilmington, Del. 302-655-2790 CROMPTON BROS. St George, Del. 302-834-4602 STOLTZFUS FARM SERVICE • Cochranville, Pa., Chester, Co. 215-593.2407 DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED LAWN CARE DISTRIBUTORS PHONE: 215-445-4541 p fiiel ■ percent of the manure solids ate converted lo bio-gas,' which has 60 percent of the energy of natural gas.” . . The manual “Agricultural Anaerobic Digesters,’* will be available as Bulletin #827, from the Agricultural Ex periment Station; Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers