Beware of brown snow Talk about difficult public relations jobs. How would you like the task of trying to convince a bunch of city-bred suburbanites they should really appreciate the smell of fresh cow manure being spread on farmland? That’s exactly the task Lee Cordner, a University of Vermont waste management specialist, took on. He issued a news release recently telling Vermonters that cow manure doesn’t really smell all that bad, that a lot of fanners only spread a couple of tunes a year, and besides that what else are Vermont farmers going to do 5 S £ £ £ £ A A -A -A A A s § $ £ s ft •A A ft ft A A* A« A A A* A A £ £ A A A A A A A Ak WE OTTER CLARK-BOBCAT SALES, nuns and SERVICE. Call us for BOBCAT SALES or rental Call us for BOBCAT SERVICE Our wCiqRK factory-trained personnel are ready to put you back in operation ;S9lPils, * bobcat Call us for BOBCAT PARTS We have parts availability from the shelf Bobcat 610, Wisconsin gas engine, 54” bucket Bobcat 722, Ford gas engine, hydrostatic drive, 60” bucket Bobcat 730, Wisconsin gas engine, hydrostatic drive, grapple A A A A A A A A s s GfttAUR PROFITS Call for a demonstration! ■‘ o ° 4500 Paxton St. • Harrisburg, PA Route 309 (Drums) • Hazleton, PA A A A A A A A A ft ? 2S 5 ~-ZM * S S vv CHIRK | § CLARK MELROE DIVISION Farm Talk Jerry Webb with 3.8 million tons of that aromatic material? Cordner points out dairy producers who are doing a really good job of manure management spread the stuff very seldom. In between times, it’s stored in smell proof containers. In that way, Cordner says the farmer is maximizing the nutritional value derived from the manure and is eliminating runoff that could pollute nearby streams and lakes. “If a farmer wef-e to spread manure every day of the year, some days it would have to spread in the rain or on the snow. The USED BOBCATS Call us for more details subject to prior sale or rental. HIGHWAY manure then could be washed away and nutrients could go into the water where they fertilize unwanted algae.” The specialist also eludes to a particularly messy problem for Vermonters that of cross country skiing on fields where cow manure has been spread. “Beware of brown snow,” he cautions. Cordner goes on to point out the special advantage of cow manure even if it doesn’t smell too good. It does contain important nutrients that would otherwise be replaced with expensive commercial fer tilizers that consume energy in their production. According to the waste management specialist, it would take the equivalent of 47 gallons of gasoline to replace the nutrients that are produced by just one cow each year. And in Vermont where there are 190,000 cows, that figures out to a saving of 8.9 million gallons of gasoline. Of course, all that doesn’t change the smell of cow manure, but there are some things dairy producers can do to lessen the problem, according to Cordner. Having an on-farm storage tank is the first step. Then he’s suggesting producers should only spread manure when conditions are right that means a low relative humidity, high winds, clear sunny weather, and soils that are not frozen and are dry enough to work. He says he thinks farmers should (717) 564-3031 (717)788-1127 )»»»»»»»)»^ »»»»»»»>ju^^ 5 S 9 M v v v v M V v y m y v ** v y v v V v X} V « §? a a y y «5» sg V g «5» g v C> M 9 y X incorporate their manure into the soil when it’s spread, or im mediately afterwards, and he says he feels the best time to spread is in the morning when the air is warming and rising. And, of course, there are the obvious problems to avoid like spreading when the wind is blowing towards the neighbor’s place, or toward populated areas or heavily traveled highways, or just before weekends or holidays, when neighbors are apt to be outside. Some dairy operations smell bad all the time and some are barely noticeable, and Cordner says he thinks it has a lot to do with the management technique of the dairy producers. Some farmers don’t seem to care about manure smells, suggesting only that city folk who move to the country should expect that. And if they don’t like it, they should move back to town. But times are changing and more and more urbanites are moving to the country and they’re bringing with them some en vironmental standards. Usually the fragrant smell freshly spread cow manure, wafting over fields and meadows, is not in cluded m their acceptability tolerance. Cordner says farmers faced with such purists, who insist on com- Uncaster Farming, Saturday, August 1,1911—03 plaining every time the honey wagon heads for the field, can do some other things to cure their odor problems. But they’re ex pensive. These include pumping oxygen into manure storage areas, dehydrating the manure mechanically, and adding chemicals which must be applied in large amounts. Another solution may be in the production of biogas. A successful biogas generator is already in operation on a farm near Get tysburg. These units are odor-free, and they supply methane gas which can be used on the farm as an energy source. So maybe Cordner hasn’t con vinced too many rural residents that they should enjoy the fragrance of cow manure. But be does present an overwhelming reality what else are farmers going to do with it? After all, it is a very natural process and there just isn’t any way to shut it down. Deodorizing is expensive, im practical, probably en vironmentally unsafe. On the other hand, the time-honored system of manure storage and distribution benefits the environment, saves energy, helps protect our food supply, and does create an oc casional bad smell. Maybe it’s a trade-off that (Turn to Page D 4)
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