Manure management
(Continued from Page A 32)
manure and soil, Dave Swartz
showed a manure test kit which is
available through Extension. The
$22 test analyzes nitrogen, the
most valuable nutrient in the
manure, phosphate and potash. Of
course, soil tests must follow as
well.
At the third farm, owned by Ivan
Zook, the group looked at how a
picket dam drains excess water
from his earthbank storage with a
concrete bottom. The liquid flows
by gravity through 900 feet of
drainage tile to a meadow
diversion terrace.
While Ivan currently uses a
front-end loader to push the
manure from the stall barn and
heifer housing into the pit,
discussion centered around the
ease with which he could install a
gravity system from the stall barn
to the pit.
Dan Meyer explained that by
using a 36-inch pipe, with nearly an
eight foot drop from the stall barn
to the pit, 4,000 pounds of pressure
would be created to push the
manure out into the pit. The only
additional change that Meyer
recommended was a change from
long to chopped straw, to diminish
any chance that the system would
plug up.
The Zook manure storage
system handles the waste from
both the stall barn and the heifer
housing, a feature that Dan Meyer
pointed out to,the dairymen as
worth consideration. The
dairyman should always look
ahead toward future changes, too,
so that potential for expansion can
be designed into the system.
Before moving on to the next
farm, discussion returned to the
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financial pluses of manure
management systems. Despite the
estimated savings on fertilizer
costs of $5O per cow, many farmers
still can’t see laying out the initial
investment for installing the
system.
To answer this concern, Henry
Bohn, of the federal Agricultural
Conservation Program, explained
the funding opportunities available
to farmers who want to install a
manure management system. In
Berks County, ACP will fund 75
percent of the cost of the animal
waste facility up to $2,500, and in
some counties the upper limit is
$3,500.
In addition, through the
Chesapeake clean-up effort an
additional $2 million will be
available to aid farmers who are
willing to adopt better waste
management practices.
As discussion turned to the
problems in the Chesapeake Bay
watershed, Berks Extension agent
Clyde Myers reminded the
dairymen to take the lead. “If we
don’t watch ourselves, the federal
government may end up
regulating how much manure we
can put on our fields,” he
cautioned.
Dan Meyer also commented on
governmental crackdown on the
pollution problems. The high
nitrate levels in Lancaster County
groundwater, for instance, may
lead to DER mandatory guidelines
for applying nitrogen.
The fourth manure system
viewed on the tour was a 360,000-
gallon, 16X62 Butler Liqui-Stor on
the farm of Marvin and Gary
Stoltzfus, Elverson. This offers six
months of storage for 100 cows.
Manure from the free stall bam is
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scraped into a reception pit and
pumped into the storage, and
parlor wastes are also diverted
into it.
While this system required the
greatest investment, including the
cost of equipment, it also has some
advantages for some dairy
operations.
.In this particular case,
remarked Berks County SCS
technician Roy Shryock, the high
water table of the land surrounding
the barns would have meant
trouble with drainage.
Dan Meyer noted that he figures
about a 70 cow minimum for
considering a liquid manure
system that may require a $50,000
to $BO,OOO investment. He also
pointed out that a liquid system is
well-suited for free stall
operations, and it does offer ad
vantages for incorporating the
manure into the soil.
In Marvin and Gary’s operation
all the manure is injected into the
ground. In any manure system,
incorporating the manure into the
soil as soon as possible is crucial to
prevent nitrogen losses. Twenty
five percent of the nitrogen is lost
each day it sits on top of the soil.
At the fifth and final farm on the
tour, the Extension and SCS
personnel gave the group an op
portunity to see the planning and
design that goes into creating a
manure storage system. At the
Harvey Z. Stoltzfus farm the SCS
personnel have designed a system
that has yet to be built.
Currently Harvey hauls manure
every day, and last winter he
stored it on a pile because he
couldn’t get into the fields.
Everything from designing around
a township road that splits his
property, to diverting surface
water runoff, to incorporating
waste from a nearby heifer
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An advantage of a liquid manure system is that the waste
can be injected directly into the soil with minimum nutrient
loss.
facility, had to be taken into
consideration in the plans.
What SCS has come up with for
Harvey is a gravity flow system
from the stall barn to an earthen
bank pit with concrete bottom,
which will be situated across the
road near the heifer housing. SCS
engineer Marina Juhl outlined the
detailed specifications written up
by SCS.
And what everyone should
realize, pointed out Clyde Myers, is
that all of the SCS services
provided to Harvey up to that point
are free. And once the design is
done, the farmer is under no
obligation to build the system.
Very often they design systems
and nothing ever comes of it,
added Marina.
Also the SCS planners strictly
follow DER guideline l ! For this
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reason, and because of the cost
sharing benefits, remarked Clyde
Myers, using SCS is a real plus.
“Should DER ever come to you
about pollution problems, you’d
have a leg to stand on in court if
you’ve followed their guidelines,”
he noted.
In concluding the day’s
program, Marina Juhl reminded
everyone that SCS is not trying to
force their ideas on anybody. “We
want to work with the farmer and
do what’s in his best interest.”
As a dairyman, maybe you need
to think about your best interests,
too, and take a look at your manure
management system. Planning
and building a system tailored to
your individual needs may be a
healthy addition to the efficiency of
your dairy operation.
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