NEW HOLLAND - It’s not fair to blame North American dairymen for river and stream pollution problems if they control erosion, says Howard Winey of New Holland. Most dairymen have ample land for manure disposal. But many confinement hog and poultry operations are headed for difficulty. It’s the same story almost everywhere intensive systems are in use. In the Netherlands, for example, nearly a third of the country has been placed off limits for hog and poultry expansion because of the manure problems. More manure is already produced than can be used by the crops that can grow there. FORD TRACTORS GET5120...5200... S4OO...ORMORE! ...for your trade-in on new Ford Lawn Products! Rt. 419 between Schaefferstown and Cornwall, Lebanon County, Lebanon, PA 17042 717*949-6501 OR TOLL-FREE 1-800-822-2152 Expert says dairymen don’t cause pollution woes explains Winey, who is product manager for spreaders at New Holland. Since they have too much manure slurry, they are hauling it to other areas up to 120 kilometers away - that’s 75 miles for the tank truck. The Dutch complain that they’re “up to their necks in slurry.” Legislation limiting the size of livestock and poultry operations can be predicted anywhere off farm pollution problems are caused, says Winey. It could happen here, too, he adds. Some farmers are causing a problem even if they don’t have animals, he points out. This is because soil ' ' v( v t ♦ Save On All Fords At Keller Bros. Tractor Co. erosion carries off plant food nutrients in the soil no matter whether the nutrients come from manure or from chemical fer tilizer. Environmentalists often aren’t really sensitive to this reality. When livestock and poultry numbers are limited to produce just the amount of manure that the crop land can use without excess build-up, the problem stays con trolled, providing erosion is con trolled. Animals on pasture are almost never a problem because the numbers just aren’t concentrated enough to cause a manure problem. When a dairy is pastured The Ford 1110 and 1210 REAL TRACTORS FOR THE HOME & FARM Whether you want a picture-perfect estate, a high yielding garden, or maybe both a new Ford 1000 Series tractor is for you! There are over 50 implements available to do most garden jobs you’ve got. And they’re so nimble and easy to operate that tractor work is almost tractor fun! • Six models -11.5 to 28.5 PTO horsepower • Fuel efficient diesel power • 10 or 12-speed transmission • Optional front-wheel drive < /V Lancaster Fanning Saturday, April 12,1986-Dl3 even part of the year, the overall manure disposal problem usually doesn’t get out of hand. It’s estimated a large Holstein dairy cow will produce a maximum of 474 pounds of nitrogen, 142 pounds of phosphate and 237 pounds of potassium in a year’s time. That’s assuming the cow never goes out to pasture. But much of the nitrogen is in the ,iorm of ammonia and is lost to the atmosphere, unless it is stored as a liquid or treated with phosphate. Not nearly the entire amount is available for crop production. Winey points out this also means that the potential amount of nitrogen that could wash into • Live hydraulics • 540 rpm PTO • Category 13-point hitch • Check the features. Then stop by and test one for yourself streams and rivers is also much less than the total amount produced. Where erosion is controlled, dairymen ’ usually aren’t causing problems and it’s unfair to blame them for the problems caused by large swine and poultry operations that have already created serious ground water nitrate problems in a few places. Unless other solutions are found, the confinement hog and poultry operations may face the need to move their manure longer distances to farms that can use additional manure. ♦/ y > ll * •yf > .-'i?
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers