014-La ncaster Farming Saturday, July 28,1990
Swine
Management
News
DR. RICHARD BARCZGWSKI
Extension County Agricultural Agent
University of Delaware
MANURE STORAGE ANSWER
TO ODOR ON HOG FARM
The animal industry most
affected by the influx of urban
development into rural areas will
be swine production. The reason
for this is the odors generated on
hog farms. A major contributor to
the odor problems is manure stor
age facilities that were not
designed with odor reduction in
mind. This malodorous situation
can exist even when regulations
and permits are properly adhered
to.
Hog manure is one of the most
olfactory-offensive and persistent
manures. This makes it more of a
problem to deal with than, say,
cow or chicken manure. Producers
can, however, minimize the odors
manure generates.
Manure odors are worse when
the wastes are allowed to become
anaerobic or septic in pits or
lagoons that have a large surface
area compared to overall volume.
This is especially true in warmer
weather, which causes the anaer
obic organisms to work and pro
duce mote offensive gases. For
this reason, manures should not be
stored in shallow, anaerobic pits.
Deep pits help to avoid the temp
erature fluctuations that cause
anaerobic bacteria to work.
If the water table on your farm
is too high to allow pits to be con
structed deeply enough, pit covers
may help shade the manure and
prevent the escape of pit gasses.
This alternative can be expensive.
Determine the most cost-efficient
method of covering available with
a thorough study of the situation.
If you have questions about
building a manure storage facility,
contact your county extension
agent, soil conservationist, and
local Department of Natural
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Resources representative to make
sure you are following the proper
guidelines. If odors are a potential
problem, remember to consider
this when finalizing structure
design.
Most of the manure odors on
Delmarva’s farms are a result of
the annual or biannual manure
spreading ritual. During these
times, neighbors tend to be the
least sensitive to manure odors
and producers can do a little tact
ful planning to avoid problems.
In spreading hog manure, the
best method to reduce odors is to
knife the manure directly into the
ground. The manure is deposited
below the surface of the ground,
which reduces the odor. If knifing
is ont of the question, soil incorpo
ration soon after spreading is the
next best alternative.
Choosing the best day to spread
manure is also important if you are
working at being a good neighbor.
Never (and I mean never ) spread
manure on warm, sunny
weekends, or holidays. At these
times, your neighbors are almost
certainly at home and their win
dows open. When possible, plan
your spreading at times of the year
when houses are closed up and
your neighbors are at work.
Where you spread and the kind
of manure you spread must also be
taken into consideration. Nobody
and I’ll include your farmer
neighbors in this group likes to
have hqg manure spread near their
homes. Even though I’ve worked
with hogs all during my graduate
career, there are times when hog
manure odors are offensive even
to me.
I hear complaints from people
who think there ought to be a law
protecting their right to farm as
they always have in agriculturally
zones areas, even as urban
encroachment closes in on them.
But I would rather see a right-to
farm-responsibly law. No one
should be allowed to spread man
ure within a few hundred feet of a
house where a picnic is going on.
Many of the problems that occur
between farmers and their subur
ban neighbors flare when little
common sense is used in making
decisions.
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Juat one more thing. We fellowe make
our living doing thi» kind of work, and '
we’ve got children to feed and * billa. '
That*e our tide of it, but you’ve got each 1
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thU Scabbling aavea a whole lot more
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It’ll put ahoet on everybody*» feet.
How can we avoid some of the
problems associated with manure
odors? The solution is not a simple
one. In some cases, the only solu
tion is costly renovations of cur
rent systems that are not odor
effective. Other cases may involve
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an adjustment in how manure is
spread and managed. But the most
important solution is the use of
common sense and planning in the
design and construction of
manure-handling facilities and
spreading procedures.
Daluxa leroanad Gozabo