A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 14, 1991
Manure Storage Study Finds Farmers Risk Safety
(Continued from Page A 34)
Thompson blamed a lot of the
problems on farmers who do not
install safety features, such as
adequate fencing, pushoff/safety
gates, shields on the gutter cleaner
or PTO shafts of the pump. “Or
eventually the safety future wears
out or is removed,” he said.
“One of the recommendations
that we made here was to provide
cost-share money to update these
manure storages that were possibly
not first installed with safety fea
tures,” said Thompson. “Maybe
10 years ago we didn’t look at safe
ty features closely enough; maybe
we overlooked some things.”
About half of the farms
surveyed did not adequate
fencing installed, according to the
report. Many of the fences were
cither fallen down or in disrepair,
according to Bowers, and many of
them lacked proper signs.
Standard sign
‘ ‘That’s an area that we have not
de> eloped a standard sign that
says, ‘Warning. Toxic Gases Pre
sent. Do Not Enter.' I guess we
thought that was sort of second
nature, but we found it’s not,’’ he
said.
The SCS is working with the
Pennsylvania Agriculture Safety
Council to develop a sign similar
If farmers would install safety gates
and keep them adequately maintained,
many farmers who died as a result of
drowning in manure storage ponds or
lagoons might be alive today ,
to the one that says ‘Warning, Sur
faces Not Solid.’ Sam Steel, senior
project assistant in the Penn State
ag safety and health program, is
working with the SCS and other
agencies on creating a safer envi
ronment for farmers and to "keep
kids, pels, children, and everyone
else from the manure storage
area," he said.
The Council is examining the.
need assessments for safety signs
about non-solid surfaces and warn
ings aabout toxic gases, according
to Steel.
"We’re going to get to more
0 0
The manure structure study fouhd that more
than one-third of the farms surveyed did not use
any type of safety equipment when entering sea
led reception pits. A self-contained breathing
apparatus must be used when entering a sealed
manure storage facility.
signs and the discussion of the
safety issues regarding being over
come by the gases,” said Bowers.
Had a problem
“It was very obvious in the
beginning that farmers were happy
with their structures,” said Frank
Goodlander, who served on the Ag
Advisory Steering Committee for
the manure storage study. “They
About half of the farms surveyed did
not have adequate fencing installed,
according to the report . Many of the
fences were either fallen down or in
disrepair
were working well. And when we
started looking at the parts on safe
ty and management, we saw that
they really had a problem there.”
Farmers get caught up in want
ing to get rid of the problem of
manure in the quickest way and
don’t think about the consequ
ences of handling it and working
with it wisely, according to
Goodlander.
“But our priorities, when it
comes to manure, all we can think
about is, T want to get the pens
cleaned up, push it out, get it out of
the pen, and if it’s in a pile, we’ll
take care of it as soon as we can.’”
Farmers must take time to closely
examine the safety features, for
their own sake, according to
Goodlander.
But the safety aspects of struc
ture maintenance were only part of
the overall picture. The study
began, according to Bowers, from
a need to look at manure storage
facilties for various reasons. Per
haps the results of the study may
help in the update of the DER man
ure manual.
Rash of problems
From the years 1988-1989,
according to Bowers, there
“seemed to be a rash of problems
with structures. Either they were
overtopping or the picket fences
were falling down,” he said.
The SCS decided there needed
to be an organized effort to return
to the sites and look at the mainte
nance and performance of the
existing structures. The DER Ag
Advisory Committee, a consor
tium of farm organizations, exten
sion personnel, conservationists,
and others, endorsed the study.
Funding from the SCS office and
the Bureau of Soil and Water Con
servation was obtained, and the
surveys began.
But “we didn’t want this to
become just an SCS study,” said
Bowers. “We’re concerned
enough about fences that’s a
very important thing that we’re
really putting a lot of emphasis on.
“But for some reason, SO per
cent of the farmers surveyed don’t
have adequate fencing,” he said.
Don’t talk
Farmers don’t like to talk about
manure, even when given a
chance, such as SCS did at a man
ure safety demonstration program
‘But our priorities, when it crimes to
manure, all we can think about is, “I
want to get the pens cleaned up, push
it out, get it out of the pen, and if
it’s in a pile, we*ll take care of it as
soon as we can. ~f
during Ag Progress Days last
summmer. Only 40 farmers
attended the one-hour sessions
held on each of three days, accord
ing to Bowen.
“How do you get their atlen-
October Milk Price $13.01
NEW YORK Dairy fanners
who supplied milk plants regulated
under the New York-New Jersey
marketing orders during October
1991 will be paid on the basis of a
uniform price of $13.01 per hun
dredweight (28 cents per quart).
The price for the corresponding
month last year was $13.10 per
hundredweight. Market Admini
strator Ronald C. Pearce also said
the price was $12.45 in September
1991.
The uniform price is a market
wide weighted average of the val
ue of farm milk used for fluid and
manufactured dairy products
The seasonal incentive plan has
been suspended for 1991. For
October, the plan would have
added to the uniform price value
30 percent of the total monies that
would have been deducted during
the spring months.
A total of 12,473 dairy farmers
supplied the New York-New
Jersey Milk Marketing Area with
889,998,509 pounds of milk dur
ing October 1991. This was a
decrease of .02 percent (about .2
million pounds) from last year.
Signs such as this to warn visitors about man
ure storage are available from equipment sup
pliers or from the Pa. Ag Safety Council, 204 Agri
cultural Engineering Building, University Park,
PA 16802.
tion?” he said. “Most farmers
would rather go look at tractors
and combines than manure. I
mean, it’s just not a very exciting
subject But that’s 40 more people
that we reached than we didn’t
before.”
Many of the structures have
been in existence for 20 or more
years, according to Bowers.
“One of the things that really
drove the whole study was concern
that, do we have a bunch of pits
ready to fail? Structurally fail?
Walls to fall down, earth to erode
The gross value to dairy farmers
for milk deliveries was
$117,571,680.54. This included
differentials required to be paid to
dairy farmers but not premiums,
deductions authorized by the far
mer, or assessments.
Regulated milk dealers (hand
lers) used 391,226,264 pounds of
milk for Class 143.9 percent of the
total. This milk is used for fluid
milk products such as homogen
ized, flavored, low test, and skim
milks.
For October 1991, handlers paid
$13.92 per hundredweight (29.9
cehts per quart) fdr Class I milk
compared with $15.64 a year ago.
Handlers used 141,971,792
pounds of milk for Class II pro
ducts, 16.0 percent of the total.
Class II products include fluid
££* v 0 * K,c *
and go out?*’ said Bowen. “So
there were a number of questions
asked about that, and I think that
was one of the very positive things
about the report—there were very
few major structural problems.’’
Nutrient management issues
were also addressed as part of the
questionnaire. But those questions
had to relate to the use of the struc
ture as part of an overall nutrient
management plan.
Editor’s note: Many mainte
nance and operation aspects
were overlooked by many of the
farms interviewed for the
report Overtopping, the loca
tion of the manure fadtilies, and
general maintenance were in
question. Next week, Lancaster
Fanning win examine some of the
ways farmers can look into their
manure storage management
practices and ways in which SCS
and the local conservation dis
trict can help solve many of the
problems related to manure
safety and management.
cream, eggnog, cottage cheese, ice
cream, and yogurt Handlers paid
$12.37 per hundredweight for this
milk.
The balance (356,800,453
pounds or 40.1 percent) was used
to manufacture Class 111 products
including butter, cheese other than
cottage cheese, and dried milk.
Handlers paid $12.56 per hundred
weight for this milk.
The uniform price is based on
milk containing 3.5 percent butter-
fat. For October 1991. there was a
price differential of 10.8 cents for
each one-tenth of one percent that
the milk tested above or below the
3.S percent standard.
All prices quoted ate for bulk
tank milk received from farms in
the 201-210 mile zone from New
York City.