A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday; Julia 4, 1994
Dairy Manure Handling
(Continued from Pago At)
especially storages holding large
amounts of manure, are a threat to
the environment.
Any good manure handling sys
tem will include backup plans to
allow continuous operation even if
key components malfunction.
Advanced thought should be
given to how a large manure spill,
resulting from a damaged storage
or broken pipe, can be contained
before large quantities of manure
reach nearby streams or lakes.
Hazards
Manure systems present
hazards from asphyxiation, poi
soning, drowning, and machinery
entanglement and entrapment.
Pumps pits and tanks can easily
contain poisonous gases that will
not be apparent until someone
enters the tank and is overcome.
Multiple deaths have occurred as a result of
failure to follow appropriate procedures for
working in these confined spaces. Do not
enter manure sumps, pits or storage tanks
without appropriate safety apparatus and pro
cedures. No tool, pump part, or farm chore is
equivalent in value to the cost of a human life!
Another common hazard is failure to pro
vide adequate guarding at manure tank open
ings and push off ramps to prevent entry by
people, tractor scrapers, or cows. All open
storages or openings into storages must have
adequate fencing, guards, or covers to prevent
visitors, including small children, from gain
ing entry.
Everyone has an obligation to design, supp
ly, buy, operate, and maintain manure storage
and handling systems that are safe for workers
and visitors.
Handling Systems
A complete system allows for collection
and removal of manure from the animal hous
ing areas, treatment if necessary, transport to
storage system, short and long term holding or
storage, transport to cropland, and land
application.
Collection systems include gutter cleaners
and gravity flow channels in tie stall dairy
bams and tractor scrapers, automatic alley
scrapers, flushing, and slotted floors in frees
tall dairy bams.
Outside yards, lots, and feeding areas can
be cleaned with scrapers or in some instances
flushing
Bedded pack and pen areas should be
designed to allow cleaning with tractor load
ers. New and major renovated pack areas
should have sufficient access and clearance to
allow use of large front end loaders for pack
removal.
Scrapers with rubber edges or made from
sections of large rubber tires provide less
wear and polishing of concrete and tend to
squeegee the floor.
Metal blades or buckets with down pres
sure are more effective under freezing
conditions.
Manure may be pushed off an elevated lip
directly into a spreader or pushed into a stor
age or collection gutter. In some cases it is
pushed to an area with a buck wall for loading
with a bucket loader.
Automatic freestall alley scrapers are often
cost and labor savers on large farms and fre
quent operation provides cleaner alleys and
cows. The cost and time required for mainte
nance or alley scrapers is often less than the
total cost (labor, machinery, maintenance,
injured animals) of daily tractor scraping.
Unattended operation of alley scrapers
where very small or new bom calves could be
dragged away by the slow moving blade is not
recommended.
Alley scrapers must discharge through a
hole, over a collection channel, or off the edge
of a storage.
The drop off point for the manure must be
located and protected to assure that people,
animals or equipment will not inadvertently
fail in.
Rush cleaning is a low labor method that
allows for frequent cleaning and results in
drier alleys and cleaner cows.
Important components of flush systems are
adequate water supply, water disposal sys
tem, elevations, slopes, pumps and pipes.
Systems can successfully oper
ate much of the year, even in cold
climates, if adequate facilities are
available to take care of storage of
extra water.
The most common problems
with flushing systems are the
quantity of water required and
separating solids for reusing
water.
Farmers are often overwhelmed
by the amount of water that must
be handled and the need for more
dilution water in recirculating sys
tems than expected.
Criteria for satisfactory flush
ing include water volume per
flush, flow rate, duration of flush,
velocity of water, and depth of
water.
In general, a 3 inch depth of
water and 5-fect-per-sccond vel
ocity are recommended. A 3-per
cent alley slope is often consid-
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ered ideal. Steeper slopes will
require more water and a higher
flow rate, shallower slopes will
require a high rate of water to
maintain velocity.
Water can be supplied from tip
tanks, reservoirs with large gates
that open or delivered through
large pipes from high volume
pumps or elcVated holding tanks
or ponds.
Slotted floors provide a method
for immediate removal of manure
from the animal area. Once
beneath the floor, manure may be
stored in an underfloor tank or
removed by an automatic scraper,
flushing, or a gravity flow chan
nel. Manure stored under slats can
result in gas, odor and moisture
problems in enclosed bams and
should be avoided. Keep animals
and people out of enclosed bains
and provide maximum ventilation
during agitation and clean out, if a
manure tank is located under the
slats.
Floors may be configured with
long parallel slats and slots, or
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Field observations indicate that
animals seem to walk more surely
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Slatted floors allow urine to Removal systems move manure
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If used in extremely cold situa
tions manure will eventually
freeze and not go through the
slots. Provide access for a tractor
scraper to remove manure during
cold weather.
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