Posted: June 13, 2007 at 5:14 pm
By News Editor
Pro-Act Microbial now has an eight-minute video posted on their website to help dairy producers understand their product and learn more about the benefits of using it on their farms.
The video provides a virtual tour showing how Pro-Act’s system stratifies nutrients, reduces solids and odors, prevents slippery barn floors, provides cleaner flush water, excellent fertilizer and more.
“It’s wonderful for us,” explains Tom Wagner of Wagner Dairy during an interview shown in the video. “The alleys aren’t slippery anymore. Odor is down. Because the nutrients are stratified I can apply top water to fields that already are high in nutrients. Even at the very bottom of the lagoon, I still end up with manure that’s 98% liquid.”
Posted: April 3, 2007 at 7:53 pm
By News Editor
A new website is can help you manage nitrogen on your dairy operation. The site is free and interactive and covers management of crops and soils, feed storage, nutrition and manure use.
The N Management on Dairy Farms web site has been developed by researchers and extension educators at Cornell University (Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and Department of Animal Science), the Animal Manure and By-Products Laboratory of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Maryland), and the University of Vermont (Department of Plant and Soil Science). Funding for the project was provided by the Fund for Rural America.
Posted: March 20, 2007 at 7:11 pm
By News Editor
Pro-Act Microbial Inc. has announced a portable floating pump called the Scavenger. The portable pump will allow producers to remove bottom water between multiple lagoons. Sounds like a great addition to manure management to me!
The Scavenger is a portable floating pump that gives farms the flexibility of removing bottom water from their lagoons without disturbing the stratification of nutrients. The Scavenger is designed to work with Pro-Act Microbial’s manure treatment system to remove nutrient-rich bottom water. It is a retractable bottom pump with multi-stage capability and a flexible hose, allowing it to remove bottom water at any level with ease and without costly and time-consuming agitation. In addition, the pump is engineered for portability, allowing the user to move the pump between lagoons as needed. In addition to working in conjunction with the Pro-Act manure treatment system, the Scavenger can also be effective for dairies with a healthy lagoon and fairly loose solids.
Posted: February 12, 2007 at 6:14 pm
By News Editor
Here’s more news out of California - a new ethanol plant in the San Joaquin Valley that will utilize dairy manure.
Human BioSystems (“HBS”) announced today that HBS BioEnergy (“HBSE”), has formed a joint venture with Visalia based Dairy Development Group and Agrimass Enviro-Energy to build a park in the San Joaquin Valley of California, which will utilize waste from surrounding dairies to provide the power needed to fuel the proposed ethanol plant to be located on site.
“The joint venture involves developing and operating an innovative agricultural waste-to-energy park,” explained Len Chapman, CEO of Agrimass Enviro-Energy and Dairy Development Group. “This is the perfect model for agricultural production because it takes a problem – manure – and turns it into power, which then powers the ethanol plant that produces cleaner-burning fuels. This is the kind of green industry we need in the Valley.”
Agrimass Enviro-Energy blends technology, engineering and dairy expertise to help Valley dairymen implement systems that help them meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Dairy Development Group assists dairymen in planning, permitting, building and operating their dairies, with a focus on environmental mitigation and compliance.
Posted: October 30, 2006 at 6:15 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Making a peat moss substitute from manure looks like it might be a new alternative for dairies looking at environmentally friendly ways to manage the waste. Organix has announced the completion of its peat moss replacement pilot in Rupert, Idaho.
The pilot used the Company’s patented FibeRite™ process which takes dairy solids (fiber) from an anaerobic digester and converts it into a high value, peat moss substitute designed for the horticulture industry. The test took place at the Whitesides Dairy biogas plant in Rupert, built and operated by Intrepid Technology and Resources. A full-scale production facility is expected to be operating by early 2007.
“This concept has been five years in the making and we feel that we have created a system that a dairyman can appreciate, regulators can approve and an end-user can depend on,” explains Russ Davis, President of Organix. “With the current interest in renewable energy projects, biogas capture remains one of the best ways for a dairy to participate in the market while increasing manure management capabilities. The FibeRite™ system enhances a digester project by creating a high-value product out of the solids while simultaneously addressing many of the environmental concerns associated with dairies.” (more…)
Posted: September 26, 2006 at 9:11 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Manure may not be the most popular dinner table conversation, but it will be the subject of a roundtable discussion at this year’s World Dairy Expo.
Pro-Act Microbial is actually sponsoring a series of Manure Management Roundtables during the Expo, giving dairy farmers an opportunity to share experiences and to learn what is working for others.
On Wednesday, October 4th and Thursday, October 5th, the public is invited to these roundtables, both held at 10:30 a.m. in the Exhibition Hall, second floor, Waubesa room.
The panel will be moderated by Dale Butcher, sales manager for Pro-Act Microbial. Other panel members include Tom Wagner of Wagner Dairy in Middleton, Wisconsin, Dan Monson of Springrove Dairy in Brodhead, Wisconsin, and Dr. Chuzhao Lin and Bill Campion of Pro-Act Microbial.
Posted: September 13, 2006 at 5:14 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc., an Idaho-based renewable alternate energy company, is turning dairy cow manure into natural gas. (see previous post)
Thanks to a partnership with Utah State University, ITR is the first company to produce pipeline-quality methane from cow manure. ITR is expanding its operations, and will now produce natural gas from 100 percent of the manure from 6,500 cows. Previously, the company was only utilizing about 30 percent of their clients’ waste. All of the gas will be put into a pipeline and sold to Intermountain Gas Company, according to ITR Vice President Brad Frazee.
The expansion will include an additional eight digester tanks and will produce enough gas to provide gas energy to 5,000 homes and any dairy with 2,000 or more cows could produce enough gas to make such a project viable.
Read the entire story here.
Posted: June 21, 2006 at 4:23 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
An ethanol facility powered by renewable energy from dairy waste is planned for a large Indiana dairy farm. Bion Environmental Technologies and Fair Oaks Dairy Farms have announced a joint venture that will enable environmentally sustainable expansion of animal agriculture in concert with ethanol production.
According to the news release, Bion’s technology platform provides sufficient renewable energy from the associated animal waste stream to produce ethanol absent any outside fuel source such as natural gas or coal, while it directly addresses the growing long-term risk to distiller grains revenues as those markets become increasingly saturated by the continued expansion of U.S. ethanol production.
That’s a pretty technical way of saying they intend to use cow manure to generate the power required for ethanol production. Bion’s research indicates they can create sufficient renewable energy to support one million gallons of ethanol for every 1,000 dairy cows The joint venture will start with a research center to determine the economic and environmental sustainability of utilizing sand bedding in conjunction with Bion’s technology platform. Based upon that evaluation, Stage Two will include a Bion treatment system for Fair Oaks’ dairy herd and potentially other local dairy herds, along with an ethanol plant of a size to be determined by the number of participating dairy animals.
Fair Oaks is “the largest dairy east of the Mississippi River and an industry leader in efforts to find a solution to dairy environmental issues,” according to the release.
Posted: June 15, 2006 at 9:49 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc., an Idaho-based renewable alternate energy company, has received a $50,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Water Resources to install anaerobic digestion technology to produce useable energy from dairy biogas. According to a company release, the grant will be used to purchase energy measurement equipment at the Whitesides Dairy biogas plant. The equipment will monitor the heating values of the gas, determine its energy content, contaminate levels and flow rates either onsite or offsite locations and will assist in the expansion and remote operation of the Whitesides biogas plant.
