Friday, October 31, 2014

Facts About Dairy Farms & Agricultural Waste Management

By Lianne Derocco


If you live in the city, you may know nothing about the dairy industry but you do make use of its products on a daily basis. Of course, you may not even know nor would you care about the fact that the United States has the most number of dairy farms in the world, which is actually something that you could be proud of.

There are more than 50,000 dairy farms in the United States and nearly all of these farms are family owned and operated. There are dairy farms located in all 50 states, although most are located in states such as California, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania and Idaho. More than 20 percent of the nation's milk supply comes from California.

Dairy cows, compared to ordinary ones, are much bigger; at times weighing by as much as a thousand pounds on the average. Each of these can produce seven gallons every day at the maximum. However, if you have a great number of dairy cows, you would also have to deal with the volume of wastes these produce. A single dairy cow can come up with 60 pounds of manure daily. This is something that could definitely prompt you to seek solutions.

At a dairy farm, agricultural waste is stored in waste pits or waste lagoons. Both pits and lagoons need to be monitored carefully to ensure that they don't leak into groundwater. In addition, there are many common problems that occur if proper manure treatment steps are not taken. These problems include the build-up of sludge on the bottom of a pit or lagoon. Another problem would be the formation of a hard top-level crust. Foaming is another common problem that might plague the owner of a dairy problem.

Because there are many worries already about the pollution associated with livestock farms, it is best to use manure treatment products that are not harmful to people, livestock or the environment. , for example, sells a variety of products designed to stop problems associated with agricultural waste. Their manure management products will work on both on waste store in manure pits as well as for lagoon treatment.

Agra Sphere is one product that they sell and this contains no chemicals. Each biodegradable sphere is filled with a propriety blend of microbes that eat away at waste solids. These spheres can eat away at sludge and prevent the formation of a crust as well as reducing foaming, odors and flies. When a top crust is already in place, consider using Bioverse AG's product called Activator Plus or Lagoon Activator, which uses natural bacteria to liquefy a top crust.




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