Saturday, December 20, 2014

Swine Lagoon Waste Systems

By Lianne Derocco


When you run a hog farm, not only do you have to constantly monitor the health of your animals, you must deal with the huge amounts of waste that these animals produce. Many farms use an anaerobic lagoon or manure lagoon to both store and treat the waste.

In order to build a lagoon, you will need to have a large area of land, as the larger and deeper lagoons are better for the environment. It is recommended that you have a depth greater than eight feet as this will improve the digestion process and limit exposure from oxygen on the surface. You also will need to be aware of your state's rules regarding the distance of your lagoon from other structures.

While lagoons definitely have their benefits, they also have the potential of causing serious environmental problems. These problems include emitting toxic fumes that contain methane, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and carbon dioxide. In addition, if the lagoon is not properly built or maintain, there are many harmful pathogens that can leak into the ground water, such as E.coli, listeria and salmonella. It is extremely important to ensure that your lagoon is safe and secure and that only authorized people come into contact with the lagoon.

You lagoon will have two separate layers, and the sludge layer will the densest layer and contains a great deal of sediment from your hog manure. The looser, more liquid layer above needs good aeration in order to prohibit crust from forming on top.

This lagoon maintenance can be made easier with a natural product such as the AgraSphereLGT. This product includes six biodegradable spheres that will treat up to 400,000 gallons of waste. The product will activate the liquefaction of solids, improve the nutrient value of your manure and even reduce odors and the amount of flies. Not only are the spheres biodegradable, they contain no chemicals and are safe for the environment. No mixing is required, you simply toss in the spheres and they begin to work. It is recommended that you place two-thirds of your spheres in areas where the most solids have accumulated and then scatter the remaining spheres here and there in your lagoon.

Lagoons can be prone to crusting at the top levels, so when this occurs, it needs to be treated quickly. ActivatorPlusLGT is a product similar to the AgraSpheres, but specifically created to reduce that crust. Microbial isolates are concentrated in the ActivatorPlusLGT and these microbes eat away of the crust, inoculating and balancing your lagoon. When you first notice a problem, scatter ActivatorPlus on the top of the lagoon, keeping the surface moist for a few days. When 30 days have passed, retreat the lagoon. After that, you should only need to treat with the AgraSpheres and an occasional prevention treatment of ActivatorPlus.




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