Manure

Here's another from www.sustainabletable.org, whom I am not promoting at all, but thank for the ideas.


**QUOTE**Waste
Some industrial livestock facilities produce as much sewage as a small city, but they are not required to treat all this waste. Instead, the waste is held in large pools and spread on farm fields where it often runs off into nearby water systems.**END QUOTE**


Everybody Poops...I think that's a kid's book for potty training, but alas, everybody does, in fact, poop.  That includes our animals.  What Sustainable Table fails to note is that many livestock operations, specifically hogs, do not have "lagoon" storage any longer.  Our farm, for example, has an 8 foot deep pit under each barn to store the manure.  We are not required to treat the manure because it is to be used as organic fertilizer.  Treating this manure and then applying it to the soil where we grow our food seems like more of a safety issue to me.


In a previous post, I stated that we are not irresponsible with our use of the manure, either.  We use annual soil testing results and variable rate technology to help ensure that the proper amount of nutrients are being applied to the soil.  There are even computer programs designed to help you keep the records of weather events around the dates that you apply the manure to the soil to ensure safe nutrient management.  Another change that the swine industry has seen is the use of manure injection systems, meaning the manure is not "thrown" on top of the soil, but rather injected 6-8 inches below the surface.  The injection system cuts down on odor by 66%, provides the nutrients directly to the roots of the plants that grow in that soil the following year, and decreases the chance of "run-off" into water supplies.  


As far as the safety of the animals in the barn where the manure is stored, we have taken many steps to ensure the health of the animals is not compromised by their "poop".  Our buildings are "tunnel" ventilated, which means that there are fans on one end that suck air through the barn at up to 7 mph.  We also have "pit fans" which pull air down from inlets in the ceilings, through the slats in the floor, and out through the pit fan on the sides of the barn.  These two systems provide a well-ventilated and comfortable environment for the pigs.  We also have fail safes built in to the system.  Our building has a state of the art alarm system that calls 5 phone numbers the second any of our systems in the barn fail, i.e., temperature decrease/increase over 5 degrees, loss of power, fans that do not turn on, loss of water, etc.  In the event of a power outage, our barn is equipped with curtains on the side walls that lower immediately in order to keep the barn ventilated.  We also have a generator on site, large enough to power all operations of the barn at any time.  


We feel strongly about the health and safety of our little piggies, and also about the environment that WE also live in and raise our children in.