Manure Happens - Make the Best of it

Manure Happens. Make the Best of It. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. It's not exactly the fairy tale theme of turning straw into gold, but Oregon dairy operators are generally succeeding in turning cow manure into something beneficial. From utilizing the nutrients found in animal waste as a fertilizer for crops, to deriving methane gas from manure, Oregon dairies are taking a perceived negative and creating a positive, according to Wym Matthews, manager of the Oregon Department of Agriculture's Confined Animal Feeding Operations Program. MATTHEWS: The waste itself can have a lot of benefits. In fact, a lot of people now hesitate to call it waste. They want to call it a resource, and the animal waste management plans that we work with all our permitted facilities to develop talk about utilization of that material rather than disposal. ODA currently permits nearly 270 dairies of all sizes in Oregon. With the price of synthetic fertilizer remaining high due to the cost of petroleum, using dairy manure to help grow crops is literally a natural. Cow manure also can be used as an energy source. MATTHEWS: If you digest manure, one of the byproducts you can get is methane gas that is combustible. It has been used to fuel generators to create electricity, make heat. You can burn it and make heat and use heat to make steam to spin a turbine or heat a greenhouse. These so-called methane digesters are expensive but reduce odor and are a serious option for dairies across the state. Recycling of manure is becoming an important consideration for Oregon dairies for both economic and environmental reasons- and as part of being a good neighbor. Matthews says Oregon dairies are trying to recycle cow manure and turn it into a positive through such things as methane digesters and using it as a fertilizer for crops. MATTHEWS: Some of these new technologies coming along are reducing impacts from these facilities, such as odor, and making the manure product more manageable- lower bacterial levels, less of a pollution risk. Matthews says for Oregon dairy operators, environmental concerns rank as high now as economic concerns, and dairies are trying to deal responsibly with cow manure. MATTEWS: Let's not vilify manure itself. Clearly we have to have good manure management. But there are clearly so many benefits of doing that, and I do believe the industry has heard loud and clear that they must do that. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.