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| December 8, 2008 |
A Penton Media, Inc Publication
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The Central Vermont Cow Power (CVCP) program, administered by
Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS), has been called the nation’s
first manure-based, farm-to-consumer energy program. The state’s fifth
dairy farm has just joined the CVPS Cow Power herd through cooperation
with Vermont Electric Cooperative. A number of Vermont groups and
businesses have enrolled in the energy program since it began in 2004.
CVCP customers, such as the U.S. Forest Service headquarters in Rutland,
VT, sign up to receive all, half or a quarter of their electrical energy
through Cow Power and agree to pay a premium of $.04/kilowatt hour. The
fee goes to participating farm producers, helps purchase renewable
energy credits when enough farm energy isn’t available, or is put in
the CVPS Renewable Development Fund. That fund also provides grants to
farm owners to develop on-farm energy generation. Farm producers are
also paid 95% of the market price for all of the energy sold to CVPS.
Neighborhood Farms in Newport, VT, is the most recent farm to join the
Cow Power program. The farm partnership will produce energy with an
anaerobic digester and generator installed at the farm site.
Neighborhood Farms was started in 1957 by Maurice and Lois Maxwell, who
now share ownership with their four sons: Stewart, Bradley, Anthony and
Jeffery. Grandson Matthew also works on the farm in a management
position. The farm has 850 milking cows.
“We’re excited to be online and generating a new income stream,”
explains Matthew Maxwell. “If not for CVPS Cow Power, we wouldn’t be
doing this. The program provides solid financial benefits while helping
us make tremendous improvements to our manure management. CVPS Cow Power
and the customers who enroll help make projects such as ours a
reality.” Matthew, Bradley, Stewart, Jeffery and Anthony recently
created a partnership called Neighborhood Energy LLC. Construction of
the farm's digester began in March.
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Now’s the Time to incorporate a Slurrystore System into your nutrient
management program. Slurrystore is compatible for any system whether
your goal is long term storage, nutrient retention, green containment,
digesters or manure processing. Plus Slurrystore Systems include the
added feature of agitation to help ensure nutrient consistency. Click here or contact your local
Authorized Slurrystore Dealer for more information.
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The eXtension web site addresses the question about whether or not
manure nutrients disappear in an anaerobic digester. “Nutrients in an
anaerobic digester do not disappear,” says Patrick Topper,
Pennsylvania State University. “The reason some people claim that a
digester ‘eats’ nutrients is because some of the nutrients settle
out in the sludge and stay in the digester until it is mechanically
cleaned out.”
This process is especially true in Plug Flow
digesters. Phosphorus often settles out during the digestion process,
for example, thus giving a net reduction in phosphorus. In reality, the
phosphorus is being stored in the solids, or sludge, accumulating in the
digester. Some of the organic nitrogen may settle and a very small
fraction may be lost with the biogas as ammonia, but essentially the
nitrogen is not reduced in a digester, according to Topper.
Learn more in the Pennsylvania State University fact sheet entitled,
“The Fate of Nutrients and Pathogens during Anaerobic Digestion of
Dairy Manure,” available online as a PDF file at www.abe.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/g/G71.pdf.
Visit the eXtension site at www.extension.org/animal%20manure%20management.
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For the first time, information collected over the past 40 years
from instruments on large watersheds across the country is available
online through an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) web site. The
STEWARDS (Sustaining the Earth's Watersheds, Agricultural Research Data
System) web site has interactive maps of watersheds. The site allows
users to see the topography of the watersheds and the instrument
locations, as well as download data.
Data from watersheds nationwide is organized into a standard format on
the site. The site’s creators hoped to make the information available
to people involved in the Conservation Effects Assessment Project
(CEAP), and to expand the usefulness of the information gathered at each
watershed for nationwide analyses.
CEAP began in 2003 as a multi-agency effort to quantify the
environmental benefits of conservation practices used by private
landowners participating in selected U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) conservation programs. However, the data is also crucial to
others doing hydrological analyses, and to the public, especially to
people living in these watersheds.
Information is included about pesticides, nitrogen and phosphorous in
streams, rivers, lakes and drinking water reservoirs. The web site also
has data on daily stream discharge levels, air and soil temperature and
other weather data.
Visit the ARS STEWARDS site at arsagsoftware.ars.usda.gov/stewards/index.asp.
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Are you getting optimum value from your ag nutrients? Ensure an even
nutrient blend and consistency with every load using a Slurrystore® and
its center agitation system. There’s no better choice for long term
ag nutrient storage. Now’s the Time for Slurrystore. Click here or contact your local
Authorized Slurrystore Dealer for more information.
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A regional technical conference planned around the theme,
"Conservation, Sustaining Our Future," will be held Feb. 18-20, 2009 at
the Rushmore Plaza Holiday Inn in Rapid City, SD. The conference is
sponsored by the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Northern
Plains chapters. Join natural resource enthusiasts from Montana,
Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and North and South Dakota to hear the
latest on soil quality, water quality trading credits, energy and
conservation.
The conference kicks off Feb. 18 with presentations on a variety of
energy and conservation topics. The day will conclude with "Dig It," a
new Smithsonian Display presentation, given by Gary Peterson, Colorado
State University. The program on Feb. 19 will focus on soil and water
quality and what that means to landowners and professionals. Concurrent
sessions will be held on Feb. 20 covering topics such as: Animal Feeding
Operation/Confined Animal Feeding Operation (AFO/CAFO) rule update,
Pollinators, Carbon Credit Trading and Using Visual Simulations for
Communicating Conservation, just to name a few.
A total of 17.5 Continuing Education Units are available for certified
crop advisors, and a total of 11 Continuing Education Units are
available from the Society for Range Management.
Registration for SWCS members is $90 by Feb. 4, 2009, or $100 for late
registration. Registration for non-SWCS members is $100 early/$110 for
late registration. Student registration is $25. Registration is due Feb.
4.
A full agenda and registration form is available by logging onto the
North Dakota SWCS web site at www.ndswcs.org, or by contacting any
SWCS member within the Northern Plains Region.
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The 2009 Wisconsin Crop Management Conference, formerly called
the Wisconsin Fertilizer, Aglime & Pest Management Conference, will be
held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, WI, Jan. 13-15, 2009.
Choose from more than 55 educational presentations over 2.5 days.
Presentations will cover fertilizer supply, demand and price outlook,
fertilizer management: new economics, new practices, and crop rotation
economics, among other topics.
View a PDF version of the program online at ipcm.wisc.edu/Portals/0/Blog/Files/30/649/Advance_Program_2009_BW.pdf.
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Iowa State University (ISU) will be offering an extensive set of
workshops designed for manure applicators during January and February
2009. Confinement site manure applicators are required by law to be
certified to handle, transport or apply manure from any confinement
facility with more than 500 animal units. The ISU workshops will help
applicators meet certification requirements. The focus of this year’s
program will include land application rules, separation distances for
land application of manure, valuing and selling manure, road and
equipment safety and ISU’s new fact sheet on manure management
planning.
A list of dates and locations is available online at www.agronext.iastate.edu/immag/certification/09confdates.html.
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American Cowman offers timely, production and management
strategies that will add efficiency, value and profitability for family
farms with up to 100 head of cattle. American Cowman Update e-newsletter
delivers timely industry news, practical production and management
information and producer profiles Ð all in an effort to help family
farms remain viable. American Cowman is brought to you from the editors
of BEEF.
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Sponsors of the Certified Livestock Manager Training (CLMT)
workshops in Illinois are going the extra mile to assist producers in
their efforts to comply with the Illinois Livestock Management
Facilities Act and other environmental regulations. Workshops will be
held in a variety of locations throughout the state from Dec. 10, 2008
through March 9, 2009. The value of manure as a fertilizer will be
addressed as one of the topics at this year’s workshops. Other topics
will include using manure on forage crops, practical odor control
strategies, the latest odor-management research and innovative manure
storage and process technologies. Some of the workshops are
species-specific, targeting swine or beef/dairy topics.
Since the Livestock Management Facilities Act was passed in Illinois in
May 1996, certification in livestock manure management is required for
producers with more than 300 animal units, and must be renewed every
three years.
A workshop brochure outlining specific dates and locations is available
online at web.extension.uiuc.edu/clmt/.
Contact Randy Fonner for more information at 217-333-2611 or email clmt@illinois.edu.
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Send Comments & Questions To
Dale Miller, Editor,
National Hog Farmer
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