Effluent Management

[HSV]

Hey everyone,

I am starting to do some research into effluent management and thought this would be the best place to start.

My parents-in-law own a bunch of dairy farms over here in New Zealand, they have mostly experienced sharemilkers or managers running the farms for them and the parents-in-law , Robert and his brothers work all the daylight hours, 7 days a week trying to help them out.

Problem is, when you rely on others to take care of your animals, machinery and land sometimes things go wrong... at the moment, it's effluent management - or lack thereof.

The parents-in-law have been fined three times (big fines) in the past year because their sharemilkers or managers have let the effluent from the cow shed fill the first, second and often third ponds and spill over, when they're supposed to pump it out of the ponds and use it to irrigate the paddocks or spread it. 

One time, one of the managers even let it spill right into a nearby stream  :(

Another time, the parents-in-law phoned one of the sharemilkers and reminded him to clear out his ponds (he shouldn't need to be told), they called again a week later to tell the sharemilker to clear out the ponds because the environment chaps were coming around... still, the sharemilker didn't take care of his effluent.  So cha ching, $36,000 fine to the land holder.  Doh!

Our Environmental divisions waste spend a lot of time taking people to court for effluent spills but they don't seem to spend much time looking for solutions...

So we figure, you can't fight the government and win.  So Robert and I have decided to do some research into how other people around the world manage their effluent.  Particularly converting it into energy, perhaps some type of biofuel.  This is something he and his family would be very interested in bringing into this country.

Does anyone currently do this, or know of anyone who does?  Even if you've heard of some University doing research on the subject, I would very much like to hear your information. 

Thanks!

[Ron Wenrich]

I think you might be looking at a methane digester.  Put that into a search engine, and you'll have lots of things to look at.  Here's one that has some designs and numbers:

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/MethaneDigesters/MD1.html

There are companies that sell the whole operation.  You can convert the gas to electric or you might even use some for your tractors. 

[Dan_Shade]

i've got another suggestion:

fire the manager
take the fines, increase the existing manager and workers salariesby saved fines
hire a better manager

You'd be amazed how productive a good or well trained manager is if he has a good crew along with it.

[HSV]

Great,
Thanks very much Ron, we'll have a look into that tonight    Sounds exactly what we're after.

Thanks Dan, haha that would be great.  Unfortunately on paper, most of these people seem great when they apply for the job, or even when they are working as a regular farm hand.  But put them in a job with some major responsibility and they crumble.  Over the years, the in-laws have got some really awesome managers and sharemilkers, some of which have been around for 10 years!  It's the odd bods that come along every now and then that put a spanner in the works.

Also, if the manager flakes out mid season, the only replacements you can get are other flakers from different farms, because all the good ones are taken! haha, it's never ending.

I know they are working on improving staff training and all that stuff, I guess it's going to take a while.  And yeah, a good crew is VITAL for sure. 

Thanks for the suggestions 

[farmerdoug]

I seem toremember a member here that was pumping ponds on to feilds. 

Why don't you look into contracting someone to pump the ponds for you.  Then you would not have to worry about the managers.  It sounds like a contractor may be just the ticket for you and your fellow dairy farmers.

Farmerdoug

[Dan_Shade]

some people are just plain worthless, but most people want to be successful and useful.  

The proper training may go a long ways.  Also, are your inlaws well liked and respected among the farmhands?  There's a natural resentment many times to successful people or wealthy people (even if only percieved wealth).  A walk
around talking to the folks often helps them to see that they care and are human too....

There is no "easy" solution to anything successful, it takes hard work and perseverence.  And when that good team is assembled, you have to treat them right, because then there's competition to take your team away.  The good news is if you know how to train people, then training new people isn't so difficult.

I've also found that good organizations encourage their best people to move on when the time comes for that.  

People are people, it's a managers job to encourage them to their best level   And sometimes the managers need some help in order to be able to do that.

[farmerdoug]

It is Coon.

Here is the link to the thread.  https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=26151.msg373588#msg373588

If you guys have several farms then maybe you should start your own EMS.

Farmerdoug

[HSV]

Great, thanks for the help and advice everyone.  I will look at the links tonight with Robert.  I knew it was a good idea to ask the FF before I went spending hours trolling the Internet!  8)

Yes, the inlaws are very well liked.  They started with 17 cows in their younger days and now have lots!  They have worked very hard to get up in the ranks, but the reason they are respected now, is because they spend every waking moment on any one of the farms, helping out, milking, doing AI, fixing stuff and so much more.  Robert and his brothers do the cultivation, fix the machinery and pump effluent when needed as well as whatever else comes along.  There's no hugging him when he walks in the door after a day by the pond  ;D

It's really cool because their good managers are working toward having farms of their own and by working with such large herds (one is 4000 head) they are getting closer even quicker.

I definitely agree that good management is the key to success, and I think they have that... that, but not enough hours in the day to spread the knowledge around  : 

At the moment, my job is to find out what else we can do with the waste and the possibilty of turning into some kind of energy, is just fantastic.  I'm looking forward to investigating further.

Cheers,
Layla

[Ed_K]

 Also look up Cornell University in New York, they study farming big time.

[Norm]

Our local land grant college, Iowa State University, has many studies on the very subject. We are lucky in our area that it is highly sought after for fertilizing our fields. But we grow row crops that utilize it. Grazing land is not as easily fertilized.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Pages/communications/EPC/homepage.html

[OneWithWood]

Along with Iowa State check out Purdue University, Ohio State University, Michigan State University, University of Illinois and Universtiy of Wisconsin.  All of these have very reputable ag schools. 

It helps to verify info.  Be careful with the JourneytoForever site.  I have seen many erroneous statements on that site.