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Thursday, September 09, 2010
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DDI 2004
January
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The month of January brought a true test of winter readiness to DDI, as temperatures frequently dipped well below 0 degrees Farenheit (-17 degrees Celsius) and up to 15 inches of snow fell. All in all, though, the “deep freeze” went much more smoothly this year than last, as the crew had developed winter plans and protocols to cope with frozen equipment. For example, some of the more exposed water troughs were replaced with “frost free” troughs, and standard operating procedures (SOP’s) were in place for dealing with frozen “standard” troughs.
One of the major cold weather hurdles is dealing with frozen manure. The floor heating system has been fine tuned to perform well up to a certain point, but the floors still freeze in sustained, cold temperatures. The crew has an SOP in place for when to remove alley scrapers to manually scrape the aisles. The farm purchased a used box spreader and rents a tractor to spread the frozen manure after it is scraped from the aisles using a small, front end loader. This manure is spread on the appropriate fields according to the farm’s environmental (CAFO) plan. Spreading the manure prevents plugging the flow gutter with frozen manure.
Since there is no manure in the flow gutter, there is no need to thaw the pump to feed into or out of the digester, a labor intensive process. Since there would eventually be a cost to spread the manure anyways, it was decided that there is no added cost in spreading the frozen manure. This method actually allows scheduling of labor to avoid employees becoming overtired or over cold, as opposed to the pump freezing up regardless of time or temperature. Another benefit is that the crew has avoided costly equipment and building repairs by not forcing the manure flow and pump system to function in cold weather. One additional side effect of the cold weather is that staff must monitor the methane digester—as gas volume decreases with cold weather. On very cold nights, the staff must shut off the flare to maintain pressure to prevent collapse. |
April
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| As the weather begins to warm up in Central New York State, thoughts begin to turn towards preparations for spring planting. The snow has now melted, and crews are beginning to spread manure on the fields for incorporation into the soil. Over the winter, the farm accumulates the liquid portion of the manure in their 2.9 million gallon slurry storage tank (10.9 million liters). The solids are separated using the plug flow digester and separator on site. DDI hires local contractors to spread the manure, on the roughly 1400 acres (565 hectares) of cropland, to save on personnel time and equipment. The crop contractors utilize a drag hose system to spread the manure (see photo of tanker being filled, tractor and drag hose). This enables the crew to work more quickly and efficiently and to minimize the impact of equipment on the fields, as a heavy manure spreader is not introduced to the field. |
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July
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| As we approach mid-summer in Central New York, the crop contractors are hard at work harvesting and storing forages for DDI. DDI has approximately 800 acres of hay ground- about 50 percent is pure alfalfa, 40 percent grass and about 10 percent is a legume/grass mix. The hay is harvested by a team of contractors and is all stored as haylage in 12 x 250 foot Ag Bags. The haylage is treated with a bacterial inoculant as it is harvested. This improves fermentation and helps to preserve the haylage-- thus producing a higher quality haylage. DDI stores approximately 6750 tons of haylage a year. Bags are stored on a concrete pad on the south end of the DDI facility. An on-site lab completes an analysis of the hay when it is harvested to ensure that the haylage is used efficiently in the ration. |
October
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Signs of fall:
Two sure signs of fall at DDI are the dry cows coming off of the rotational grazing system on the hill and the completion of the silage harvest.
Dry cows are pastured in a rotational grazing system over the summer. There are 4 permanent pastures that are divided by temporary fencing into 8 paddocks. The cows are rotated systematically through these paddocks to optimize grazing. Each paddock has access to a spring fed water tank. In the late fall, as the grass growth slows and the nights turn colder, dry cows are brought back to free-stall housing for the winter.
Silage harvest is generally completed by the beginning of October. This year, DDI harvested 720 acres (291 hectares) - with yields ranging from 15-20 tons per acre. There are still 80 acres (32 hectares) of corn to harvest as grain- which will be ground into cornmeal for use on the farm. This year, corn was chopped high, leaving 16 inch (40 cm) stubble. This decreases the amount of fiber and increases digestibility. DeLaval’s “Feed Tech” water soluble silage innoculant was used at the chopper. Although this was a wet growing year, field conditions at harvest were average to excellent and the weather at harvest time was very good.
With the dry cows off the hill and the silage in its Ag Bags, fall is definitely here! Temperatures during this season generally range from 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) to 70 degrees F (21 degrees C), and it is not unusual to see snow in mid-October. We wish everyone great success in whatever activities this season brings to your part of the world! |
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