I'm taking you on a journey from A to Z throughout June Dairy Month.
So come on in...the barn doors are open!
P Is For Poop
Today I am recycling a post about poop that I posted a few years back. It seems whenever I am
asked to give a dairy presentation, questions eventually fall on the
topic of poop, or what we farmers call manure. So here is the scoop on poop.
A cow will eat 30-50
pounds of food each day. She then poops about 10 times a day. According
to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on average, a full
grown cow produces approximately 120-148 lbs. of
manure per day with an average of 65% to 70% of this being water.
Now on to the bigger
question, "What do you do with all the doo-doo?" The manure is removed
everyday to keep every animal as clean and
healthy as possible.
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| Farmer John uses a skid steer loader to clean the barns. |
The manure is loaded into a wagon (pulled by a
tractor) called a manure spreader that spreads the manure on the fields.
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| The skid steer loader fills the manure spreader. |
We recycle the cow manure
and use it as a fertilizer for our crops. Federal, state and local clean
water laws regulate how manure is applied on cropland, so nutrients are
absorbed by crops, not groundwater. The manure helps the fields get back
the important nutrients. We never refer to manure as waste since it is recycled as a valuable resource to help our crops grow. Nothing goes to waste!
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| This equipment is used EVERY day. That's why it's a bit "soiled." |
You may also want to read my previous years posts for June Dairy Month...
and
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