Gravity based manure separation has been getting a fair amount of press lately. It’s attractive because it doesn’t require any expensive equipment for separating hog manure into high N/low P and high N/high P fractions.
We’re looking at using this on an experimental basis on some high phosphorus land. With changes to the phosphorus regulations coming sooner rather than later, we want to see if we can draw down the phosphorus on some of the more intensely manured grass land. By providing the grass with plenty of nitrogen and very little phosphorus the hope is to encourage growth without adding to the problem.
The biggest problem with the gravity separation is pulling the settled sludge up from the bottom of the manure storage. The normal procedure is to agitate the liquids and the solids to make a relatively uniform, relatively liquid product. If we try not to agitate and let more solids settle, the product is thicker and harder to pump out. The ideal would be to let the manure solids settle down to the consistency of toothpaste, then dredge it up into a tanker and haul that nutrient-rich paste further away from the operation onto a field that is deficient in phosphorus. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do and has the potential to damage the manure storage which leads to bigger and more urgent problems.
There are plenty of manure handling solutions out there, the trick is to find one that’s economical and effective. Stay tuned!
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