The topics in this newsletter are considered to be timely and of interest. Comments and suggestions are invited. The use of trade names in this newsletter is not an endorsement of any company or product by the Maryland Cooperative Extension, University of Maryland, College Park.
David S. Ross, Extension Agricultural Engineer

The day-to-day management of dairy housing and equipment systems and the layout of facilities and equipment affect cow comfort and health, operating costs, and labor requirements. Carefully managing the buildings, equipment, and staff within the system and adopting appropriate technology can improve production and profitability. A new publication from the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (NRAES) presents and documents guidelines for managing existing housing systems and planning new systems to improve profitability, reduce labor requirements, and improve cow comfort. This collection of 36 papers ($30.00 plus S & H/sales tax, 456 pages, February 2000) is the proceedings from the conference Dairy Housing and Equipment Systems: Managing and Planning for Profitability, held February 1-3, 2000 in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

Dairy Housing and Equipment Systems: Managing and Planning for Profitability, NRAES-129, includes 36 papers divided into eight categories. The first section on cow comfort, decisions, and management presents papers on facilities; capital investments; cow comfort, fear, and productivity; and producer satisfaction with expansion decisions. The next group of five papers reviews planning new facilities: site evaluation and selection, farmstead layout, freestall barn layouts, responsibilities in constructing new facilities, and growing a staff. Five presentations on system management discuss evaluating and improving existing dairy systems, biosecurity, lighting, photoperiod management, and putting money where it matters. The next four papers on environmental control for cow comfort explain natural ventilation systems, systems controls, heat stress relief and supplemental cooling, and tunnel ventilation.

The topics of freestall troubleshooting, design, and management and troubleshooting encompass the next five papers, including a paper on sand for bedding. The section on facilities management and health includes three papers on bedding's contribution to mastitis, environmental risk factors contributing to lameness, and flooring. The next three presentations discuss the design of the feed area and water space, feedbunk management, and the impact of head gates and overcrowding on production. The final section of this publication includes papers on defining and managing special cows, facility design and case studies for the transition cow, plastic and fabric covered arch-frame buildings, restraint and treatment facilities and equipment, and sort gates.

The proceedings will be a valuable resource for a diverse group of agricultural and industry professionals, including dairy farm owners and managers, producer advisors and consultants, builders and facility designers, extension and university educators and researchers, veterinarians, lenders, state and federal regulatory staff, equipment suppliers, agricultural engineers, dairy scientists, and agricultural economists.

The Dairy Housing and Equipment Systems conference was sponsored by twenty companies: Aerotech, Inc.; Agway Agricultural Products; Albers Dairy Equipment; Arntjen North America, Inc.; Bou-Matic; Cover-All Building Systems; DairyBusiness Communications; Empire Agri-Systems, Inc.; Fingerlakes Construction Co., Inc.; First Union National Bank; Greenhouse Supply, Inc.; McLanahan Corporation; Monsanto Dairy Business; Norbco, Inc.; North Brook, Inc., makers of DuraBed; Promat Ltd., makers of Pasture Mat Purina Mills, Inc.; Timber Tech Engineering, Inc.; Westfalia-Surge, Inc.; and Paul B. Zimmerman, Inc.

The core planning committee for the conference included: Curt A. Gooch (conference chair), Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, PRO-DAIRY Program, Cornell University; John P. Chastain, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Clemson University; Robert E. Graves, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University; Brian J. Holmes, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin Madison; Dan F. McFarland, Penn State Cooperative Extension; Jack Rodenburg, Dairy Production Systems Program, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA); and Marty Sailus, NRAES.

Dairy Housing and Equipment Systems: Managing and Planning for Profitability, NRAES-129, is available for $30.00 per copy, plus shipping and handling and sales tax, from NRAES, Cooperative Extension, 152 Riley-Robb Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-5701. The shipping and handling charge is $5.50 for a single copy within the continental United States. All major credit cards are accepted, and checks should be made payable to NRAES. For more information or a free publications catalog, contact NRAES by phone at (607) 255-7654, by fax at (607) 254-8770, or by e-mail at nraes@cornell.edu. Or visit the NRAES web site at www.nraes.org.

Agricultural nonpoint source pollution can impact the water quality of rivers, lakes, estuaries, groundwater, and wetlands. Animal feeding operations (AFOs) concentrate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production facilities on a small area, increasing the management and knowledge required to minimize nonpoint source pollution. Managing Nutrients and Pathogens from Animal Agriculture, NRAES-130 ($30.00 plus S & H/sales tax; 508 pages; March 2000), documents recent research, field experience, and government response concerning the interaction of animal agriculture and the environment in eastern North America.

The proceedings from "Managing Nutrients and Pathogens from Animal Agriculture: A Conference for Nutrient Management Consultants, Extension Educators, and Producer Advisors," held March 28-30, 2000, in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, includes 36 papers divided among eleven topic areas. Authors include experts from the land grant universities, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the EPA, and the private sector. Two introductory papers consider nutrients and water quality and sources of nutrients in the nation's watersheds. The three articles in the following section discuss aspects of animal agriculture and nutrients. Papers in the section consider EPA and NRCS goals in nutrient management. The two following papers discuss ag-related waterborne pathogens and sources of pathogens in a watershed.

Five papers are devoted to manure management practices and one of these is highlighted below. Papers in the next section discuss feed management to reduce excess nutrients in poultry, swine, and dairy production. Two papers consider the fate of land-applied nutrients and pathogens. Three papers explore the Phosphorus Index, and the following sections consider aspects of land application and site management. The final four papers focus on nutrient management plans for poultry, swine, and dairy operations. A table of contents listing all paper titles is posted on the NRAES web site (see the address below).

Managing Nutrients and Pathogens from Animal Agriculture will be useful in developing comprehensive nutrient management plans and public policy. It will be a valuable new resource for readers including nutrient management consultants, cooperative extension educators, producer advisors, soil and water conservation district (SWCD) staff, agribusinesses, environmental protection professionals, owners and managers of animal feeding operations (AFOs), and community officials.

Managing Nutrients and Pathogens from Animal Agriculture, NRAES-130, is available for $30.00 per copy, plus shipping and handling and sales tax, from NRAES, Cooperative Extension, 152 Riley-Robb Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-5701. Shipping and handling for a single copy is $5.50 within the continental United States. All major credit cards are accepted, and checks should be made payable to NRAES. For more information or a free copy of our publications catalog, contact NRAES by phone at (607) 255-7654, by fax at (607) 254-8770, or by e-mail at NRAES@CORNELL.EDU. Or visit our Web site at .

Manure is an unavoidable byproduct of livestock farms. Although manure possesses beneficial characteristics, it also has the potential to contribute to the contamination of groundwater and surface water with pathogens and excess nutrients. Human health and environmental quality may be negatively impacted as a result. Individual farms may have different environmental concerns, depending on their locations with respect to water supplies and other factors. Farms also vary with respect to available resources such as capital, skilled labor, management ability, land and water resources, and alternative markets. A variety of manure treatment and handling methods are being used or are proposed to match the resources and environmental concerns of different farms. Potential manure treatment options include: composting, anaerobic digestion, lagoon treatment, and sequencing batch reactors. Daily or intermittent spreading of liquid manure and solids separation are possible manure handling alternatives. Modifications and/or combinations of these manure treatment and handling options are also feasible. Key characteristics of the manure treatment options are summarized below.

Composting is an aerobic biological treatment process and an established on-farm manure treatment method. Energy generated during the decomposition process raises the compost temperature. This in turn accelerates decomposition, reduces pathogens, and evaporates water. A dried, stabilized product that may be marketed can be generated in three to six months. Composting is most appropriate for dryer manures. High moisture manures may first undergo solids separation or be amended with dry bulking materials to increase air and moisture flow through the compost. Composting outside requires measures to protect water quality from runoff, while indoor composting may have high capital costs.

Anaerobic digestion is a biological treatment process that occurs in the absence of oxygen. This process reduces the solids content of manure, as well as pathogens and odors. It also produces methane, which can be used to heat the digester reactor or to serve other energy needs, and an effluent that is easier to pump and more desirable than raw solids. However, anaerobic digesters have high capital costs and some expertise is required to maintain them. Therefore, anaerobic digestion is probably best suited for farms with over 1000 Animal Units. A variation of this treatment technology, high solids anaerobic digestion, which mixes dried byproduct with raw solids before treatment at higher temperatures than conventional digestion, is also being explored.

Lagoons are in-ground earthen basins that provide biological treatment of manure as well as storage capacity. Lagoons may be operated as aerobic, facultative, or anaerobic systems. Biomass and ash build up in lagoons and must periodically be removed. Lagoons are mechanically simple, although some are preceded by settling basins or mechanical separation for solids removal. The liquid in lagoons can either be recycled as flush water to clean barns or spray irrigated. However, the nutrient content of the liquid is reduced compared to the raw solids because some phosphorus accumulates in the biomass and some ammonium nitrogen is stripped or biologically transformed. Lagoon treatment is particularly well-suited for farms that employ a flushing system to clean the barns, and are located on a flat site with low permeability soil. The land requirements of lagoon treatment systems can be quite high; however, operation is simple and capital costs on a favorable site would be relatively low.

Sequencing batch reactors may be used to biologically treat manure under alternating aerobic-anaerobic conditions and are commonly used in the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters. A sequencing batch reactor is operated according to the following cycle: (1) a large tank is filled with manure, which can be diluted if it is in a semi-solid form; (2) the manure undergoes biological reactions; (3) the solids are allowed to settle; and (4) the treated liquid is decanted and some solids are removed. Fluctuating oxygen levels during the biological reaction period maximize nutrient removal. In the presence of sufficient oxygen, ammonium nitrogen is oxidized to nitrate through a process called nitrification. In the absence of oxygen, denitrification converts nitrate to nitrogen gas, which escapes from the treated liquid into the atmosphere. By fluctuating oxygen levels during the reaction period, some microorganisms can also be triggered into taking up excess phosphorus from the manure. Removal of phosphorus is achieved when these phosphorus-enriched microorganisms are removed along with other solids. Sequencing batch reactors also achieve excellent odor reduction. Sequencing batch reactors have high capital and operating costs. They are most appropriate for farms that need to export phosphorus.

(Adapted from Wright, P. 2000. Manure Treatment and Handling Options, p. 156-173, In Managing Nutrients and Pathogens from Animal Agriculture (NRAES 130), NRAES, Ithaca, NY.)