Case Studies

This ranch has a capacity of 22,000 head of cattle. The waste system consists of 16 lagoons (12 X 18 X 5 meters each). Twelve lagoons are saturated, 2 are closed, and 2 are new lagoons. In the lot, there are 7 separate sections with two lagoons collecting waste from the holding yards. In the pits, the fall manure is mixed with the existing manure daily, collected in lagoons, and gravity fed to the waste lagoon system. Total pit volume is 1,083 m3
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Merlin Newswenger’s dairy farm includes a 70’ X 70’ lagoon with 8’ walls that holds 39,200 cubic feet or approximately 300,000 gallons. This farm currently maintains 72 cows, using straw and shavings as bedding. Due to capacity constraints, the lagoon needed to be cleaned out approximately every four months based on cow numbers and rainfall. Surface solids (crust) were up to 24 inches thick that required extra payment to a manure hauler to agitate the pit before pump-out.

The Wolfe Power Line Dairy is a 750-head dairy farm with a 1.8 million gallon, above-ground manure storage silo designed to hold six to twelve months of manure production. The storage system is 30 feet below the barn grade and utilizes gravity to feed manure to the bottom of the containment vessel.