August 2002

Get the Straight Poop on METHANE DIGESTERS


Some call it "cow power". It's an old idea that's recently been receiving a lot of attention: treating animal manure to capture the methane, burning it, and converting it to electricity. The technical word is "anaerobic digestion". This process also stabilizes the manure, greatly reducing odors. There is currently one dairy farm in Minnesota that has installed an anaerobic digester, Haubenschild Farms, which provides power for the farm and about an addition 45 homes. Interest is rapidly growing in applying the technology at additional farms. To accommodate this interest, a workshop will be held at the St. Cloud Holiday Inn, intersections of state highways 15 and 23, on Wednesday August 21, from 8:30 AM until 3:15 PM. The workshop will cover a variety of topic areas including: how digesters work, basic digester design, assessing feasibility of a digester on your farm, economics and financing, negotiating power purchase contracts, how to get technical assistance, and when a digester does NOT make sense.

Manure digesters offer many potential benefits including: odor and fly control, energy production, distributed generation of electricity, potential increase in it's value as a fertilizer, pathogen reduction, weed seed destruction, and greenhouse gas reduction. However, along with benefits, concerns can also play a role when deciding rather or not a digester is right for your farm. These concerns include: nitrogen and ammonia emissions, water pollution, air emissions from combusting biogas, and safety. The workshop in St. Cloud will provide reliable information to livestock producers and agricultural professionals to help them evaluate if a digester is feasible for an individual operations. Registration for the workshop is required with a $15 fee, which covers the cost of lunch and refreshments. Registering after August 19 will cost $20, so please register as soon as possible to guarantee a spot at the workshop. Visit The Minnesota Project webpage at www.mnproject.org for registration information or call Amanda Bilek at 651-645-6159 x20 to register over the phone.

The day before the workshop, Tuesday August 20, there will be a field day at the Dennis Haubenschild dairy farm. "Manure is a natural renewable energy resource nd we weren't using it to its fullest potential," said Haubenschild. The field day will take place from 1-3 in the afternoon at the farm site. All are welcome to attend and there is no fee to attend. Interested participants will meet at the town hall just south of the Haubenschild dairy.

All livestock producers, agricultural professionals, utility representatives, public officials, non-profit affiliates or any other interested parties are welcome to attend either or both of these events to "get the straight poop" on manure digesters in Minnesota.*

 Helpful Utility Commands for Dairy Comp 305/Scout

Running these utility commands will make your DC305/Scout program perform better for you.

Cleanup:
Cleanup is an internal command that organizes the DC305/Scout data file. When run Cleanup removes sold and dead cows according to the day setting you use. Most herds have it set for 366 days; some large herds may have it set lower. Cleanup places these animals in an archive file so that you may still look at the cowcard for an animal by entering her ID number either on the command line (DC305) or going into cowcard and typing in the ID number (Scout). Cleanup also moves previous lactation information into the Archive file. The Scout help file recommends setting this at 380 days. Go to Cleanup Cowfile to check your settings.

Chkfile:
Chkfile is to DC305/Scout what SCANDISK is to your computer. Chkfile can fix simple problems like: cows showing up under the wrong bname/id, sometimes lost cows, and generally reorganizes the data to make the program work better. In Scout go to the File pulldown then Support Menu then #8 ATAB REPAIR.*

Bio Security Protocols - effective 7/22/2002


It is the expectation that all people working in the DHIA system, lab, office, field, and sample haulers, will follow procedures to prevent the introduction and spreading of diseases.

Measures for DHIA employees on farm
  1. Wear clean clothes. Coveralls may be necessary on some herds, and are suggested when more than one herd will be done in a morning or evening (including Owner Sampler visits).
  2. Clean and sanitize boots and equipment upon arrival at each the dairy. It is necessary that footwear be rubber so it can be disinfected. All foreign material such as manure and mud must be thoroughly removed for sanitizer chemicals to be effective.
  3. Avoid entering feed storage or feeding areas if at all possible.
  4. Whenever possible, avoid going between cows. Exchangeable tube meters are designed for milkers to hand flasks out to DHIA personnel. This is an important employee safety issue as well
  5. Calf tagging is the responsibility of the herd owner. If you do tag calves sanitize your boots before and after you visit the calf area.
  6. Clean and sanitize boots, sampling stand, meters, and other equipment before leaving the farm. This includes cleaning the computer and sample case.
  7. Store items that have not been disinfected separately from clean items. For example, dirty coveralls should not be stored with clean meters or boots.
  8. Respect farm signs and procedures that the customer has posted or discussed relative to biosecurity.
  9. Park in an area free of animal waste or runoff. Avoid driving through areas where manure is present or where animals are present. Wash vehicle regularly, including the undercarriage.
  10. If travelling from another country, you should not enter the dairy for at least one week following your return. Thoroughly clean all clothing and sanitize all footwear.
  11. Do not bring visitors to the dairy. Do not bring children or pets. This is also an important liability issue, and there is a long-standing Minnesota DHIA policy against bringing non-DHIA personnel to the dairy.
DHIA will supply sanitizer, a stainless steel pail, and a brush for the Field Rep's use. Combination sanitizer/soap mix like Betadine Scrub is preferred over straight disinfection chemicals. It is a lot easier to get the boots clean if there is some soap in the product.

Supplies leaving DHIA labs and offices need to be free from contamination and may need to be sanitized on site as well.

Meter cleanliness will be checked at annual calibration. Meters in violation of the policy will be cleaned and sanitized before being returned to the field, with appropriate charge to the association. A report of any problem meters will be sent to the association president.

Measures the Farm may should take to help assure effective biosecurity:
  1. Make available a supply of hot water, and a sink to clean and sanitize equipment.
  2. Walkways be scraped and limed as appropriate.
  3. Pets need to be controlled to prevent them from contaminating the DHIA equipment or personnel.
  4. It is suggested the dairy have one visitor entrance. It should be equipped with a place to disinfect boots and hands.
  5. Have parking available on a hard surface that is not contaminated by dairy vehicles or runoff.
In order to be effective, Bio Security measures require the cooperation of the customer. Since many customers are committed to implementing biosecurity measures, it makes it very important that DHIA personnel support their effort. Customers have a vested interest in protecting their large investment. Effective Biosecurity requires the cooperation of everyone working on or visiting the dairy.*

Gardening Tips by Joyce Wilson

If you start seeing little white butterflies in your garden be on the lookout for CABBAGEWORMS. These butterflies love any plants in the cabbage family like broccoli and cauliflower and lay their eggs on these plants on the underside of leaves. The eggs hatch into tiny green caterpillars that will grow up to an inch in length. Try this easy powder recipe below. It works by the flour swelling up inside the worms and bursting their insides. Also makes them easier to find for hand picking.

Cabbage Worm Powder
1 cup of flour
2 Tbsp. of cayenne

Place powdery mixture in a small paper bag with about 6 small holes punched in the bottom. Blow up the bag with air and twist the neck tightly and shake liberally on the plants. Also works well in a dust mizer.*


Tim Felmlee presented Outstanding Field Representative Award

DHIA service is as good as the person who shows up on your farm each sample day. Each year Minnesota DHIA recognizes the very best Field Representatives. They represent the top 6% of the DHIA field staff.

Originally from Wisconsin, Tim moved to the Burnsville area in the great state of Minnesota. He was also a Field Rep in Wisconsin before coming to MN and learning about our wonderful system we have for servicing our DHI members. It seems Tim has even had a chance to go back home to test and just liked it here so much, he has decided to stay. Maybe there were other reasons as well, but we'd like to think that he likes what he's doing and likes the people that he's working with.

Tim has been testing in Minnesota a total of 10 years in DHIA. He has been doing wonderful work and has always had the clients' best interest at heart. Currently Tim is testing 40 herds in Scott and Carver Counties, recently taking on some of the Carver county herds. Tim also added one new herd last year, in an area with so many herds leaving the business, that's not an easy task. He is visiting each herd on average every 32.3 days, just under 12 tests per year. Also, Tim's test date to process date is 1.89 days.

Thank You Tim for providing the great service to your customers. We appreciate your continued dedication and hard work. Keep up the professional job! *

Cows for Sale

FOR SALE: One of McLeod Counties top herd selling entire herd. DHIA tested 22,600 lbs milk, 800+ fat, very young outstanding herd. Also selling Springing Heifers. Please call after 8:00 pm. Chuck Gutzmann 320-485-4621. (7/26/02)

10 Holstein Springing Heifers FOR SALE. Located in Watkins. Please call Roger or Teri Hommerding @ 320.764.7726 (7/9/02)

FOR SALE: Entire Holstein herd located in Brainerd. If interested please call Pete LeDoux @ 218.764.3239.(7/8/02)

FOR SALE: 35 Holstein Cows -- Housed in free stall facility. Milked in Herringbone parlor. Please call Chuck Miller 507.273.2015, Wanamingo (6/26/02)

Cows for Sale is a service of Minnesota DHIA. Members can advertise for just $2.50 per animal with a maximum of $50 per herd(good for 60 days). For more information, talk to your Field Rep or call us at 1.800.827.3442*

Morrison County Field Rep Opening

Morrison County is looking for applicants for the recently vacated position of Field Representative. If you know of anyone that would be interested please contact our office at 1.800.827.3442 or one of the Morrison Board of Directors Martin Rudolph 320.584.5288 or Greg Smieja 320.584.8339.*