Aside from producing milk, cows manufacture another nutritious ingredient for soil health — manure.
In mid-November, two non-profits got together to tell farmers about the advantages of, partnering with local dairies. The newly-formed Kansas Soil Health Alliance and No-Till on the Plains presented a one-day workshop to educate farmers about growing relationships and utilizing waste products from dairies for improving long-term healthy outcomes. These outcomes include utilizing less inputs and obtaining higher yields, with hopes for higher return on investments.
The farmers learned how the excretion from the cows happens to have just the right nutritional content to replenish depleted soil. Producers were taught how to manage manure and effluent (excretion and unused milk product) as a nutrient source on both crop and forage ground.
Fred Vocasek, senior laboratory agronomist for ServiTech Labs in Dodge City, explained both the benefits of manure and effluent and how to use the substances in a controlled way so as to not overwhelm fields with nutrients. He explained how there was “watery, soupy chunky and super chunky” compounds.
Farmer and rancher Rock Ormiston of Ormiston Farms in Kismet explained why he uses effluent on his land. Not only does it help his soil, but it helps him use less inputs.
“We’re dealing with 20 bushels better corn today,” said Ormiston, a Kansas Soil Health Alliance board member. “We all know that nitrogen is costing us today. It’s almost four times (higher than last year).”
Ormiston, who is applying dairy effluent as a fertilizer source through a pivot, is using this centuries-old concept along with his regenerative practices and increased technologies to help him increase soil carbon and microbe diversity on his land. Along with growing alfalfa, corn, and sorghum, Ormiston utilizes cover crops, especially rye, and raises red angus.
Working with a large dairy helped Ormiston understand the benefits of using this biodegradable product. He has an arrangement with a large, Kansas-owned, local dairy to obtain his effluent.
Along with learning about regenerative practices at the seminar, farmers were taught how any size dairy operation can benefit the community as well as the local farmer.
Tucked away in Meade County is a large-scale, state-of-the-art dairy, whose CEO uses modern technology to fine-tune the animal’s health, the milking process and environment. Most of his milking cows live in a controlled habitat, free of frost and triple-digit temperatures. They are milked by machine, but cared for by humans.
Unlike some other large operations, these cows are milked twice a day, as opposed to three times, and, because of a special collar, they do not have to be corralled for determining if they are ill or gestating.
“We tried to get an air exchange about every 90 seconds so all that air inside is replaced with new air about every 90 to up to 110 seconds, and that provides fresh air for the cows all the time,” said Greg Bethard, CEO/CFO High Plains Ponderosa Dairy. “So it’s really nice on a cold winter day when it’s snowing or a February rainy day when it’s cold or muddy.”
The animals are housed in a free stall barn and are able to get up and lie down within their area. “We track everything by computer,” Bethard, who holds a Ph.D. in dairy nutrition and management from Virginia Tech, said. “I mean we are addicted to the internet.”
Bethard and his co-owners are investing in technologies, including equipment to take out methane; researching ways to house cows comfortably, both inside and out; understanding high-tech data information and fine-tuning milking equipment.
“Infrastructure is critical to dairies,” Bethard said. “We try to be low-cost producers.” When a cow is not milking, he said, “we want a cow to do whatever they want.”
By keeping the milking cows inside, Berthard said, they are exerting less energy. The dairy utilizes fans and a methane digester to keep the temperature constant.
“Our goal is to (continue) to be eco-friendly,” he said. In the near future, the farm will utilize solar energy.
Making the soil more permeable as well as more dense, helps it support more plant and animal life. Along with No-Till on the Plains, the Kansas Soil Health Alliance plans to continue to educate producers about different ways to make soil healthier.
In addition to workshops, the Alliance works to connect experienced Kansas growers, like Ormiston, who are working to improve soil health, with growers new to the effort.
“We started introducing more species that are missing because we know that’s important,” Ormiston said. “Treat your soils with respect if you want your kids and grandkids to grow crops.”
As reported in The Hutchinson News.
