Manure Manager

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Editorial – May/June 2009


June 1, 2009  by  Marg Land

One morning a few weeks ago, I was distracted from my normal morning
routine by the rumblings of a large tanker truck. I don’t know about
the rest of you but having grown up on a farm, I always notice
unfamiliar vehicles and this was a big one.

One morning a few weeks ago, I was distracted from my normal morning routine by the rumblings of a large tanker truck. I don’t know about the rest of you but having grown up on a farm, I always notice unfamiliar vehicles and this was a big one.

It stopped on the side of the road across from our neighbor’s hog operation and soon thick lines were twisting across the farmyard to behind the barn. Being the curious type, I decided to walk on over and have a look.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on – was the manure coming or going? But my neighbor soon explained that, having already emptied both of his own operation’s manure lagoons, he was having slurry from a nearby hog farm trucked in to apply to his adjacent fields before planting began. With the high price of fertilizer, my neighbor was doing his best to supply most of the required crop nutrients through spring manure applications. He was also working to cultivate new manure supply relationships in preparation for his retirement from hog production, expected within the next few years.

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He was preparing for the future, both for this season and growing seasons to come.

Here at Manure Manager, we try our best to give readers the best information possible. Through the publication’s On Track and Innovations sections, suppliers are provided an opportunity to promote their products, which hopefully are of assistance to producers. Sometimes, things don’t always work as planned:

Dear Manure Manager Magazine,
When your magazine first appeared some years ago, we were thrilled.

Finally someone is addressing manure! This is the last, most important, and most difficult problem farmers face.

We enjoyed your stories and technology reviews to help solve our concerns. But recently we felt betrayed. Google brought us to your article URL: https://www.manuremanager.com/content/view/1212/97 .

Your story on EnviroLagoon failed to make mention of (ASABE abstract 054072). Testing was done on this product under ASABE standards in 2005. The results completely contradict claims made in your story.

I quote: “In experiment four, odor emissions were monitored for five months from simulated lagoons to which three commercial additives, BioZyme®, Martin BioChem®, and EnviroLagoon®, were applied. All three additives had higher OERs and lower HTs than the control, indicating they were not effective in reducing odors.”

How can readers continue to trust Manure Manager if it doesn't report the facts? Farmers should not have to waste their money on products to find out if they work.

They say they have a guarantee. You might explain how that works.

I trust this was an oversight.

Please keep up your effort to provide information on this important and costly problem.

Best Regards

T. J. Tooley, Ag Systems International

While Manure Manager editors make every effort to be objective when reporting on new products, they cannot be held responsible for claims made by companies. Readers are encouraged to contact the companies themselves for more details.

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