scholarly journals Herd Homes: nutrient management and farmer perceptions of performance

Author(s):  
R.D.Longhurst J. Luo ◽  
M.B. O'Connor ◽  
T. Pow

The recent invention of Herd Homes has presented NZ dairy farmers with a flexible facility for feeding and standing-off stock especially during wet periods. Herd Homes are a combination of feeding platform, stand-off facility and animal shelter comprising a "greenhouse" type roof over slatted concrete floors with an underfloor manure bunker. The prototype Herd Home built in Northland for 230 cows was closely monitored during its initial year (2002/03). Different bunker media were evaluated for their ability to absorb and retain manure nutrients. The media tested were natural materials (soil, wood shavings and a combination of soil/wood shavings) that were all effective at capturing nutrients (N and S) from the bunker manure. Benefits of media amendments are greater nutrient enrichment of the final bunker manure making it more useful for subsequent land application. Use of soil as a bunker medium appears to be the most viable and cost effective option. In early 2006, manure samples were collected from Herd Home bunkers from four geographically diverse areas of NZ and analysed for nutrient content. Nutrient concentrations found reflected variability in cow numbers, usage and feed inputs. In November 2004, 10 existing Herd Home owners were surveyed as to their reasons for purchase. The farmers reported ease of farm management, "on-off" grazing, reduced pugging damage, and improved stock condition and production were some of the beneficial effects of Herd Homes. Keywords: Herd Homes, winter management, wintering system, stand off, feed pad, manure management, bunker manure

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirceu Mattos Jr. ◽  
José Antônio Quaggio ◽  
Heitor Cantarella ◽  
Ashok Kumar Alva

The knowledge of the nutrient distribution in trees is important to establish sound nutrient management programs for citrus production. Six-year-old Hamlin orange trees [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osb.] on Swingle citrumelo [Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf. x Citrus paradisi Macfad.] rootstock, grown on a sandy Entisol in Florida were harvested to investigate the macro and micronutrient distributions of biomass components. The biomass of aboveground components of the tree represented the largest proportion of the total. The distribution of the total tree dry weight was: fruit = 30.3%, leaf = 9.7%, twig = 26.1%, trunk = 6.3%, and root = 27.8%. Nutrient concentrations of recent mature leaves were in the adequate to optimal range as suggested by interpretation of leaf analysis in Florida. Concentrations of Ca in older leaves and woody tissues were much greater than those in the other parts of the tree. Concentrations of micronutrients were markedly greater in fibrous root as compared to woody roots. Calcium made up the greatest amount of nutrient in the citrus tree (273.8 g per tree), followed by N and K (234.7 and 181.5 g per tree, respectively). Other macronutrients comprised about 11% of the total nutrient content of trees. The contents of various nutrients in fruits were: N = 1.20, K = 1.54, P = 0.18, Ca = 0.57, Mg = 0.12, S = 0.09, B = 1.63 x 10-3, Cu = 0.39 x 10-3, Fe = 2.1 x 10-3, Mn = 0.38 10-3, and Zn = 0.40 10-3 (kg ton-1). Total contents of N, K, and P in the orchard corresponded to 66.5, 52.0, and 8.3 kg ha-1, respectively, which were equivalent to the amounts applied annually by fertilization.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 443
Author(s):  
Jenna Schueler ◽  
Kayla Naas ◽  
Jerod Hurst ◽  
Diana Aga ◽  
Stephanie Lansing

This study quantified the potential of farm-scale composting to degrade antibiotics in dairy manure. The compost windrow, consisting of sick cow bedding from a 1000-cow US dairy farm, was managed using the dairy farm’s typical practices and monitored for tetracycline and nutrient composition. Samples were collected over 33 days, which was the time from compost pile formation to land application as fertilizer, and analyzed for solids, antibiotics, and nutrient content. Average tetracycline concentrations at the beginning of the study (452 ng/g DW) were lower than at the end of composting (689 ng/g DW), illustrating that antibiotic degradation was not greater than degradation of the compost solids. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) increased from 15.3 to 18.4 g/kg during the composting period due to decreases in solids and likely inhibition of N-mineralization due to the presence of antibiotics. The results indicated that antibiotics were not completely degraded when using the farm’s compost pile management techniques, with antibiotics possibly impacting nitrogen transformation in the compost, which should be considered in nutrient management when using sick cow bedding. Additionally, the results showed that antibiotic degradation during farm-scale composting can vary from reported laboratory-scale due to differences in management, composting duration, and temporal conditions, illustrating the need for more extensive on-farm research including common farm practices and real-world conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Lindawati Lindawati

Reduction of food rations and shortages is one of the impacts of the increasing human population. Food sector industries then try to cope with the fast growing number of customers. Agribusiness sector gains its popularity in these recent years, including pig farm. The increase trend of animal farming industry is likely to bring increasing pollution problem unless effective treatment methods are used. The main problems related to the pig farm include odor nuisance and pig manure disposal. The existing land application of piggery wastewater is the traditional way to discharge the wastewater. This may yield in land and water contamination, due to the accumulation of unused nutrients by crop plant. A case study of a large commercial pig farm from Australia is proposed to apply in smaller scale in Indonesia. Operational strategies for the small-scale SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) treating piggery effluent were developed based on lab-scale experiments. Due to SBR characteristics, which are money-saving and space-saving, it is very suitable to be applied in urban area. An economic evaluation was made of various process options. The cost estimation showed that SBR is a cost effective process, allowing operational batches to be adjusted to reduce unnecessary aeration cost. A reduction in the aeration cost was achieved by shortening the batch time from 24-h to 8-h. A comparison of three different SBR options showed that smaller size reactors could be more flexible and cost effective when compared with the larger ones.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiwik Endah Rahayu ◽  
Atika Romalasari

Nut grass is Cyperaceae group and underestimated its existence. Nut grass has many benefits so  potential to be developed. This study aims to determine the effect of planting media and the addition of NPK fertilizer to the growth of the nut grass and find out the nutrient content of chips made from nut grass tuber. The design of this study was factorial complete randomized design (RAL) which consisted of two factors. First factor is Planting Media, consist of M1 = soil, M2 = Soil: Sand (2: 1), M3 = Soil: Compost Fertilizer (2: 1) and M4 = Soil: Cage Fertilizer (2: 1) and second factor is fertilizer dosage NPK 15: 15: 15 with the level P1 = Without NPK fertilizer, P2 = 5 g NPK fertilizer, P3 = 10 g NPK fertilizer. Research result showed that the media significantly affected the number of clumps, root weight, clump weight, overall weight and number of flowers but did not significantly affect the height, number of tubers and tuber weight. Fertilizer significantly affected the number of clumps, root weight, clump weight, overall weight, number of flowers, number of tubers and tuber weight but did not significantly affect the height at P≤0.05 level. Interaction between planting media and NPK fertilizer did not significantly affect all parameters. Keywords: Chips, NPK Fertilizer, Nut Grass, Planting Media


Biochar ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngitheni Winnie-Kate Nyoka ◽  
Ozekeke Ogbeide ◽  
Patricks Voua Otomo

AbstractTerrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are increasingly threatened by pesticide pollution resulting from extensive use of pesticides, and due to the lack of regulatory measures in the developing world, there is a need for affordable means to lessen environmental effects. This study aimed to investigate the impact of biochar amendment on the toxicity of imidacloprid to life-cycle parameters and biomarker responses of the earthworm Eisenia fetida. E. fetida was exposed to 10% biochar-amended and non-amended OECD artificial soils spiked with 0, 0.75, 1.5, 2.25 and 3 mg imidacloprid/kg for 28 days. An LC50 of 2.7 mg/kg was only computed in the non-amended soil but not in the biochar-amended soil due to insignificant mortality. The EC50 calculated in the non-amended soil (0.92 mg/kg) for reproduction (fertility) was lower than the one computed in the biochar amended (0.98 mg/kg), indicating a decrease in toxicity in the biochar-amended substrate. Significant weight loss was observed at the two highest imidacloprid treatments in the non-amended soil and only at the highest treatment in the biochar-amended substrate, further highlighting the beneficial effects of biochar. Catalase activity decreased significantly at the two highest concentrations of non-amended soil. Yet, in the amended soil, the activity remained high, especially in the highest concentration, where it was significantly higher than the controls. This indicated more severe oxidative stress in the absence of biochar. In all non-amended treatments, there was a significant acetylcholinesterase inhibition, while lower inhibition percentages were observed in the biochar-amended soil. In most endpoints, the addition of biochar alleviated the toxic effects of imidacloprid, which shows that biochar has the potential to be useful in soil remediation. However, there is still a need for field studies to identify the most effective application rate of biochar for land application.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 596
Author(s):  
Murugan Ramasamy ◽  
Mohammed Abdul Hannan ◽  
Yaseen Adnan Ahmed ◽  
Arun Kr Dev

Offshore vessels (OVs) often require precise station-keeping and some vessels, for example, vessels involved in geotechnical drilling, generally use Spread Mooring (SM) or Dynamic Positioning (DP) systems. Most of these vessels are equipped with both systems to cover all ranges of water depths. However, determining which system to use for a particular operational scenario depends on many factors and requires significant balancing in terms of cost-benefit. Therefore, this research aims to develop a platform that will determine the cost factors for both the SM and DP station-keeping systems. Operational information and cost data are collected for several field operations, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are trained using those data samples. After that, the trained ANN is used to predict the components of cost for any given environmental situation, fieldwork duration and water depth. Later, the total cost is investigated against water depth for both DP and SM systems to determine the most cost-effective option. The results are validated using two operational scenarios for a specific geotechnical vessel. This decision-making algorithm can be further developed by adding up more operational data for various vessels and can be applied in the development of sustainable decision-making business models for OVs operators.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon J. Hopkins ◽  
Nikhil Padhye ◽  
Alison Greenlee ◽  
James Torres ◽  
Levon Thomas ◽  
...  

Wave-driven reverse osmosis desalination systems can be a cost-effective option for providing a safe and reliable source of drinking water for large coastal communities. Such systems usually require the stabilization of pulsating pressures for desalination purposes. The key challenge is to convert a fluctuating pressure flow into a constant pressure flow. To address this task, stub-filters, accumulators, and radially elastic-pipes are considered for smoothing the pressure fluctuations in the flow. An analytical model for fluidic capacitance of accumulators and elastic pipes are derived and verified. Commercially available accumulators in combination with essentially rigid (and low cost) piping are found to be a cost-effective solution for this application, and a model for selecting accumulators with the required fluidic-capacitance for the intended system is thus presented.


1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana L. Hoag ◽  
Fritz M. Roka

AbstractLivestock production and manure handling decisions often have been treated in the literature as separate enterprises. Policymakers, too, have ignored the interactive nature of manure management by focusing on land application for nutrient disposal. This study outlines a systems approach to describe the interrelated decisions producers face, using examples from North Carolina and Iowa that show how producers' attitudes toward manure management lead them to handle manure differently in different regions. In North Carolina, nutrients in manure are “not wanted.” There are economic incentives to treat manure, thus reducing its nutrient content, and to apply it on as little land as possible. In Iowa, nutrients are “not wasted.” Producers conserve the nutrients in manure and use them more fully, applying manure to higher value crops such as corn. Policies that influence manure management can be made more effective by accounting for the differences in producers' incentives to waste or want the nutrients.


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