The Rural Voice, 1982-01, Page 18MANURE PIT (cont. from page 10)
concrete manure tanks are so relatively
expensive to build ('/i cent to 1 cent
storage per gallon for earthen tanks
versus 7 or 8 cents per gallon for a concrete
tank) they are often built as small as
possible. That can lead to overflow
problems and the overflowing manure
goes directly into runoff water and then
into drains, streams and ultimately wells.
Neil believes an earthen manure tank is
actually environmentally safer than a
concrete one because it can be built to hold
a year's supply of liquid manure. The
larger tank also gives a farmer better
manure management options. Manure
can be stored all year and then used on
crops when it's most needed rather than
as a last resort when the concrete tank is
about to overflow. "Manure is a liability,
not an asset if you pump it out and it ends
up in a river," he says.
Another Grey Township farmer, an
operator with his wife of an irrigation
business, Chris Lee, says he's convinced
of the value of earthen manure storage.
The Lee farm near Walton has had an
earthen manure storage pit for 80 dairy
cows for eight years. The Lees irrigate
their corn from the storage tank once a
year, in July when the plants most need
nutrients and moisture.
There have been few problems and no
complaints to the Lees.
Mr. Lee says his custom operation visits
a lot of farms and he's been appalled at
some of the structural and manure
management problems he's seen.
Both he and the Hemingways would like
Grey to adopt a bylaw that doesn't prohibit
earthen tanks..."the ostrich approach"
Neil calls it...but regulates and sets site
and management guidelines for all sorts of
tanks. They sympathize with Grey coun-
cil's concern that an earthen manure tank
could be fine in the hands of a responsible
operator but a hazard on the farm of
someone who doesn't care about possible
contamination.
Until the last year there weren't many
successful prosecutions of unsafe manure
handling cases and townships are natural-
ly concerned about abuses.
OMAF's Ron Fleming agrees.
"There's a lot of fear of ground water
pollution from earthen pits but because of
the overflow problem (with concrete
tanks) it's often the other way around."
Mr. Fleming says bad management could
make an earthen tank a hazard. but
because they're so big (a year's storage
versus six or in some cases three months
in a concrete tank) there's Tess chance of
an overflow in March when ground is so
wet a farmer can't possibly spread
manure.
"I don't think most people have realized
the importance of manure," Mr. Fleming
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PG. 18 THE RURAL VOICE/JANUARY 1982
i
says and he points to an upcoming
provincial meeting sponsored by OMAF
and the provinces Soils and Crop Associat-
ion in February which will look at manure
management from all angles. Increasing-
ly, he says, there'll be a "push to preserve
nutrients rather than letting them off into
our streams."
Chris Lee adds that with higher energy
costs pushing up chemical fertilizer
prices, more and more farmers will see the
economics of using manure well. Neil
Hemingway figures he'll get a benefit of
$50 to $60 per acre from his new manure
handling system, if he can build the bigger
earthen storage tank. But he admits trying
to prove its worth has costs hint about
$10.000 in engineering and legal fees.
The township of course has had costs
too and Grey councillor Charlie Thomas
says it's lawyer, Dan Murphy of
Goderich, is now working at drafting a
manure storage bylaw.
A rational, economical, environmental-
ly safe way of storing and using manure is
what the Hemingways want. And that's
why the've kept going, in the face of a
great deal of opposition from fellow Grey
residents.
Councillor Thomas says the couple has
"spent a lot of money to do it right. to
protect the environment" but he also
adds. "people aren't very rational about
pig manure."
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