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Dutch cow poo overload an environmental stink


Still Waters

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There is a dirty stench emanating from the Dutch dairy sector. The industry is, by most measures, hugely successful: despite the small size of the country, it is the fifth largest exporter of dairy and has a much-touted reputation as the tiny country that feeds the world.

But there’s a catch: the nation’s 1.8 million cows are producing so much manure that there isn’t enough space to get rid of it safely.

As a result, farmers are dumping cow poo illegally, the country is breaking EU regulations on phosphates designed to prevent groundwater contamination, and the high levels of ammonia emissions are affecting air quality. 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/16/dutch-cow-poo-overload-causes-an-environmental-stink

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I have to wonder that too. I have no idea what the import/export laws for cow manure are in Europe.

But the problem with this does not appear to be the solids of the waste... it's the liquid, the ammonia. It's what causes the burn in plants when used fresh, and a main reason why manure has to be composted before it can be used as fertilizer. And there really isn't any getting around the ammonia that's part of the liquid of the poo.

And if it's at the point of groundwater contamination and air quality problems... time to change something. Easiest and quickest is to cull down the national herds. They might be having a feed quality issue too- excess nitrogen in feed is the primary cause of higher ammonia secretions along with high protein issues and dry matter content- that could be addressed to help bring down ammonia levels in the herds. I don't know enough about that countries feed habits to know if this is actually a viable issue to address or not.

 

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We always put it in a spreader an broadcasted it over fallow fields and unused pastures. We also made "tea" out of it by putting it in tanks and letting it sit for 2 years. They need a  processing plant that cooks it at high temperatures and they wouldn't have a overload.

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10 minutes ago, Piney said:

We always put it in a spreader an broadcasted it over fallow fields and unused pastures. We also made "tea" out of it by putting it in tanks and letting it sit for 2 years. They need a  processing plant that cooks it at high temperatures and they wouldn't have a overload.

I suppose we might be fine ones to talk living in the U.S. though... we got lots of room to spread and cook our dairy herds poo. Dairy where I grew up, and it was field spreading and tanks too. Netherlands is a lot smaller.

For giggles I quick hit some numbers. Netherlands and California have about the same amount of dairy heads at 1.8 million head. Size wise it is about the size of Maryland. Marylands dairy head is about 50,000, lol. I can imagine having 1.8 mil head in Maryland might cause a poo problem.

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5 hours ago, rashore said:

I suppose we might be fine ones to talk living in the U.S. though... we got lots of room to spread and cook our dairy herds poo. Dairy where I grew up, and it was field spreading and tanks too. Netherlands is a lot smaller.

For giggles I quick hit some numbers. Netherlands and California have about the same amount of dairy heads at 1.8 million head. Size wise it is about the size of Maryland. Marylands dairy head is about 50,000, lol. I can imagine having 1.8 mil head in Maryland might cause a poo problem.

There was some place where they cooked it at several thousand degrees and stored it. I don't remember the details. Auntie auctioned off her entire herd. Too close to Dakota Access. One leak and no water......

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18 hours ago, Piney said:

There was some place where they cooked it at several thousand degrees and stored it. I don't remember the details. Auntie auctioned off her entire herd. Too close to Dakota Access. One leak and no water......

Friggin' Dakota Access.

Black Snake gonna destroy everything.

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6 hours ago, Buzz_Light_Year said:

These farms could eliminate a lot of their excess by incorporating Methane Digesters to generate electricity.

Just one example.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/23/524878531/waste-not-want-not-why-arent-more-farms-putting-poop-to-good-use

It's a good notion- but also does not address the ammonia issue. Ammonia toxicity and ammonia inhibition are big problems with anaerobic digestion.

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