WAND-TV featured Gayle Baker, an Agricultural Services Engineer at Maurer-Stutz and a Deep Pit beef barn project completed in early 2016. The project was implemented using EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentive Program) through USDA-NRCS (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service). Maurer-Stutz, Inc provided professional engineering services for the design and permitting of the waste storage structure and other related practices.
The producer took advantage of this to address the resource concern of manure running off his existing lots with the possibility of entering the nearby water source. The project collects rainfall and runoff from the concrete lots and transfers the water and manure into the deep pit manure barn where liquid manure waste is stored. This has ensured that manure and runoff remain in the storage until it is utilized as a fertilizer for the surrounding cropland.
Manure contains ammonia and organic nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium that can be utilized as a replacement for commercial fertilizers. The other benefit of applying manure for crop production is the organic matter that is also replaced in the soil, which provides a better environment for growing crops. When the timing is right for manure application, the pit is agitated, which mixes up the manure to make sure that nutrients are similar throughout the slurry. Manure is applied with injection, which places the manure just below the soil in the root zone, which prevents rainfall and erosion from carrying away the nutrients and provides the nutrients in the optimum place for crop uptake.
On the sustainability of raising livestock, and particularly raising livestock in a barn, Gayle has this to say, “The utilization of manure to produce crops to feed to livestock for food production. The livestock natural byproduct is manure, which goes back into this very renewable and sustainable system. The value of having manure that is stored in a deep pit provides a dense source of nutrients for farmers to put a value on, just like they would commercial fertilizer.”
“Producers out their care! They care about their natural resources and they care about their livestock. Even in this unsure time, producers are working hard to produce safe food for us to consume.”
You can also view the news feature of Jon Strickler, part of the family farm that implemented this deep pit facility in 2016 on his notes on the improvement it had on the Strickler Family Farm operation.