making dairy manure more valuable than milk
TRANSCRIPT
Matthew FreundApril 2, 2015
Making Manure More Valuable
Than Milk
“and it doesn’t even stink”
CowPots Factory
200 acres pastureland400 acres add’l cropland200 acres forestland
Blac
kber
ry R
iver
Barns and Farm house
Route 44
Lagoon
Farm Market
Neighbor
Neighbor
Freund’s Farm, Inc.A family farm since 1949
The Dairy Situation
Reduce input costs:
–Rotational Grazing/Cropping
–Energy efficient lights/coolers
–Recycling
–Renewable Energies-methane and solar
Increase farm income:
–Diversification
–Forest management
–Value added production
Adjusting the price/cost ‘gap’ on our farm
Manure on our farm
Renewable•100 lbs/cow EVERYDAY
Recycled•Collect and burn methane•Apply separated liquids as fertilizer•Use solids for value added production– Additional solids used as cow bedding
Reducing our carbon hoof print
• Northeast SARE
• CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection
• CT Department of Agriculture
• USDA NRCS EQIP
• USDA Rural Development
• USDA SBIR
Turning cow pies into CowPots with grant funding from:
Proven Winners
• Adding value to dairy byproduct for a profit
• Managing excess nutrients• Green alternative for growers
Benefits of Growing in CowPots
•Root penetration
•Air pruning
•3 month shelf life
•No tearing or crushing
•No plastic waste
Cont’d…Benefits
• Peat Free
• 100% Renewable
• American made
• Zero-waste stream manufacturing facility
12 CowPots sizes + custom
The Proof is in the Poo
"At the end of the season, manure-based containers had nearly completely degraded (88 percent), while straw, wood fiber, soil wrap, peat, coir, and rice hull degraded 18-47 percent."
Growing production of CowPots
