Virtual Tour - Nutrient Management

Recycled water is pumped into the tall upright tanks.  Then the water is released through a 16 inch pipe that flushes one of four lanes in each free stall barn.  The valves are on timers.  Each lane is flushed three times per day.  No fresh water is used.  This is all recycled!

The water is flushed through the barns, then enters the sand separator.  Here the water slows downed where the concrete is sloped at only ¼ inch.  The large particles of sand fall out.  The sand is picked up and re-used in the free stall barn for bedding.  The remaining water is agitated in the pit and pumped to a solid separator.

The solid separator is a static settling basic.  The water must pass through a weir and screen and also through the solids themselves.  The solids act as a filtering system.

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The solids are loaded on to spreader trucks and used as organic fertilizer to grow crops.

The filtered water is then drained into a large lined holding basin.  Some of this water is pumped back into the flush tanks for reuse in flushing the barns.  The water is agitated and then pumped through the irrigation system.  The water has valuable nutrients needed for growing the crops.

Here is some ryegrass being grown. All the fertilizer necessary to grow this crop was produced by the cows, collected in the system and distributed over the crop.

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