Bedded Pack Facility

Agricultural Waste Management

The Bedded Pack Facility is a newer technology designed to over winter dairy cows. It is not a barn but is categorized as a waste management facility. A secondary feature is that it provides protection from the elements. Everyone now’s that a happy dairy cow gives more lbs. of milk (4%) per cow. However, the primary reason to build a bedded pack facility is that you don’t have to muck out, transport and store manure as they over winter in the facility.

The bedded pack is a building that has concrete walls 4-6 feet high all the way around the structure. As the animals expel waste more of the bedding is added. This goes on throughout the winter until the bedding almost reaches the top of the cement walls at which time it can be removed, composted and eventually spread on the hay fields.

This summer I was able to do a quality assurance inspection with one of the engineers on a newly constructed facility in Hawley MA. Because NRCS cost shares with the farmer the work has to be done to our design and specifications. Quality assurance inspections are completed throughout the construction but this was the final to make sure it met all our specifications.

The bedded pack is a great concept and design. Just remember to wear your tall Wellies when you go for a stroll through the facility.

Celebrating Success

Not all field work is walking fields, pastures, forest or barnyard. Sometimes you have to take time to celebrate your successes. This summer there was a lot to celebrate. We took one morning off from the field to head over to Barstow’s Dairy Farm. There was a large celebration going on and the District Conservationist I work for was invited to attend. Both he and NRCS were instrumental along with many other agencies in getting this project done.

As we pull up to the farm there is a large tent set up and 100 or so people from all over the state and the country milling about. They were all there to see the Barstow’s new Anaerobic Digester. In a nut shell, it is a system that takes manure from their dairy operation, mixes it with food waste which they truck in, to make clean energy for the farm and an additional 200 homes.

The anaerobic digester uses this mixture of animal and food waste as food for the digestion system. As the food is digested methane gas is released. The system feeds the gas into a generator which in turn produces electricity. After the digestion process takes place the by product is a clean product that can be used for bedding.

I was able to meet one of the design engineers from the company that built the system. He gave me a personal tour of the system and explained how it worked. The system has many moving parts and some proprietary technology that he was not willing to share, but all in all a great learning experience.