Agricultural Waste Management - Ching Dairy Innovative Practice Field Day

Tyson shown standing on the geotextile bag during the recent field day.

Ted Tyson, Professor and Extension Engineer in Biosystems Engineering, recently participated in a Juniper Creek Clean Water Partnership Field Day held on the Ching Dairy in Mobile County.

Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System is one of the twelve Juniper Creek Clean Water Partners involved in the project.

The field day highlighted an innovative method of separating dairy manure solids from milking parlor waste before the waste enters the waste treatment lagoon. The method, which uses a large geotextile bag, has proven successful in lagoon renovation operations where lagoon solids are separated from lagoon contents and later land applied using "dry" manure land application equipment.

This installation, separating manure solids before entering the lagoon, may be the first of it's kind in the US. The aim is to reduce lagoon volatile solids loading, thus improving treatment efficiency and greatly diminishing the already low odor from a properly sized treatment lagoon. Handling the solids as "dry" manure will also allow normal wastewater irrigation to be the primary lagoon-level control operation needed.

Geotextile bag work at the Ching Dairy is part of Tyson's larger applied research program dealing with geotextile bags and other methods of manure and wastewater handling to help address animal waste management challenges faced by Alabama's dairy, swine, and poultry farmers.

For more information, visit:
Coastal Alabama Clean Water Partnership