Home-Brewed Manure Deodorizer

Home-Brewed Manure Deodorizer MANURE HANDLING Miscellaneous 3-1-9 "There are lots of manure deodorizers around, but this one really works," claims Harvey Riley, a Nebraska farmer who has developed his own home-brewed deodorizer. It's a mixture of chemicals that can be bought at a local drug store, but Riley has a patent pending so contents of the recipe can't be revealed. It takes one gal. of the deodorizer to treat 1,000 gals. of manure, says Riley, which converts it to an odorless material. It also can be sprayed on cattle feedlots to reduce odors, and to prevent flies from laying eggs in the manure. "In pits that have a manure pump, it's applied through the pump. When emptied into a pit or lagoon, the material spreads through the slurry and treats the entire contents of the pit." For the skeptics who don't believe there is any remedy for manure odor, Riley offers "the evidence of many satisfied customers. I'm treating about 75 manure pits in a 200 mile radius of my farm. The treatment lasts 4-6 months, and most people have me treat twice a year. One customer has had me back for the fourth time," says Riley. At a cost of about $5 a gal., an average pit can be deodorized for $300. Some of the other manure treatments on the market would run into thousands of dollars for the same size pit, he told FARM SHOW. Riley's odor control chemical is still considered experimental. The University of Nebraska has done some testing of it, and there are no state or federal regulations prohibiting its use. However, at present, Riley must do the mixing and also the treatment himself. He says he has enough experience with it now to know where it works the best: "It does the most effective job in a lagoon trickle system, and we are finding that it's a good idea to put the chemical in the pit before manure is pumped into it." For information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup; Harvey Riley, Route 1, Milford, Neb. 86405 (ph 402 761-2496).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.