Every pork operation has its own distinct challenges. They also share common challenges, and one keeps getting bigger: What to do with all the manure.
“Anybody who raises hogs knows manure has gotten to be a real pain,” says Tork Whisler, an Iowa pork producer. “The cost of application, the window to apply it and not having enough land to apply it are all issues we have.”
Turning a Waste Product Into a Gold Mine
Whisler has a dream of turning this challenge into a gold mine by breaking down the manure into nutrients he can sell as fertilizer. When completed, he plans to have a closed-loop system in which he processes manure in real time to create a solid product that can be applied with a strip-till grid.
The remaining liquid would be further processed using vacuum distillation, which separates the components with less energy and heat than standard distillation. Phosphorus and nitrogen fall out of the solution at different rates, allowing Whisler to create two brines with different nutrient values. His own soil tests are high enough he doesn’t need the nutrients, which leaves him products he can sell.
“Those two products are the oil that makes this system work because they’re valuable enough it makes the economics work for the system we’re building,” he shared during a panel discussion at World Pork Expo on ways to turn manure from a waste product into a revenue driver. “If you can make those nutrients into a saleable product that’s actually profitable and move it to somebody who actually wants it, it’s a game changer for our industry. It’s a game changer for the animal industry in general.”
Once Whisler’s separation system is operational, he will process about 15,000 gallons of manure per day, which will result in:
- 2.5 to 3 tons of dry matter
- 3,500 gallons of nutrient-rich brine product
- 8,000 to 9,000 gallons of clean water
The water will be pasteurized and used for drinking water for pigs. The system will allow Whisler to haul manure based on crop needs and weather conditions, rather than storage needs. It will reduce the amount of water his operation uses.
Addressing Regional Nutrient Saturation
Selling nutrients isn’t the right goal for everyone, says Kurt Grimm, CEO of NutraDrip, a company that supplies advanced portable nutrient separation trailers. For some, separating the solids from the liquid manure is the goal, and they have no need to go further.
The need for advanced manure separation is greatest in areas of the country “oversaturated” with livestock, causing manure to have to be transported for application, Grimm says.
Nine counties in Iowa are close to that situation – they produce more than 80% of nutrient needs for local crops from livestock manure today, says Dan Andersen, Iowa State University associate professor and manure Extension specialist. As those counties reach manure application capacity, producers will have to come up with ways to export those nutrients.
Today, the crop sector in Iowa can source 25% of its nutrient needs from livestock, and that’s about how much of the nutrient demand is being supplied by manure, he says.
“The truth is, if we were managing and treating manure like a true fertilizer, we could get up to 40% or 50% of our needs,” Andersen says. “We’re doing good, but there’s a lot of opportunity for margin.”
Iowa pork producer and corn grower Greg Popkes dreams of American-branded fertilizer created from the livestock manure. In addition to the economic benefits, producers would gain efficiencies because they could precisely apply nutrients.
“It would be huge to be able to use our own product, plus it’s a better product,” says Popkes, who raises crops on 120 acres in northwest Iowa and has a 2,400-head finishing site. “If we could apply it at the right times when we’re sidedressing, then we can use less of it too. We can sell it and make money.”
Finding the Economic Tipping Point
How far an operation goes in the separation process depends on its business needs and goals. For an operation that can use its own manure, simple separation is the least expensive step, Whisler says.
“By far, the cheapest way to go is to just separate the solids. I wouldn’t even worry about drying it. I would take that liquid and apply it,” he says. “The biggest return for us is that we need to do something to get rid of those salts because otherwise our soil tests are going to get too high. We’re actually going to profit per pig space by taking it all the way to the end.”
Producers need to consider multiple factors to decide how complex of a manure management system they want to develop, Grimm says. For example, a dairy farmer-customer in Wisconsin says the cost of electricity to operate his separation system is six-tenths of a cent per gallon.
“If you could get rid of manure for less than six-tenths of a cent per gallon, then it doesn’t cost out,” Grimm says. “There will be tipping points where it does and doesn’t make sense.”
Developing these systems provides opportunities that have never been available for producers, Andersen says. He agrees that identifying the problem is the first step to creating a process that makes economic sense for each farm.
“Know what your problem is and what you’re trying to accomplish,” he says. “Is it removal of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium? We are at a point where these things are really starting to make sense, and it’s nice to see a successful example of getting some of those nutrients to separate.”
