April 2018

C A S E S T U DY

Manure Fiber Separation and Drying —Deep Bedding with FiberRickland Dairy, Eldorado, WI

OVERVIEW Rickland Dairy located near Eldorado, WI was started in 1936 and has grown over several generations. Today the owners are Don and Lila Rickert, Greg and Laura Rickert, Jim and Kelly Rickert, Andrew and Shannon Rickert and Andy and Jenna DeVries. The family started in the registered Holstein business in the 70’s and they continue today. They have an extensive embryo transfer program that includes harvesting embryos which are sold to dairies in numerous countries and selling registered bulls domestically. Their milk goes to the nearby Saputo creamery. Andy DeVries is in charge of manure handling and row crops at the farm and has a knack for engineering. His motivation for this project was a desire to improve the manure handling and decrease bedding and manure handling costs. His research led him to purchasing and installing the FAN Bedding Recovery Unit in the fall of 2017.

Vendor:FAN Separator A BAUER Group Company 107 Eastwood Rd. Michigan City, IN 46360http://www.fan-separator.de/en/

Industry:FAN works in the areas of separation and slurry technology in the agricultural sector, as well as waste water management in non-agricultural sectors.

Project type:A FAN Bedding Recovery Unit is installed on a 1,000-cow dairy near Eldorado, WI. The unit processes manure from two free stall barns to make fiber bedding at a cost savings by replacing, sand and rice hull bedding.

Project goal:• Integrate the entire manure management system.• Improve cow comfort.• Reduce costs for bedding.

Study Prepared by:Garth Boyd, Ph.D., Newtrient Technology Advancement Team Member

Date of Case Study:April 2018

BACKGROUND“With the Bedding Recovery Unit, we generate all our own bedding, and a surplus, at a savings of $90,000/year for previously purchased sand and rice hulls and we are no longer hauling sand out of the Slurrystore at a cost of about $30,000/year.”

— Andy DeVries, Rickland Dairy Farm

The combination of high bedding costs and having to manage manure streams separately for each barn motivated Andy DeVries to look at alternatives so he could cut bedding costs and simplify manure management. Converting the barn where cows

were bedded with rice hulls to sand bedding would have required them to install a sand separator at a capital cost of about $2 million and in Andy’s opinion, there were just too many moving parts. Additionally, their 5.5 M gallon clay lined lagoon would have to be drained, cleaned out and lined with concrete to meet Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulations, at significant additional cost.

Andy heard about the FAN Bedding Recovery Unit and after considerable research, had enough information to confidently proceed with purchase and installation.

FREE STALLBARN

BEDDING

RECEPTIONPIT

SCREWPRESS

SLURRYSTORE

LAGOON

ROTARYDRUM

18 hours in drum

44% dry matter

158˚F

40% dry matter

60˚F

10% solids

going into the Screw Press

Rickland Dairy Manure Flow DiagramBy removing the fiber, only liquid now goes into the Slurrystore and lagoon giving them about 15% additional storage capacity.

April 2018 2

NEWTRIENT: Case Study Manure fiber Separation and Drying — Deep Bedding with Fiber

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NEWTRIENT10255 W. Higgins RoadSuite 900Rosemont, IL 600181.866.123.4567info@newtrientllc.com

Key Benefits & Results Summary:• Rickland Dairy no longer buys

sand or rice hulls for bedding,

saving ~$90,000/year

• Excess fiber (40% of total)

is available for sale, though

marketing is required to

realize the value of the fiber

from a potential customer

like a landscaper or nursery

operation

• Sand removal from the

Slurrystore is no longer

required saving ~$30,000/

year and the total manure

storage capacity has

increased by 15%

• Farm sustainability has

improved because they

no longer rely on outside

vendors and truckers for

bedding because they

produce their own. This

reduces the carbon footprint

of dairy production at their

farm not only from reduced

emissions from bedding

production and trucking

but also from reduced

methane emissions from the

Slurrystore and lagoon

• Crop application of excess

fiber reduces the cost of

commercial fertilizers and

improves soil health by

adding manure biosolids.

KEY LEARNINGSThe Rickland Dairy is an example of a progressive dairy embracing new technology to cut costs and simplify manure management.

• Cost savings and income opportunities – The Rickland Dairy is using about 60% of the total fiber produced, including the bedding for their replacement heifers. They are currently land applying the remaining 40% of the fiber. They are talking to landscapers in the area about using the product in hopes to generate some revenue from the extra fiber.

• Awareness of cost increases – Cost increases with the switch to fiber bedding include increased labor that went from roughly 10 hours per week bedding with sand and rice hulls to 28 hours per week. An increase of 18 hours or ~$270 a week. They also now spend roughly $280 per week on dehydrated lime. Six months into the bedding conversion, they have seen a 3% percent increase in clinical mastitis cases which they estimate costs ~$1200 per month.

• Review parlor sanitary procedures – Proper parlor sanitary procedures are needed to ensure things are top notch before switching to fiber bedding, because if Somatic Cell Count (SCC) numbers or cows with mastitis go up, the bedding will get the blame. In their case, there

was no difference in SCC after the switch to fiber bedding but there was increased incidence of mastitis. A thorough review found that it was partially caused by improper sanitary procedures in the parlor, not necessarily the bedding.

• Simplicity of design and maintenance – The Bedding Recovery Unit has a lot less moving parts than sand separators, comes preassembled in a 20’ and 40’ sea containers, is highly automated in its design and is easy to maintain. Andy says it requires about 10 minutes/day to maintain the unit such as cleaning out the discharge chute from the drum and every two weeks, the screens need to be cleaned and the unit greased.

• Greater attention to detail required for stall management – For cheap insurance, they are spreading lime on top of the bedding in the back part of stalls every other day. It balances the pH level and acts as a bactericide.

• Ensure vendor troubleshooting, training and follow up – Following the installation, ensure that FAN installer/representative stays on-site for a couple of days to troubleshoot while the unit gets to steady state.

• Manageable operations costs – Operational costs are about $40 day (50 kWh/day) for electricity to run the various pumps and electrical motors.

FAN Containerized Bedding Recovery Unit – Interior cutaway view.

FAN Containerized Bedding Recovery Unit. Screw press in 20' container on top and drum in 40’ container on the bottom.

April 2018 3

NEWTRIENT: Case Study Manure fiber Separation and Drying — Deep Bedding with Fiber

www.newtrient.com

NEWTRIENT10255 W. Higgins RoadSuite 900Rosemont, IL 600181.866.123.4567info@newtrientllc.com

KEY BENEFITSCost savings for bedding – Rickland Dairy no longer buys sand or rice hulls for bedding, saving ~$90,000/year, instead they produce their own bedding by separating the fiber present in the manure, creating a renewable source of bedding. However, there were cost increases for labor. Sand and rice hull bedding labor was roughly 10 hours per week but increased 18 hours to 28 hours per week with fiber bedding.

Pathogen kill – They are able to achieve 98% pathogen kill in the recovered bedding. The fiber comes out of the screw press and into the drum at ~60 degrees Fahrenheit. After about 18 hours residence time in the 40’ long drum, the fiber exits at ~158 degrees Fahrenheit. All the heat in the drum is natural or biological heat generated from the process. The only energy required is for two small electric motors that turn the drum. Tests of the fiber before and after the drum show a 98% pathogen kill.

Co-product income opportunity – While the Rickland Dairy has not yet sold product, they are able to create an income opportunity because ~40% of the recovered fiber is excess for the needs on their dairy. They have conducted the pathogen and nutrient analysis, so they can begin the negotiations with prospective buyers of the fiber. The fiber NPK analysis is 1:1:2. There are reports that dairy manure fiber has similar properties as

peat moss (e.g. moisture retention, soil structure) and some landscapers are using it as a cost effective and renewable replacement for peat moss when potting plants.

Cost savings for manure management and flexibility – By implementing the Bedding Recovery Unit, sand removal from the Slurrystore is no longer required saving ~$30,000/year in addition to 15% storage capacity in the Slurrystore and lagoon. If they had continued with traditional sand bedding for the both barns, they would have needed a sand separator at a much higher capital expenditure. The purchase and installation of the FAN Bedding Recovery Unit, including the concrete pad and all electrical work was ~$650,000. Andy estimates a six year payback based on both cost savings and cost increases. The BRU has also allowed for a more flexible application schedule. Now the dairy doesn’t have to apply as much manure in the Spring and that is beneficial because Andy feels that spring manure has a detrimental effect on field quality (soil compaction) and overall crop yield potential.

Improved sustainability – The Rickland Dairy is reducing the carbon footprint of dairy production not only from reduced emissions from trucking but also from reduced methane emissions from the manure storage due to the solids being excluded from liquid storage where methane emissions occurs.

Equipment and Technology:Manure collection

Scraped from freestall

barns into pit and pumped

to FAN separator

Solids separation

FAN Screw Press separator

Andy DeVries standing next to a pile of recovered fiber coming from FAN Bedding Recovery Unit.

Deep-Fiber Bedding in free stalls with lime top dressing.

April 2018 4

Newtrient’s mission is to help all dairy farmers reduce the environmental footprint of manure while enhancingtheir economic opportunities and their social license to operate. The information contained in this case studywas developed with the cooperation of the organizations involved and Newtrient has endeavoured to make sure it is accurate and complete as possible.

www.newtrient.com

NEWTRIENT10255 W. Higgins RoadSuite 900Rosemont, IL 600181.866.123.4567info@newtrientllc.com

NEWTRIENT: Case Study Manure fiber Separation and Drying — Deep Bedding with Fiber

For more information about FAN Bedding Recovery Unit contact Jim DeWitt, at 630-750-3482 mobile or j.dewitt@bauer-at.com email.

RESULTSThe Rickland Dairy have simplified their manure management strategy, creating a cost savings of ~$120,000/year by avoiding bedding purchase and sand removal from storage and giving them not only their bedding needs, but an additional income opportunity for the excess recovered bedding. The capital expenditure for the technology has a six year payback based on cost savings (no fiber sales) and cost increases that were mentioned above.

CONCLUSIONWanting to cut bedding costs and simplify manure management, the Rickland Dairy has successfully installed a FAN Bedding Recovery Unit and is using fiber bedding exclusively with good results. The system is highly automated and requires very little time for maintenance and operation.

Capital Investment $650K, including excavation, buildings, equipment and installation costs (site work, electrical, etc.). Unit is capable of processing the manure from 1400 cows.

Annual operating and maintenance cost

$40/day without pump and screen replacement

Revenue Cost savings

Payback period 6 years when factoring in cost savings and increases from using fiber bedding.

Location / type Located near Eldorado, Wisconsin the Rickland Dairy is a registered operation home to 1,000 head of Holsteins, milking three times per day.

Number of animals 1,000 total cows

Type of bedding Manure fiber

Manure collection Scraped from freestall barns into pit and pumped to Separator

Daily flow Designed to process 15,000 gallons/day

System designed by FAN Separator, a BAUER Group Company

Date operational October 2017

Energy Produced/required Parasitic load of approximately 50 kWh/day

Products produced 44% DM fiber with a 1:1:2 NPK analysis and effluent

Residual materials Separated solids and liquids

Residual storage Lagoon and Slurrystore for effluent, concrete pad with shed for fiber

Residual use Crop application that reduces fertilizer purchases

Products/by-products Bedding/ fiber for sale

RICKLAND DAIRY FARM BEDDING RECOVERY PROJECT BY THE NUMBERS

RICKLAND DAIRY FAN BEDDING RECOVERY UNIT FINANCIAL INFORMATION