Most people think of farming as planting and harvesting crops. But it’s also important to keep our soil fertile to ensure the best yields. To do this, we plant cover crops that protect the soil and we use our animals’ manure to replace nutrients. We pay a lot of attention to improving our soil. By working with state and local agencies, we make sure that we are managing our manure in ways that make our land more fertile, but also protect our neighbors.
We live and work on our farm. All the more reason to protect our soil, water and air.
We’re always investing in new ways to manage manure and protect our environment. For the last couple of years, we’ve used a product to keep manure in the ammonium form, as opposed to the ammonia form. That means the nutrients stay in a solid form (ammonium), giving the plants nutrients in a way that is more readily absorbed, reducing odor, and protecting the water supply.
We also take a lot of care to properly place our manure – we inject our nutrients into the soil so they stay where they need to be, and don’t run off.
Using manure is the ultimate in recycling. We take a waste product and turn it into something useful that creates fertile soil and helps us grow our crops, feed our animals, and produce wholesome, nutritious milk.
