MAN–U–RE GOOD
(Man, you are good!)
Mark Jenner, Ph.D.
POP QUIZ:
Good manure…
a.
Has more value than it costs
to handle?
b.
Costs about as much to
handle as it is worth?
c.
Costs more to handle than it
is worth?
d.
Doesn’t exist. There
is no such thing as good
manure.
Costs Greater Than Benefits.
Fritz Michael Roka wrote a very
interesting dissertation in 1993
at North Carolina State
University, entitled, “An
Economic Analysis of Joint
Production Relationships Between
Pork and Swine Manure: Should
Manure be Flushed or Bottled?”
His premise was that there
should be more value from the
joint production of hogs and hog
manure than from looking at the
value of hog production alone.
It is an excellent economic
study, but under the conditions
of the study, the value of
manure as a source of crop
nutrients did not offset the
cost of handling the anaerobic
lagoon effluent*.
Costs Equal
Benefits. I was involved
in research on management
alternatives for broiler litter,
in the early 1990’s in Missouri.
A market for broiler litter, of
sorts, existed even at that
time. It was all the same
price, $65 per load (but truck
size, moisture content and
nutrient content were
irrelevant).
As it turned out, the stable
price of broiler litter in
southwest Missouri at that time
reflected the disposal cost of
cleaning out the 90 tons of
litter from each house and
applying it to a permanent
pasture in the area.
Benefits Greater
Than Costs. It is more and more
common these days to hear
reports of livestock and poultry
producers that are able to make
more money off of their manure
processing enterprise than they
are from animal production.
These folks are looking for
kinds of manure products that
others are willing to pay for
and then developing processing
facilities to deliver a quality,
high valued product to the
buyer.
These kinds of valuable manure
products include quality
composts, collection fees for
accepting leaves and other local
organic residues, production of
heat, methane, electricity,
ethanol, building materials from
manure, as well as processed
forms of nitrogen and
phosphorus.
Successful manure entrepreneurs
accomplish two things:
1)
They target markets that are
in demand,
2)
They enter into multiple
markets with their
value-adding processes.
Answer(s) to
Quiz…
Answer A. Values
manure as having Benefits
Greater Than Costs. The sum of
all the manure revenue sources
exceeds their costs of handling
their manure. If you
picked A., you are an economic
visionary.
Answer B. Values
manure as having Costs Equal To
Benefits. The average
price worked out pretty close to
$11 per ton, but at least, for
these producers, the manure was
paying for the handling costs.
You play it safe, minimize your
costs, and don’t take risks.
Answer C.
Values manure as having Costs
Greater Than Benefits.
Therefore, the value of the
‘hogs’ as a system, was lower
with the manure handling costs
included. Dr. Roka showed
us that we design and build a
lot of hog facilities where
neither minimizing costs nor
maximizing revenues from manure
made any difference. This
is not a good strategy for an
industry to have.
Answer D.
No Such Thing as Good Manure.
Policy makers don’t understand
that as the value of manure
grows, it inspires good
management. If you picked
(d) above, you must stay after,
and clean the erasers (or, in
this case, the barn).
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