Composted manure moves easier and cheaper

Jeff Endres of Endres Berryridge Farms started composting manure six years ago. Their composting system has gone from basic beginnings to the more advanced system it is today. Endres shared a few details about his manure composting process at the Yahara Pride Farms annual meeting held in DeForest, Wis.

Endres farms with two brothers near Waunakee, Wis. They milk 600 cows, and manure from the herd is trucked to a local community anaerobic digester. Separated solids return to the dairy and are mixed with manure scraped from the freestall barn and bedding pack material that comes from their heifer barns.

The manure is emptied from the spreader and placed in pyramid-shaped windrows. Some of the windrows are under a covered roof, while others are located on a pad outdoors. “We can make it work in both places,” he said, noting that a lot of rain can slow down composing in the outdoor windrows.

They build one new windrow each week, and remove one windrow each week, working on an eight-week cycle. Eight weeks is the amount of time it takes for the manure to finish composing...