BROOKINGS – The 2018 North American Manure Expo is coming to the Swiftel Center in Brookings next Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 15-16.

This two-day event, hosted by SDSU Extension and partners, is an opportunity for livestock producers, professional manure applicators, consultants, specialists and many others to see the advances in the manure management industry. 

“Manure management plays an incredibly important role in South Dakota’s agriculture industry,” said David Kringen, SDSU Extension water resources field specialist.  

“From protection of our natural resources to boosting soil health, our No. 1 industry depends upon proper manure management and utilization.”

Wednesday attendees will have the opportunity to attend industry tours and a dairy manure agitation demonstration. 

Thursday is dedicated to educational presentations and providing attendees with the opportunity to view manure application equipment at work in the field.  

An industry tradeshow will be ongoing during both days. To learn more about educational presentations and to see an exhibitor list, visit  www.manureexpo.org. 

Tour details

Expo attendees will have the opportunity to attend one of three different tours scheduled Wednesday morning. To help cover costs, tours are $20.

Tour check-in begins at 8 a.m. Pre-registration is required. To register, visit www.manureexpo.org/2018-tours.html. Tour registration ends Aug. 10.

Buses will depart the Swiftel Center grounds at 9 a.m. sharp. The registration fee includes transportation and lunch. 

All tour busses will return to the Swiftel Center by mid-afternoon following the agitation demo.

Tour options include:

• Tour 1 – Mooving Manure on Dairies

This tour will feature a dairy that shows how manure separation, aeration and irrigation work together for a local farm family.  

Learn about the design, implementation, management and experiences of moving manure.

• Tour 2 – Beefing Up the System

This tour features a local farm that raises beef cattle and manages manure in open lots, bedded pack barns and deep pit systems. 

The tour will also visit the SDSU Cow-Calf Education and Research Facility, which showcases research and manure management for both pasture and confinement systems.

• Tour 3 – A Look Inside Swine Systems

This tour will take participants inside swine barns to see how manure storage systems are designed and managed, and the pig environment. 

The tour includes a swine barn under construction. At the SDSU Swine Education and Research Facility, a viewing hallway allows tour participants to see inside the gestation barn and view stall and pen gestation and farrowing in action.

After lunch, participants from all three tours will be shuttled to a local dairy where they will see a number of companies showcasing their equipment in a manure agitation demonstration along with a solids separation demo. 

Vendors will demonstrate manure agitation equipment that overcome the challenges of crust and solid build-up, ensuring mixing throughout outdoor manure storages. 

Equipment demonstrations

During Thursday afternoon, the field equipment demonstration portion of the expo will be held just west of the Swiftel Center. 

The demo will include machinery from more than 20 different companies. More than a dozen different manure spreaders will be showing off the latest capabilities in sold manure handling, and over a half-dozen liquid applicators will be demonstrating as well. 

A number of compost turners are also scheduled for demonstrations. 

Prevent soil compaction

A demonstration focused on soil compaction prevention is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, in the same location as the equipment demonstrations. Industry personnel will also be on hand to visit with attendees about soil health and species selection as they view multiple cover crop plots. 

To learn more, visit www.manureexpo.com.

Courtesy photo