Manure Management | QuestionPro

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
Research Participant Information

Title of the Study: Identifying Wisconsin Manure Management Practices
Principal Investigator: Douglas Reinemann. Phone: (608) 262-0223. Email: [email protected]
Student Researcher: Horacio Aguirre-Villegas. Phone: (608)-262-9703. Email: [email protected]

DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH
You are invited to participate in a research study to identify manure management practices that are used on Wisconsin dairy farms. You have been asked, as a result of a random selection process, to participate as an owner or manager of a dairy operation in Wisconsin. This information will help researchers and educators develop engineering designs and management practices for handling, processing, and storage of manure.
This study will include approximately 600 dairy farms in the state of Wisconsin.
You can complete the survey in the location of your choosing.

WHAT WILL MY PARTICIPATION INVOLVE?
If you decide to participate in this research, you will be asked to complete one survey which will require approximately 20 minutes to complete. This survey will cover questions about your manure management system including collection, transportation, storage, processing, and land application.

ARE THERE ANY RISKS TO ME?
We do not anticipate any risks resulting from participation in this study.

ARE THERE ANY BENEFITS TO ME?
Although there are no immediate benefits from this study, the information will facilitate research on manure systems, increase development of manure management practices and user tools, and provide more detailed economic analyses.

HOW WILL MY CONFIDENTIALITY BE PROTECTED?
THIS STUDY IS COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS. Neither your name nor any other identifiable information will be recorded.

WHOM SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?
You may ask any questions about the research at any time. If you have questions about the research during or after completing the survey please feel free to contact any of the researchers listed above.
If you are not satisfied with the response of the research team, have more questions, or want to talk with someone about your rights as a research participant, you should contact the University of Wisconsin Education Research and Social & Behavioral Science IRB Office at 608-263-2320.
Your participation is completely voluntary. If you decide not to participate or to withdraw from the study it will have no effect on any services or treatment you are currently receiving.

Instructions:

Units: If the units you report are different from the ones that are suggested in the survey, please specify the units you are using.

You DO NOT need to answer every question.
If the question does not apply or the answer is “zero”, please enter “0”. If you do not know an answer or prefer not to answer please leave it blank.

Please review your answers carefully before going to the next page as you will not be able to go back after you press continue.

Do not use the "go back" or "forward" buttons from your internet browser.

I. GENERAL FARM OPERATIONS
The questions below ask about general characteristics of your farm and animal operations. Please answer these questions to the best of your ability

A. Composition of the Herd

2. What are the animal breeds on your farm? (Make sure the total adds up to 100%)

	Percentage
Holstein

Jersey

Brown Swiss

Cross Breed

Other

3. If you answered "other" above, please specify.

4. What is the average body weight per animal (pounds)?


Milking cows

Dry cows and heifers >21 month

Heifers <21 months

6. On average, how many hours per day do your cows spend grazing (if none, please enter "0")?


Summer:

Winter:

7. Please enter the data about your facilities.

	Barn 1	Barn 2	Barn 3	Barn 4	Barn 5
Alley length (ft)

Alley width (ft)

Holding pen length (ft)

Holding pen width (ft)

Number of alleys

Number of milking cows

Number of heifers

Number of dry cows

8. What is the approximate daily feed intake in pounds per milking cow per day?

	Pounds/Day
Corn silage

Alfalfa silage

Hay

Corn grain

Soybean meal

Dry distillers grains

Cottonseed

Other

9. If you entered data for "other" above, please specify what type of feed you use.

10. What type of bedding is used on your facility for each type of animal? (select all the options that apply)

11. If you selected "other" above, please specify the type of bedding.

12. On average, how much bedding do you replace (in pounds)? (Example: 10 pounds per day, OR 500 pounds per week, OR 2000 pounds per month)


Milking cows

Dry cows and heifers >21 month

Heifers <21 months

13. How much bedding do you recycle? (example: 60% of total bedding used; OR 250 pounds per week. If none, enter "0")


Milking cows

Dry cows and heifers >21 month

Heifers <21 months

14. Please enter the data regarding milk production at your facility.


Daily average milk production (pounds)

Average milk fat (percentage)

Average milk protein (percentage)

15. Where does your feed supply come from and what is the acreage of land used?


Owned land (acres)

Rented land (acres)

Purchased feed (lbs/year)

17. How many acres of the land you own/rent are not being used for production (marginal)? (If none, enter "0")

18. On how many acres of land owned by you do you apply manure? (If none, enter "0")

19. On how many acres of land NOT owned by you do you apply manure? (If none, enter "0")

20. Do you buy any manure from somewhere outside your farm? If you do, how much? (Tons/year)? If none, enter "0"

21. Please enter the corresponding acreage data about your typical crop makeup.

	Planted acreage
Corn grain

Corn silage

Soybean

Alfalfa

Hay

Pasture

Other

22. How much fertilizer do you apply in your farm for each crop? (example: 500 lb of urea/acre; 100 lb phosphorus/acre) If you do not know leave blank, if none enter "0". IF POSSIBLE, PLEASE WRITE DOWN ALL FERTILIZERS USED FOR EACH CROP.


Corn grain

Corn silage

Soybean

Alfalfa

Hay

Pasture

Other

II. MANURE OPERATIONS
The following questions will give us more specific information about the manure related operations that exist in Wisconsin’s dairy farms to determine the emissions that are most likely to happen due to these practices

Solid (20% dry matter)

Semi-solid (12-19% dry matter)

Slurry (8-12% dry matter)

Liquid (liquid slurry 1-7% dry matter)

A. Collection Systems

24. How frequently do you collect manure? (For example: daily, OR 3 times per week.)

Skid steer/tractor scraper

Other (please specify any details including motor size and average time of operation)

a) Skid steer/ tractor scraper:

26. What is the total horsepower of the skid steer/tractor used for manure collection?

27. What is the average gas mileage of the skid steer/tractor used for manure collection (miles/gallon)?

28. What is the skid steer's daily average time of operation for manure collection (hours)?

b) Alley scraper:

29. Please fill in the following data regarding the alley scrapers on your facility.

	Barn 1	Barn 2	Barn 3	Barn 4	Barn 5
Number of motors

Average horsepower

Daily hours of operation

c) Flush system:

30. Please fill in the following data regarding your flush system per barn type.

	Barn 1	Barn 2	Barn 3	Barn 4	Barn 5
Flow rate (gal/min)

Number of pumps

Average horsepower

Flush volume (liters)

Flushes per day

Recycled from manure storage

Other recycled water

32. If you selected "other recycled water" above, please specify where it is recycled from.

Manure processing (example: anaerobic digestion, sand separation, solid separation)

Long-term storage (storage longer than 1 month)

Apply it to the field

a) Transportation to processing:

Other (please specify any details including horsepower and average time of operation)

37. What is the total horsepower required to transport manure to processing? (example: if you have 1 pump of 5 HP and 1 pump of 10 HP write the total value of 15 HP)

38. What is the pump’s daily average time of operation (hours)?

39. What is the total horsepower required to transport manure to processing? (example: if you have 1 auger of 5 HP and 1 auger of 10 HP write the total value of 15 HP)

40. What is the auger's daily average time of operation (hours)?

42. What is the horsepower of the truck or tractor used to haul the tanker?

43. What is the capacity of the tanker used to transport manure (gallons)?

44. How many trips (from barn to processing site) per day do you make with the tanker?

45. What is the average distance per trip (feet)?

46. What is the average time per trip? (minutes)

47. What is the horse power of the tractor/skid steer you use to transport the manure?

48. How many trips (from barn to processing site) per day do you make with the tractor/skid steer?

49. What is the average distance per trip (feet)?

50. What is the average time per trip (minutes)?

b) Transportation to storage:

Select only if you DO NOT transport to storage

51. How frequently do you transport the manure to the long-term storage? (example: 1 time per week; 2 times per month)

53. What is the total horsepower required to transport manure to storage? (example: if you have 1 pump of 5 HP and 1 pump of 10 HP write the total value of 15 HP)

54. What is the pump’s daily average time of operation (hours)?

55. What is the horsepower of the truck or tractor used to haul the tanker?

56. What is the capacity of the tanker used to transport manure (gallons)?

57 What is the average distance per trip (feet)?

58. What is the average time per trip? (minutes)

59. What is the total horsepower required to transport manure to storage? (example: if you have 1 auger of 5 HP and 1 auger of 10 HP write the total value of 15 HP)

60. What is the augers daily average time of operation (hours)?

C. Manure Processing

Solid-liquid separation

I do not have any kind of manure processing in my farm

a) Anaerobic digestion:

63. What is the volume of your digester (cubic feet)?

64. Approximately how much biogas is produced per day (cubic feet)?

65. What is the methane content of your biogas (percentage)?

66. What percentage of the biogas goes back to heat the digester?

67. If you have a gas clean up system, please provide a brief description of it (type, power, etc.):

68. How do you use the biogas that is produced in your farm? Please provide an estimate percentage (%) for each use that applies to your farm.
Make sure the total adds up to 100%

	Percentage
Electricity used on farm

Electricity exported to the grid

Boiler

Biogas flared

Compressed biogas

Other

69. If you produce electricity, what is the total horse power of the turbine you use to generate electricity? (HP)

b) Solid-liquid separation:

71. How frequently do you separate the manure? (example: 3 hours per day)

72. Approximately how many solids do you produce daily? (example: 2 tons per day)

73. What is the total horse power of your separation system?

75. What is the total horse power required to separate?

76. What is the daily average time of separation (hours)?

77. How frequently do you use sand separation? example: 5 days a week)

In-place earthen basin

Clay-lined earthen basin

Earthen basin with a liner

Below-ground concrete pit

Above-ground concrete pit

Above-ground glass-lined steel pit

Deep pit under the barn floor

I don’t have storage because I apply manure daily

79. What are the dimensions of the long-term storage (feet)?


Width

Length

Depth

Diameter (if round storage)

Organic (example: straw, sawdust)

Natural crust that forms on top of stored manure

81. How long do you agitate the manure when emptying storage? (example: for 15 minutes prior to filling tankers; if you do not agitate, answer “do not agitate”)

82. Please describe the agitation equipment and provide its total horse power (example: one 30 HP pump, 50 HP PTO, etc):

E. Manure Application

83. Please estimate the average distance traveled from the manure storage to the field entrance (miles). (example: 10 miles)

84. If you incorporate manure by tillage, within how many days do you incorporate it? (If you do not incorporate manure by tillage, enter a "0")

85. How long does it take to apply the manure each time it is done? (example: 80 hours in spring and 80 hours in fall)

Pump drag hose surface application

Pump drag hose injection

Tanker/spreader broadcast

Tanker/spreader injection

87. What is the total horse power of your application system? If you have multiple pumps please just provide the total (HP).

88. What is the total horse power of the pump you have in your application system?

89. What is the horse power of the truck/tractor you use to spread the manure?

For tanker/spreader systems:

90. What are the characteristics of your tanker/spreader


Size/capacity of the tanker (gallons)

Horsepower

91. What is the motor size of the pump/PTO you use to load the tanker/spreader (HP)?

92. How long does it take to load the tanker (minutes)?