In 1972 Congress passed the Clean Waters Act that formed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the years since, the EPA has promulgated regulations that Kimvale Farm must comply with by 2009. New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) is given the responsibility of regulating Confined Feeding Operations (CAFO). Kimvale has more than 200 cows so it must conform even though it doesn’t confine them! We pasture them! Go figure! At any rate we have spent in excess of $588,788 in meeting the requirements for the CAFO Plan. The first $300,000 or so was probably well spent.
Additional changes and unforeseen events have led to a far more complicated farmstead than was originally contemplated or proposed. After meetings and inspections too numerous to even remember we hope we have finally met all the demands of this program and that we can resume farming!
Briefly, the system separates the manure. The solids are currently stored to be applied to the far away fields that provide feed for the herd during the winter (non-pasture months) as well as some corn grain that provide the cows with energy year round. The liquid portion is stored in a 2.4 million gallon liquid holding pond and applied to the pasture paddocks during the pasture season. We have found the separated liquid to be of a great value applied to hay fields following first cutting. The aeration plus the microbials that are added apparently give a crop response much more than the amount of N, P, & K in the analysis of the liquid.
Click here for a more detailed decsription
and photos of our manure handling system