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Reducing the Smell of Beef Cattle Manure
By Marty
Clark March 29, 2005
Unmistakable cattle manure odors have become a bigger issue during the
last several years as more and more people move from cities and suburbs to
rural areas. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are researching various
methods to reduce the unwanted odor, including the type of corn fed to animals.
At the ARS Roman L. Hruska
U.S.
Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb., several ARS scientists
are studying beef cattle diets to see if they can change them to reduce
unpleasant odors while still raising productive animals. They found that
feeding cattle high-moisture corn instead of the traditional dry-rolled corn
significantly reduced the odors.
The scientists don't measure odor per se, but the compounds that might
cause odor. Starch that is not digested produces many odor-causing compounds in
manure. If more starch is digested, less starch is available to cause odor.
Starch from dry-rolled corn does not get digested as thoroughly as that in the
high-moisture corn, so cattle fed high-moisture corn are less likely to produce
foul-smelling manure.
High-moisture corn is usually cheaper for cattle producers who own the
corn. But for those who don't, it can become too expensive because of storage
and transportation issues.
The research was conducted by postdoctoral fellow
Shawn
L. Archibeque, animal scientist
Harvey
C. Freetly, microbiologist
Daniel
N. Miller, and animal scientist
Calvin
L. Ferrell. Their results were presented earlier this year at a "Symposium
on the State of the Science: Animal Manure and Waste Management," in San
Antonio, Texas.
The symposium was sponsored by the
National
Center for Manure and Animal Waste Management, which receives funding from
the USDA Cooperative State Research,
Education and Extension Service.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.