Pumping manure is one thing, but applying it so the land base gets the right nutrients and governments don’t get their collective noses out of join is quite another.
Doug Redekop of Steinbach, MB., is the president and general manager of Precision Pumping, and manure pumping co-operative set up 20 years ago to service a growing and vibrant pig industry.
“The biggest change in the last five to ten years is the focus is now squarely on phosphorous management and management of those nutrients,” said Redekop. “When we look back, the establishment of the hog nutrient industry had more to do with nitrogen application. We’re applying either fewer times in the period of years, or less per acre and therefore having to go greater distances from the pig production centre.”
Changing from the nitrogen to phosphorous focus has created the biggest impact on the manure pumping business increasing the distance pumping and how pumpers manage phosphorous in the simplest form.
“Everybody is competing for acres as close to the operations as possible so there is an increased competition that is huge,” he said. “As that competition increases we have to pump farther — rather than pumping one to two miles, we are now pumping four to five miles.”
This means longer and more hoses, reels, pumps, and people.
Redekop says improving technology is vital so the applicator retains his confidence to do the job properly, manage all risk, and reduce the possibility of leaks through monitoring all the pumps and to have an instant response in case of trouble.
“There is more focus on improving equipment and more parties interested in driving that technology,” he adds. “For example we now have the ability to look at all of our pumps remotely from the applicator’s tractor so he can actually see what is going on at each one of the pumps.”
He monitors the line pressure, volume of his applicator, and watches those variances very closely. In the case of an emergency he can shut the pumps down very quickly.
To pump up to five miles, they use three pumps, a bank pump and two subsequent boost pumps, more hose and reels.
With the competition increasing, Redekop will add more hose, go to a larger diameter delivery hose, ten inches, to maintain volumes, while dropping the pressures operating in a safer buffer zone for pressures and reducing leakage issues further.
The Steinbach area manure pumper says the competition comes from the integrators, whether HyLife and / or Maple Leaf Foods who look for ways to spread the manure around reducing the pressure on the home quarter so to speak because the phosphorous levels keep going up limiting the amount of manure they can put down on the land. This increases the competition for acres especially the land nearby.
With the dismal money-losing years for producers hog producers, up until a year ago, it is difficult for applicators to raise rates.
The limited land base is forcing the bigger companies to look at alternatives like separating solids out of manure to manage the phosphorous that way and see what kind of challenges and opportunities will come from that.
Redekop thinks the lower parts per million of phosphorus target for 2016 will surprise many applicators, landowners, and hog farmers.
“What people are telling me is that most producers that have an issue today are going to hit the wall in 2016,” he sayid. “By 2016 there will be no more options if you’re over certain parts per million you best have a solution in place that will allow your operation to continue beyond the high levels of phosphorous on your land.”
Redekop remembers all too well the Manitoba legislative hearings in Winnipeg, MB years ago and telling the provincial NDP government: “You have the strictest environmental regulations in Canada, perhaps all of North America, yet you refuse to let those play out before you shut down a viable economic contributor in the hog industry.”
Since then, the NDP government placed a moratorium on any and all hog expansion right across the province of Manitoba. •
— By Harry Siemens
