| Doc. # 2008-
Issue/Agenda Committee
Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
March 27, 2008 Minutes
Sunnyside Farms Tour, Genoa, NY
Present: Brian Boerman, Roxy Johnston, Ed Mills
and Cornell Natural Resources students. Greg and Neil Rejman
1. Main Office discussion –
Meeting with Venice View Dairy/Sunnyside Farm management to discuss
crop production, manure handling, agronomy and CAFO requirements.
The 2 operations support crop production and milking for a 3000
milking cow large CAFO operating on >4400 acres of crop ground
in the Cayuga Lake and the Owasco Watershed. Much discussion about
manure incorporation methods and other Phosphorus contributions.
Greg said they drag hose manure applications which means incorporate
all of the manure at about 4-10 inches below the soil surface, this
method of application reduces Phosphorus and Potassium losses from
overland flow to zero. Total Nitrogen retention with this method
is 80% NH3 and 100% Organic Nitrogen.
In addition this method of application allows for application of
manure without the need to tanker spread manure which decreases
truck traffic, mud on the road, reduces odor, increases efficiency
and reduces soil compaction concerns. Discussion of Phosphorus also
included trends on the farm in regard to building soil test P2O5.
The farm said w/ crop removal rates of 5 lbs. P2O5 per ton of corn
silage and with an estimated average yield of 20 Tons of silage
per acre they assume 100 lbs P2O5 per acre/year. With 5.5 lbs of
P2O5 per 1000 gallons of manure the farm would need to apply 18,000
gallons of manure per acre before they would begin to build soil
test Phosphorus. Greg said P values are very stable, cyclical with
crop rotations. Also some discussion of the P-index and its effect
on the farms manure handling process, what is a CNMP, how do you
plant crops, how much milk do you make etc, what type of tillage
do you use.
2. Farm Tour-
Following the meeting the group toured the facility and had discussions
at a few stops along the way. The first stop was the bunker silo
where the commodities and forages are stored prior to feeding to
livestock. Greg talked about silage leachate and the bunker silo
designed to hold the forages and capture/separate the leachate into
High Flow and low flow. Low flow is collected in a separate storage
and mixed with manure and land applied according to guidelines in
the CNMP. High flow (low nutrient, storm water diluted leachate)
is diverted to a filter strip with treats the flow before being
discharged to the crop acres. A tour of the livestock buildings
brought conversation about milk production and other milk and manure
handling systems.
Proposed Next meeting: 4/24/2008 – 4:30
pm Chemung Trust – Ithaca, NY or other
Suggested agenda items: Doug Haith Model assumptions,
Todd Walters improvements to the model, Christian Shoemaker’s
use of the model. LFF
Submitted by, Brian Boerman, Chair
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