There’s a perpetual cycle throughout the week of World Dairy Expo that you likely don’t even notice. Almost constantly, piles of straw, shavings and manure from each show string are dumped in their designated spots outside the New Holland Pavilion doors. The piles grow, and before they spread too far into the walkways, they’re gone. And this goes on from the time the cattle arrive until they head home.
When the cows leave, the bedding packs stay – at least until the Uphoff family comes to take it all away, same as they do with the piles outside the barns each day. It takes a family who understands animals and cattle shows to do it all in such an efficient and inconspicuous way.
Kendal Uphoff says his group works between 4:00 and 10:00 AM throughout the week, with as little disruption to show activities as possible. “By no means is it an easy job. We make it look easy, because they don’t even know we’re there half the time,” he says.
And that’s the way they want it. “We’re farm oriented and understand the cattle business and behaving with the equipment around the cattle – you’re careful and quiet,” he adds.
Uphoff partly credits Badger Dairy Club for the efficient manure removal process, especially during show days. “We’ve set them up with trailers, and they go around with skid loaders and clean out the manure pits, bring it down to a collection area for us to come in with our semis and load it.”
When all is said and done, the crew, which consists primarily of the Uphoff family, removes nearly 200 semi loads of bedding and manure from the World Dairy Expo grounds. The bedding is hauled away to the Uphoff family’s land, located throughout Dane County, where they grow 1500 acres of corn and soybeans. The waste from World Dairy Expo covers three hundred of these acres.
At this point, the waste is part of another cycle: returning nutrients to the soil. “We’re using it up the way it should be used up,” Uphoff says. “In a good manner. And we’ve been doing that for a lot of years already. We are way ahead of the game.”
“If all of this went to the landfill, it would take about five times as much space, and fill that up with a product that should go right back out into the fields – and then the nutrients that we get out of it, the plant takes it all,” he adds. “It’s part of a well-balanced soil nutrient plan.”
Uphoff says the mix of manure and bedding is applied to different fields each year and he works with his local co-op to develop the rotation plan. “You’ve got a lot of potash value from the straw,” he says. “But it’s a challenge to work it into the ground. You have to put it on fairly thick, then register it into the ground. That way, it gets used right away and breaks down faster.”
Uphoff adds that this past year, they are trying something new, and are making compost out of some of the waste. “We’ll break it down into more organic matter to put on fields or sell to landscapers or the public,” he says, also under guidance from his local co-op.
While Kendal himself has contracted his part-time trucking business with World Dairy Expo for the past 35 years, he says he believes his family will be the ones to continue the cycle in the coming years.
You can now read the most important #news on #eDairyNews #Whatsapp channels!!!
🇺🇸 eDairy News INGLÊS: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaKsjzGDTkJyIN6hcP1K
