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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 18, No. 19
November 26, 2016
A novel bedding system Dorrich Dairy installs new composting equipment By Missy Mussman missy@dairystar.com
MISSY MUSSMAN/DAIRY STAR
Brad Vold examines a sample of composted bedding. The Volds are using Minnesota’s rst composƟng machine on their 400cow dairy near Glenwood, Minn.
GLENWOOD, Minn. – Dorrich Dairy has a bedding system different from all other farms in Minnesota. “It’s very popular in Europe, Canada and the Northwestern United States,” Brad Vold said. “There are a few in Wisconsin and on the east coast, but it’s a new concept to the Upper Midwest.” Dorrich Dairy installed a composting machine on Sept. 14. Richard Vold, his sons, Brad and Greg, and Brad’s wife, Suzanne, milk 400 cows in a double-8 herringbone parlor near Glenwood, Minn. “It looks like a TMR mixer with a hopper and conveyors,” Greg said. The composter uses both manure solids and feed refusals from the 400-cow herd to create the composted bedding. Feed refusals are ground up in a hopper and the manure runs through the separator, which en-
sures solids are at nearly 60 percent moisture before entering the drum. “It’s different than a digester because the manure runs through the separator rst not last,” Brad said. “It’s also an aerobic system instead of the anaerobic system the digesters use.” The manure solids are then moved to the composting drum, along with small increments of feed refusals. “We trickle in the feed refusals because we don’t want to overload the manure with it,” Greg said. “That helps keep the compost consistent.” The mixture remains in the composter for nearly 25 hours and reaches 130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. “The compost heats itself,” Suzanne said. “We don’t have to use any additional energy to heat it in the drum.” As it exits the drum, the composted solids are at 60 percent moisture and are stored in a pile at one end of the barn. The transition to the com-
Thankful to be alive
Lubitz recovering from head injuries By Missy Mussman missy@dairystar.com
PERHAM, Minn. – Jack and Janice Lubitz will be feeling extra thankful at this year’s Thanksgiving, who milk 35 cows on their farm near Perham, Minn. On Oct. 22, Jack was struck in the head by a 16-inch tree branch. The incident resulted in multiple fractures to the top of his head, a fracture at the base of his skull where the spine attaches, fractures to both jaws, a fractured nose and right eye socket, a brain injury and a shattered right side of his face. “I can’t remember anything that happened up until I woke up the next day in the hospital,” Jack said. That day, Jack, Janice, their daughter and son-in-law, Jessica and Mike Dupuis, and their children, Hunter, 10, and Mason, 7, were out in the woods cutting down a few trees for re wood
MISSY MUSSMAN/DAIRY STAR
Jack Lubitz, pictured with his wife, Janice, is recovering from mulƟple fractures to his skull, nose, right eye socket and both jaws, a brain injury and a shaƩered right side of his face he sustained while cuƫng wood on Oct. 22. The Lubitz family milks 35 cows near Perham, Minn.
poster started in February when the farm Dorrich Dairy was purchasing 80 semi loads of digested manure solids bedding from each year for the past eight years said they were going to discontinue selling their bedding in September. “We were forced to go this route,” Greg said. “They gave us a lot of lead time and offered to keep us lled until we were set up, but it goes quickly. We were in between a rock and a hard place.” The Volds researched other bedding options. After ruling out straw, shavings and green solids, the Volds looked closely at sand, but would have to redo their entire manure storage system. “With milk prices where they were, it was not going to work,” Suzanne said. “Our monthly costs would have more than doubled.” Finally, the Volds came across the composter.
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before Mike’s surprise birthday party later that afternoon. With only a tree or two left before nishing up at 3:45 p.m., Janice was bracing the tree they were cutting down with her tractor, while Jack was on another tractor. Soon, their carefully laid plans to nish on time came to a screeching halt. “I didn’t see the dead tree behind me,” Janice said. “My tractor tire nicked it and it fell just past my shoulder.” Meanwhile, Jack was in the process of dismounting his tractor when the 16inch branch hit him on the top of his head. “I tucked my shoulders in to miss the tree but it hit the throttle. The next thing I heard is Jessica yelling, ‘Daddy’s down. Daddy’s down,” Janice said. Janice quickly shut off the tractor and raced to Jack who lay unconscious. “He was out for four minutes, breathing but wasn’t responding at all,” Janice said with tears in her eyes. “He started gurgling. I thought he was dying.” Immediately, Janice rested Jack’s Turn to LUBITZ | Page 5