COURSE + GROUNDS IDEAS ISSUE
HERD MENTALITY THE GOAL: By Betsy Gilliland, Contributing Editor
AT FIRST GLANCE, IT MIGHT seem there is little connection between overseeing a golf course maintenance operation and running a cattle ranch. However, Dan Tolson, Golf Course Superintendent at The Club at 3 Creek in Jackson, Wyo., has undertaken a maintenance process that not only provides pesticide-free feed for livestock, it turns a common golf course waste product—grass clippings—into livestock silage and creates a new revenue stream for his club. With the aid of a BioPac’r, a self-contained machine, The Club at 3 Creek sells the silage to the Crowfoot J Ranch in Victor, Idaho. The BioPac’r was invented by Todd Grauss of Yellowstone Compact and Commodities Corp. in Jackson, after he was spending large sums of money to haul grass clippings for disposal to the dump. Disposal fees were a costly expense for The Club at 3 Creek as well, so Tolson was an enthusiastic BioPac’r customer from the beginning. The Club at 3 Creek bought a BioPac’r in 2015, and the property originally gave away the converted clippings to another rancher. Last year, however, the club signed a contract to sell its silage to Crowfoot J, located about 30 miles away. “It’s a viable food supply for livestock,” says Tolson. “Ranchers struggle to grow hay for [their animals].” The BioPac’r (see photo, opposite pae) slides into the back of a pickup truck or can be mounted on a trailer, and compresses material into one-ton cubes that measure 4 feet by 5 feet. Encased in special airtight plastic bags, the biomass undergoes a fermentation process that kills pesticides and turns the clippings into a silage product in 30 days. Fertilizers and pesticides in the grass are broken down and degraded in the first eight hours that the clippings are sealed, and the product has a shelf life of at least eight years. The collection process does not interfere with regular maintenance inputs at The 38
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Club + Resort Business
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June 2019
Create a sustainable program at The Club at 3 Creek that reduces the property’s waste, carbon footprint, and labor costs, while also eliminating disposal fees for grass clippings.
THE PLAN:
The property purchased a BioPac’r machine that converts grass clippings to silage for livestock. Grounds crew members collect grass clippings when they walk-mow their greens, tees, and approaches. The grass clippings are then put in plastic bags, where they are kept for a month during the fermentation process, before being sold to an Idaho rancher to feed his cattle.
THE PAYOFF:
The Club at 3 Creek has saved costs by eliminating disposal fees of its grass clippings, created a new revenue stream, and had a positive effect on the environment. www.clubandresortbusiness.com
5/28/19 8:36 AM