Lincolnville contractor uses advanced manure method
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff reporter
Farmers have been spreading manure on fields since they first domesticated livestock, but Benewiat Lagoon Pumping uses the latest technology to inject the liquid manure into the ground.
The business is headquartered at Lincolnville, where Benewiat and his family have lived the past two and one-half years. His wife, Tammy, operates Tammy's Cafe in Lincolnville.
Benewiat pumps lagoons for dairies, swine operations, and some cities throughout the state.
The effluent is pumped directly into long hoses which are pulled through a field by a tractor pulling a cultivator to open the dirt and incorporate the sludge into the soil. The sludge is distributed through smaller hoses running the length of the cultivator.
On grassland, an aerator is used behind the tractor to open the soil.
As far as he knows, Benewiat is the only pumper in the state who uses the drag-hose sub-soil method.
He operates with a Case 7240 front-wheel assist tractor and a Sucup minimum-till cultivator. He also owns an aerator and pump truck and a hose cart which holds one mile of 6-inch to 4.5-inch hose.
He said additional hoses can be connected to the first mile of hose to reach 10 miles or more from the lagoon site. The pump on the truck is so powerful, it can force the manure and water mixture a great distance.
An agitator placed in the lagoon keeps the liquids and solids mixed.
To begin spreading the sludge, Benewiat places hose from one corner to the opposite corner of the field. Because the hose is flexible, his tractor can pull it back and forth across the field to distribute the sludge evenly.
After the job is finished, the hose is retracted hydraulically.
Benewiat said he applies from 850 to 1,000 or more gallons per minute, depending on the application rate. He said the rate is based on soil tests, effluent tests, and the crop being planted. Everything is metered.
He said it is to the farmer's benefit to determine the proper application rate to ensure not too much or too little is applied.
One mile of hose contains 8,000 gallons of sludge. When an operation is almost complete, the line is purged by forcing air through it, leaving all the sludge on the field. Nothing is left in the hose.
Benewiat said a lot of dairy and swine operators find it difficult to pay the cost of pumping a lagoon, but considering equipment, fuel, time, and labor, hiring it done is more economical than doing it themselves.
According to Benewiat, a 3,000-sow swine operation can produce a million gallons of waste-water per year. About 100 dairy cows kept in confinement can produce four million gallons.
He said he has $300,000 to $400,000 invested in equipment, which he up-grades regularly.
He has been pumping lagoons for eight years, operating year-round, weather permitting.
He got his start when a large outfit sold him the equipment and guaranteed him three years of pumping at $90,000 per year. However, the operation sold out after one year, so he is left to seek contracts on his own to make up for the one that fell through.
He still is in the process of building the business and lately has been contacting producers through the Kansas Dairy Association, Pork Producers Council, and radio. He recently received certification in Iowa.
Two winters ago, he and another pumper fulfilled a contract with Tyson Foods at their swine operations at Holdenville, Okla. He also has a contract with National Farms at Parsons but has done no pumping there yet.
He pumps regularly for Prairie View Farms near Admire, which was the site of a Kansas Pork Producers Council Environmental Field Day in 1998 which demonstrated a drag-hose manure application system.
His only job so far in Marion County was for Leroy Penner, who has a swine operation near Peabody.
Benewiat gave an example of his claim that manure fertilizer is much more productive than commercial fertilizer. He said one farmer had two same-size fields of brome grass, one fertilized with manure sludge, one with commerical fertilizer. The field fertilized with manure yielded 85 bales, the other 40 bales.
Benewiat believes he is on the cutting edge of technology when it comes to manure application and that someday his method may be required by the state
