Perfect Dairy Project for Drought

Instead of making hay while the sun shines, we've been digging in the lagoon during the dry weather.  Our lagoon is basically a large pond that sits at the end of the dairy cow feed barn.  Its purpose is to provide protection for our land and water quality by capturing any water or manure from the feed barn.  Since being built in 1988, the lagoon has never been completely emptied or cleaned out.  Drought conditions this summer made this the perfect time for cleaning out the lagoon and refurbishing the banks under the technical guidance of the Conservation District. 

Because milking the cows and caring for our dairy animals takes priority, it has taken several weeks to complete this project. The project began in July with pumping the water and progressed to scooping out the solids in the bottom. Labor Day weekend was the grand finale of the lagoon cleaning with a bulldozer operator sculpting the sides of the lagoon bank to allow us an easier angle for mowing and maintainence.

Caring for our natural resources is a responsibility that we take seriously because we live and work on our land.  The lagoon is an important part of our manure management system that meets the requirements of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality and allows us to recycle the water and manure that is produced on our farm to fertilize the soil for  our crops and pastures while protecting the  land and water for us and our neighbors.

We celebrated the completion of this project with a steak dinner, a tall glass of milk,   and a big sigh of relief.
Now--let it rain,let it rain,let it rain!