Waste management opportunities for the Komi Republic

A training seminar “Major Aspects of Modern Dairy Cattle Breeding” was held at the Komi Institute for Retraining and Advanced Training of Agricultural Workers for top-managers of large and medium-sized enterprises, farm managers, and livestock experts. During the event, the topic of manure management was discussed.

Considering the construction of large dairy livestock farms and an increase in the livestock number, manure management becomes an issue at these sites.

“At the federal level, manure was classified as hazard class 4, and was thus prohibited to be brought raw to the fields. Today, a large volume of manure has been stored up in the republic, and now it is necessary to develop specific measures for its neutralization in order to obtain organic fertilizer and clean up the sites. Our task is to create an effective and environmentally friendly system for processing livestock waste,” Anatoly Knyazev, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Komi / Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Market, emphasized in his speech.

Currently, the separation method is used which constitutes mechanical dividing of manure into fractions – liquid and solid. After processing, the solid fraction can be reused for bedding cows.

The liquid fraction is pumped into lagoons or tanks where aerobic fermentation using thermophilic bacteria destroys pests and weed seeds. Once the necessary processes are complete, finished manure is transported to the fields using special equipment and spread or injected into the soil under pressure.

“The Ministry has already begun addressing the issue of subsidizing the transportation of organic fertilizers from storage to the fields,” Anatoly Knyazev pointed out.