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Animal Waste Management—Problems and Guidelines for Solutions¹

ABSTRACT

Changes in animal production have occurred in response to the need for greater production efficiency and to the changes in per capita consumption. These changes include confinement feeding of livestock and increased animals per production unit. The accumulated wastes at these confined feeding operations have become point sources of potential pollution more amenable to both environmental complaints and regulation, and to better waste management and control. Solutions for satisfactory animal waste treatment and disposal will not be direct extensions of approaches that have been successful for industries and municipalities. Although no one treatment or disposal system will be the solution for all operations, there are a number of approaches that can minimize flagrant pollution problems. The most satisfactory solutions for animal wastes include some type of initial treatment followed by disposal on the land. Possible initial treatment methods include aerated liquid systems, natural drying systems, runoff control measures, and waste holding units. For over-all animal waste management, all aspects of the production scheme should be evaluated for interactions and tradeoffs so that an acceptable environment for the public and an adequate profit for the producers can be obtained. Interdisciplinary approaches are required for successful methods of animal waste management. The paper discusses feasible technical approaches and suggests interdisciplinary approaches that may be desirable.

¹ Paper presented Dec. 28–29, 1970, in Chicago, Ill., at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section "O" Agriculture Symposium on "Agriculture and the Quality of the Environment in the Seventies."

² Professor of Agricultural and Civil Engineering, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N. Y. 14850.