Salute to Dairy

June is

A Salute To

Celebrating National Dairy Month with emphasis on our local Dairy Industry and support services.

A special supplement to the

June 9, 2015

Daily Sun newS & Sun newS Shopper

Local Dairy StoriesSunnyside’s last milkman ......................................8Newest Dairy Ambassador ..................................10Healthy dairy cows produce more, emit less .......26Sunnyside workshop draws dairy community......28Nutrient-rich fertilizer ...........................................30

DAILY SUN

NEWSDAILY SUN

NEWS‘TODAY’S LOCAL NEWS TODAY’

2 - DAILy SuN NewS – A SALuTe To DAIry 2015 – JuNe 9, 2015

Advertiser’s IndexAg Health Laboratories .....................................27AgPro Repair & Fabrication ..............................24Agri-King .............................................................4All West Select Sires ........................................30American Health International ..........................31American Radiator Parts and Service Centers ...8American West Bank ........................................24Benton REA ......................................................17Bert’s Excavating ..............................................14Bleyhl Country Store.........................................12Bleyhl Petroleum ..............................................24Central Machinery Sales, Inc............................15Central Pre-Mix.................................................22Cliff’s Septic & Sewer Service ..........................14Columbia River Steel & Construction ...............13CRV ..................................................................19C. Speck Motors ...............................................26Daily Sun News ................................................12Dairy Farmers of Washington ...........................25Darigold ............................................................16Daritech ..............................................................5Davis Pumps & Electric Motors Inc. .................16DeLaval ............................................................19Duda Insurance ................................................22Empire Heavy Equipment Repair .....................27Ferndale Grain....................................................3Golden West Seed ...........................................24Hall Financial ......................................................4HUB International, Northwest ...........................18Kinter Electric ...................................................28Lower Valley Credit Union ..................................6Lower Valley Machine Shop Inc. ......................20

Mensonides Dairy .............................................30Mountain States Construction, Co. ...................23Mountain View Equipment Company ............... 11Northwest Farm Credit Services.........................8PacCorp............................................................21Port of Sunnyside ...............................................9RDO Equipment ...............................................17R.H. Smith Distributing Co., Inc. .........................3Robinson Drilling & Development, Inc. .............22SS New Holland ...............................................29Sunnyside Community Hospital & Clinics.........23Sunnyside Dairy, LLC .......................................28Sunnyside Tire Factory .....................................18TJ’s Refrigeration, LLC .....................................20Toppenish Livestock Commission ....................10Valley Pipe Company, Inc. ................................30Valmont Northwest, Inc. ....................................32VanBelle Excavating, LLC ................................ 11Washington State Hay Growers Association ......7Western Stockmen’s .........................................31Yakima Valley Fair & Rodeo ............................. 11

DAILY SUN

NEWSDAILY SUN


600 South 6th St., P.O. Box 878Sunnyside, WA 98944

News/AdvertisiNg (509) 837-4500FAX (509) 837-6397

website: www.DailySunNews.com

by Jennie McGhan

Not only is the process of using artificial insemination safer for those working on dairies, but it helps to produce cows that are more productive and live longer lives.

That’s according to All West Select Sires District Manager Bill Van de Graaf.

He said All West is the largest member of the nine-member cooperative known as Se-lect Sires. All West has been in operation for 75 years and the cooperative celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.

Van de Graaf has been involved in the dairy industry since he graduated high school, working for Cow Palace near Grang-er for 16 years. He began working for All West in 1991.

All West Select Sires is a national firm that serves dairies across the U.S.

“It has the number one market share in AI (artificial insemination) in the nation,” said Van de Graaf, noting the company has the No. 1 and 2 Holstein bulls in the country.

The firm, which serves a large number of dairies in the Yakima Valley, works with dairy farmers to match desired traits from its bulls to correlate with weaker traits of a cow.

Van de Graaf said the process corrects the weakness in the cow’s calves so the next generation is bred to be good for production and will live longer.

“It’s like a computer dating service for cows,” he quipped.

The ideal cow, said Van de Graaf, is me-dium-sized with a well attached udder. Her teats should be directly under the udder and

Firm helps dairies breed healthier, heartier cows

Jennie McGhan/Daily Sun News

All West Select Sires Select Mating Service evaluator Randy Van Wieringen uses a computerized evaluation tool when grading cows at local dairies for desired breeding traits.

photo courtesy of All West Select Sires

Bill Van de Graaf of All West Select Sires reaches into a cow to direct her uterus for insemination.

her feet and legs should be able to with-stand the stress of carrying milk, said Van de Graaf.

He said cows should calve at 13-month intervals.

“The earlier she can be bred back, the higher level of production,” Van de Graaf said.

The lifespan of a cow is also of concern to dairy farmers. The longer she lives, the more milk she can produce.

“The average cull rate is about 35 percent – the average cow is only around for three lactations,” said Van de Graaf, stating the aim is to reduce the cull rate to 25 percent, given the right breeding program.

Because a cow typically goes into heat ev-ery 21 days, technicians for All West Select Sires monitor herds in the Yakima Valley on a daily basis.

Van de Graaf said there are 18 technicians serving local dairy farmers via the firm’s monitoring services.

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Technicians mark cows that are ready for breeding using a color coded tail chalk.

“Orange is an open, breedable cow,” said Van de Graaf.

When the cow goes into heat, the other cows will mount her, rubbing off the chalk. That’s when a technician and herdsman know the cow is ready to be bred.

The cows are also scored by the tech-nicians based on 17 traits, including the placement of the hips and condition of the udder, feet and legs.

Technicians, said Van de Graaf, monitor the reproduction performance of the cows, as well as the performance of the sires (the genetic results of offspring).

He said technicians also consult with the dairy farmer and veterinarians regarding re-productive protocols.

“If a farmer wants more protein and fat content from his cows, it is one of the fac-tors to be considered when selecting a bull to fit the needs of the herd,” said Van de Graaf.

One of the benefits of using AI, he said, is it eliminates the risk of inbreeding.

Also, Van de Graaf said, bulls can pose a threat to dairy employees. They can also damage equipment and may carry genetic traits that are undesirable.


A cow marked for breeding purposes by technicians with All West Select Sires bears an orange tail chalk mark that rubs off when other cows mount her. This one also bears a green “P,” meaning she is pregnant.

photo courtesy of All West Select Sires

A semen unit like this carries 15 to 20 million sperm cells that are directly de-posited inside a cow’s cervix.

Healthiercontinued from page 2

For increased production, longevity and resistance to disease, he said AI is a better alternative to natural breeding.

‑ Jennie McGhan can be contacted at 509‑837‑4500, or email [email protected]

According to a history kept by the Dairy Farmers of Washington, the state’s dairy farming tradition began in Walla Walla in 1836. Missionary Dr. Marcus Whitman brought 16 Durham cows to serve the mission he established there.

The first cattle to graze the fertile Yakima Valley were the beef cows brought through the Yakima Valley by frontier cattleman Ben Snipes in 1859, while Washington was still a part of the Oregon Territory, according Sunnyside historian and author Roscoe Sheller.

Then as now, the cows thrived in Washington and the territory’s herd had grown to more than 27,600 cows by 1880, when the first creamery opened.

By the 1900s more dairies could be found in the Yakima Valley. Between the 1920s and 1950s, dairies in the Yakima County continued to increase with more than 200,000 dairy cows counted as part of a state agricultural survey of the area.

Today, Washington state boasts about 480 dairy farms and about 262,000 contented cows, the bulk of which are located in Yakima County. Between Zillah and Grandview, there are 23 dairies, nearly all of which are family-owned operations.

In addition, seven of the major dairy cow breeds — Holsteins, Jerseys, Guernseys, Ayrshires, Brown Swiss, Milking Shorthorns and Dutch Belted — can be found in Washington, with Holsteins being the most prevalent.

There are 34 certified organic dairies operating in Washington; they are home to about 11,200 cows (or 4.3% of the state herd).

Dairies have long Yakima Valley history

Today, in Washington State and across the country, more than 98% of dairy farms are

family owned. – courtesy of the Dairy Farmers of Washington.

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by Blair Thompson and Pete DeLaunay

Since the Dairy Nutrient Management Act was enacted into law in 1998, each of Washington’s 400 registered dairies have developed plans and worked to implement them as a way to avoid surface water dis-charges and mitigate elevated nitrate content in groundwater.

“Nutrient plans are not permits but road maps for dairy farmers to use to manage ma-nure nutrients on an on‐going basis, rain or shine,” said Ginny Prest, Dairy Nutrient Pro-gram manager with the state’s Department of Agriculture.

“From the initial start-up 17 years ago, the progress dairy farmers are making has been phenomenal ‐ from facilities, waste storage ponds, collecting silage, conveyance or ex-port to record keeping. WSDA works closely with all dairy farmers, making farm visits and developing good communication.”

“I work with a great bunch of dairy pro-ducers in the Yakima Valley who are pretty progressive in how they manage manure nu-trients,” said WSDA inspector Dan McCarty who conducts routine dairy inspections in the Valley. “We walk through the facility to view any changes they have made to manure management and we’ve seen a lot of im-provements and upgrades to manure handling systems during the past year.”

McCarty adds, “The new separator tech-nology removes more nutrients, and there are more manure composting facilities that are processing and exporting to nurseries and even residential turf building suppliers. I go through a records review with them to exam-ine manure export records, irrigation records, soil and manure nutrient samples to make cer-tain they are applying nutrients (manure and commercial fertilizer) at agronomic rates to meet crop needs, which in turn, protects sur-face and ground water.“

Although there remain some “hot pock-ets” where the soil samples are above where they should be, WSDA is working with dairy farmers on an individual basis.

To solve this issue, dairy producers are developing a combination of emerging tech-nology tools, better management, and being

able to export a valuable commodity out of the basin in the form of compost that is nutri-ent rich, coupled with double cropping with corn, alfalfa, and triticale (cross between wheat and rye) that is used for feed.

The Dairy Nutrient Act was supported by the dairy industry to improve record keeping/data collection, conveyance and storage of manure nutrients.

In 2006, WSDA, Department of Ecology, Federal Environmental Protection Agency, WSU, conservation districts and the dairy in-dustry established soil test thresholds. Dairy producers have been making good progress in meeting these thresholds; it often means in-vesting in more land that is often at premium prices in both Whatcom and Yakima Coun-ties.

Farm plans and inspections of farm opera-tions are not voluntary. Dairy producers are inspected every 18 to 22 months including a wet weather inspection every five years, at a minimum.

“If high risk situations are identified, it will involve additional investigation type in-spections as well,” Prest said. “Large dairy operations are hiring crop consultants and soil scientists to help them with their land appli-cations; however it’s often the smaller dairy operations that need the help most.”

Manure nutrient plans are developed and submitted to local conservation district ex-perts for certification.

Washington’s Dairy Nutrient Management Act requires all licensed cow dairies to devel-op and implement nutrient management plans, register with WSDA and participate in a pro-gram of regular inspections and compliance.

Dairy producers frequently participate in “best nutrient management” training sessions.

“Dairy farmers wear many hats from herd health, finance and human resources and they want to do the right thing by applying the right tools and science in terms of land ap-plications, storage and conveyance of manure nutrients,” said Prest.

‑ This article was provided by Dairyland News, an e‑newsletter produced by the Washington Dairy Products Commission, and its editors/writers Blair Thompson and Pete DeLaunay.”

Dairy Nutrient Act helps farmers with best management practices

photo courtesy Dairyland News

Washington Dairy Federation Representative Steve George (L) with Yakima Dairy Federation President Tom DeVries discuss the DeVries Family Farm’s water man-agement system with a lined lagoon in the background.


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Lower Valley dairies retain, or in many cases employ full time, large animal veterinarians, hydrologists and soil/crop agron-omists to manage their 24/7/365 farm operations.

Long time Central Washington board certified agronomist Stu Turner, who works with several Valley dairies, says farmers are committed to the environment by making ongoing operation-al improvements with applied science- based processes, and investing in state -of-the- art equip-ment such as centrifuge separator machines.

“Centrifuge equipment is not the answer for all dairy farmers. But for the dairy operations look-ing to relocate nutrients it works very well because it captures more nutrients from the solid stream and results in cleaner water,” says Turner, who serves on the Lower Valley groundwater advi-sory group. “Although the system can require the farmer to invest up to $1 million, it moves the dairy closer to being a natural recycler as part of the farm’s integrated nu-trient management system.”

The centrifuge machine is in-tegrated into the farm’s overall

Separator machines help dairies manage manure


Jordan Haak (L), family member and manager at Skyridge Farms, is pictured with lead mechanic Mick Daniel, who maintains a screen separation machine that captures additional nutrients from the nutrient recovery stream. This results in recycled water for reuse for flushing the dairy or irrigation and moving the farm closer to being a natural recycler as part of the Skyridge Farm’s integrated nutrient management system.

manure management system to separate finer manure nutrient particles from the liquid.

Experts say nothing does the job better for capturing more of the nutrient value from high vol-ume manure solids.

Cleaner water from the cen-trifuge machine is recycled for reuse, allowing the farm to con-serve valuable Valley fresh water.

Supporting dairy farm-ers with manure management equipment is big business for Lynden based DariTech, a leading provider of dairy manure systems including sales, installation, and maintenance of decanter centri-fuge systems.

“Every dairy operates different-ly so we custom design systems to meet the needs of each dairy farm operation,” says DariTech project manager Josh McCort. “Several centrifuge machines are being in-stalled on Valley dairy farms with the potential for many more. The centrifuge process is new to the dairy industry but it has been used for decades in municipal and in-dustrial waste systems.”

The centrifuge machine works well as an integrated part of the farm’s manure management sys-tem that can include up to five screening phases:

see “Machines” next page


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Turner manages WSDA and conser-vation district certified Dairy Nutrient Management Plans for several Valley dair-ies. As an agronomist he supports Valley dairies with the science of soil management and crop production, environmental qual-ity, ecosystem sustainability, recycling and wise land use.

“Having centrifuge machines on dairy farms is a leap forward and upgrade in the use of technology for manure nutrient ex-traction,” he says. “We are getting closer to perfection as the centrifuge produces finer nutrient material by weight that contains

more of the good stuff.”

‑ This article was provided by Dairyland News, an e‑newsletter produced by the Washington Dairy Products Commission and its editors/writes, Blair Thompson and Pete DeLaunay.

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Machinescontinued from page 6


The centrifuge tank system at the Mensonides farm near Mabton

captures more nutrients from the solid stream that results in cleaner

water as part of the farm’s integrated nutrient management system.

The aerial picture shows the tank system that does pre-separation and concentration. The building

contains three coarse rotating drum screen separators, and three

medium screen separators, then the centrifuge cleans the smallest

suspended particles.

Local dairies exporting most of their manure


Demand is growing for manure that is converted to organic compost with 60 to 70 percent of manure solids now exported out of the Yakima Valley to commercial land-scapers and nurseries; or used as bedding on the dairy. Pictured is work underway at Skyridge Farms in Sunnyside, which exports several tons of nutrient rich compost every week.


Composting is one of the best management practices Valley dairies have to handle their manure; and compost is in demand.

“Manure compost is a natural fertilizer and widely used as more farms go organic,” says Laurie Crowe, district coordinator/livestock nutrient management specialist at South Yaki-ma Conservation District.

Dairies are now producing manure as organ-ic compost, exporting 60 to 70 percent out of the Lower Valley and the demand is growing.

“The composting process reduces manure volume and weight making it more efficient to haul,” Crowe says, “and in many cases the cost for transporting it is eliminated when organic growers take a load of compost and return it to the dairy farmer with a load of feed, much like old fashioned farm‐barter arrangements.”

Russ Davis of Walla Walla‐based manure recycling company Organix says his compa-ny found a market for a good quality compost product in Seattle, Spokane, Boise and Port-land.

“Chemical fertilizers don’t replenish the soil ‐ they just feed the plants, while com-

post allows us to start feeding the soil again so it can retain water and release nutrients. It is a much better and healthier system than using chemicals,” says Davis.

Organix currently provides more than 20 dairy clients in south central Washington with manure nutrient by‐product and recy-cling services – converting manure into an asset.

Organix also provides compost testing and organic certifications, and compost spread-ing for agricultural customers.

“The chemical fertilizers do a good job but not so much from the soil preservation as-pect of farming,” Davis said, “but the market for dairy compost is larger than the supply.”

A growing number of consumers want or-ganic fruits and vegetables. As consumers learn more about organic farming the use of organic fertilizers such as manure compost is expected to increase.

There are several markets for manure com-post. It can be effectively used as dairy cow bedding to keep the cows comfortable; and it is widely used in the valley by orchardists and vineyards.

Manure compost is also used by commercial

landscape supply companies; and retail market options are being explored.

“There is demand for more and more ma-nure compost material, but it can be costly with complicated logistics to haul to metropolitan markets where there needs to be something to haul back,” says Davis, a 20‐year composting veteran.

While the market for manure compost seems strong, there is no system in place to get it on track logistically and financially.

“There is nothing but ‘upside’ to following up on ideas to find a viable home for manure compost because there is more market oppor-tunity than there is manure compost to supply it,” Davis said.

In addition to exporting manure compost, Organix is currently assisting in the develop-ment of a biogas‐powered system that expects to convert the manure from 40,000 cows and capture its methane gas to produce renewable energy.


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Last of his kindby John Fannin

Once a staple of the dairy indus-try, the door-to-door milkman has long been a relic of a slower time in American life.

George Johnson of Sunnyside was Carnation’s last door-to-door milkman here. For nearly three decades he served about 250 customers in an area including locales between Toppenish and Grandview.

From 1960 to 1986, Johnson delivered Carnation products ranging from milk to skin lo-tion. Before joining Carnation, he worked for the All Jersey Dairy in Yakima.

Johnson, now 85, delivered to homes, stores, small businesses and day cares here in the Lower Valley.

“Growing up here in town, it was a good fit for me,” he says of being a milkman. The job, he adds, provided a good income to support his family, which includ-ed five children.

His first 12 years, Johnson drove a Carnation-owned truck. Carna-tion got out of the milk delivery business in 1972, so Johnson con-tinued to deliver Carnation milk as a private contractor.

Johnson praises wife Carol for her support.

“She hung in there with me,” he said. “She did all the bookwork.”

In 1986, Carnation’s iconic Sunnyside plant shuttered its doors altogether.

When the milk routes dried up, Johnson didn’t miss a beat and for more than two decades drove bus for the Sunnyside School District.

For the past several years, Johnson has kept alive the door-to-door milkman memories with an exhibit at the Sunnyside Mu-seum, located at Fourth Street and Grant Avenue.

He says he misses the people he saw so regularly along the route…but admits milk delivery was a young man’s job.

“There was a lot of physi-cal wear and tear,” he says.

Today, he’s content shar-ing those memories of a day gone by with others.

B e s i d e s s o u v e n i r s from his milk deliv-ery days, J o h n s o n ’ s S u n n y s i d e

photos courtesy George Johnson

After 1972, George Johnson owned and operated his own truck to deliver Carnation products door-to-door.

John Fannin/Daily Sun News

Today, Sunnyside’s last milkman – George Johnson – maintains an exhibit at the Sunnyside Museum depicting the community’s dairy past.

Museum exhibit features antique milking equipment.

The Sunnyside Museum, and the story of Sunnyside’s last milkman, is open to the public

Thursday through Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m.‑ John Fannin can be contacted at 509‑837‑4500, or email [email protected]


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Newest Dairy Ambassador is a dairy farmer at heart

Julia Hart/Daily Sun News

Longtime Yakima Valley Dairy Ambassador chaperone LaVonne Boogerd congratu-lates Jessica Stoutjesdyk following her coronation as the 2015-16 Yakima Valley Dairy Ambassador. Stoutjesdyk admits she has always wanted to be a dairy ambas-sador.

by Julia Hart

Jessica Stoutjesdyk of Zillah is learning to raise and show pigs as a member of the Sun-nyside Christian High School FFA chapter.

That’s a bit of a change for the young lady, who has been around dairy cows all of her life. She calls the swine experience a broad-ening experience, “…but I am learning.”

The newly named Yakima Valley Dairy Ambassador was raised on a 200-head Hol-stein dairy in Magrath, Alberta, Canada. Her family moved to the United States in 2003, settling in Sioux Center, Iowa, where her parents operated a 1,200-herd dairy.

In 2012, the family leased out their farm in Iowa and packed up for another move to Washington state, settling near Zillah.

Stoutjesdyk, the daughter of Jim and Darcey Stoutjesdyk, has spent years rais-ing and showing dairy animals as a 4-H club member. She recalls being 9-years-old and training her first rambunctious calves for 4-H shows.

Stoutjesdyk also remembers going shop-ping for prerequisite white pants and fancy belts for show day, “…and I learned that all

the hard work of caring for calves allowed me to succeed in the cattle showing world of 4-H.”

Calling her life on the farm a character building experience, she now lives on her family’s small Jersey and Holstein dairy.

“It’s great. I have a part time job feeding calves, swathing hay in the summertime and scraping up feed,” she explained.

“It’s very hands on for our family,” she added, noting she is one of seven children.

Nearly as important to Stoutjesdyk as be-ing selected the new dairy ambassador, was becoming an American citizen in 2013.

“And I am proud to be an American dairy farmer at heart,” she said.

Stoutjesdyk, a junior at SCHS, said serv-ing as dairy ambassador will provide her with experiences that will serve her through-out her life, including etiquette and public speaking skills

“I’m very happy to serve the dairy indus-try in this fashion,” Stoutjesdyk said.

‑ Julia Hart can be contacted at 509‑837‑4500, or email [email protected]

For more than 50 years many young wom-en have been chosen to represent the Yakima Valley as the Yakima Valley Dairy Princess.

Up until 1958, there was an Upper and Lower Yakima Valley Dairy Princess. Jerri Bogert (Honeyford) became the first to rep-resent the entire Valley.

The Yakima Valley Dairy Princesses/Am-bassadors over the years have been:

1956 - Betty Lee Parkhurst1957 - Joan Bohlke1958 - Jeri Bogert1959 - Julie Klebaum1960 - Carolyn Howat1961 - Susie Bragg1962 - Darlene Schryver1963 - (not available)1964 - Lannet Snell1965 - Elaine deHaan1966 - Marla Newhouse1967 - Mary Knight1968 - Mary Knight1969 - Chris Mullen1970 - Carol Hicks Ebbelaar1971 - Twyla Boast(also state princess)1972 - Willemina Van Pelt(also state alternate princess)1973 – Marion Rollinger1974 - Betty Van Zoelen1975 - Connie Haak1976 - Mary Rasmussen1977 - Patti Rollinger1978 - Merilee Newhouse1979 - Rosie Bosma (also state princess)1980 - Mary Golob(also state alternate princess)1981 - Lori Sundenga

1982 - Brenda McCall1983 - Jill DeJong1984 - Christie Kraft1985 - Marie Vandervies1986 - Andie Webb1987 - Julie TerMaaten1988 - Jamie DeJong(also state alternate princess)1989 - Millie Baldwin1990 - Anna Dalstra1991 - La Rayne Linde1992 - Jennifer Driesen1993 - Cheyene Paul(also state alternate princess)1994 - Karen Veiga1995 - Jodi Plooster1996 - Jennifer Golob1997 - Erika Benjert1998 - Nicole Wheeler/Lindsey Benjert1999 - Corinne Koopmans(also state princess)2000 - Janean Swager2001 - Lynn Geddis2002 - Denise Swager2003 - Kendra Golob2004 - Nicole Linde2005 - Desiree Pritchett2006 - Natasha Daniel (state alternate 2007 - Julie Wedam2008 - Krystal Leyendekker2009 – Kristyn Mensonides(also state ambassador)2010 – Kristen Wedam (state alternate)2011 – Sabrina Mensonides2012 – No candidates2013 – Katie Hutchins2014 - No candidate2015 – Jessica Stoutjesdyk

A dairy royalty tradition since 1956

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FAIR & RODEOYAKIMA VALLEY

New AI service available locally

by Julia Hart

CVR USA, a Dutch artificial insemina-tion company, is making itself known in the Yakima Valley, specifically in Sunnyside, according to Brett Haines, the company’s managing director.

CRV USA is a business unit of the parent compa-ny CRV, located in the Netherlands. The com-pany expanded into the United States in 2009, bring with it more than 140 years of experience in the artificial insemi-nation industry.

“We are currently located in six states, with home offices in Madi-son, Wis.,” Haines said.

In the Yakima Valley, Melissa Leather-man is the product specialist working with a five-member Lower Valley service techni-cian team.

Leatherman, who is based out of Othello, said she is in Sunnyside about once a week to meet the local technicians.

Leatherman said her team serves about a dozen dairies in the Lower Valley area.

CRV USA company representatives are also located in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Oregon and California.

Haines said Sunnyside was selected as one of the company’s original sites and be-gan offering its services to area dairymen in

December 2013. “We feel we fit well

with the area farm-ers,” Haines added.

He explained that CRV USA offers AI breeding products and supplies, all designed to improve the ge-netics of dairy cattle breeding. According to CRV

USA promotional materi-als, the company is one of the leading herd improvement companies in the world with offices and barns in the Netherlands and around the world. The company exports se-men to about 50 other countries through a distributor network, of which Sunnyside is now a part.

‑ Julia Hart can be contacted at 509‑837‑4500, or email [email protected]

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Research studies confirm, and the ex-periences of farmers and landscapers support, how dairy manure compost im-proves growth and yields while increasing the soil’s water holding capacity from the time of application.

Soil scientists at Michigan State Uni-versity Extension report that for every one percent of organic dairy manure compost it contains, soil can hold 16,500 gallons of plant‐available water per acre of soil down to one foot deep.

That is roughly 1.5 quarts of water per cubic foot of soil for each percent of or-ganic matter. Increasing the organic matter content from one to two percent would in-crease the volume of water to three quarts per cubic foot of soil.

Two studies from the Connecticut De-partment of Forestry and Agriculture found that dairy manure compost increased the water holding capacity of the soil and helped all crops during summer droughts by reducing periods of water stress.

Practically speaking, says Russ Davis, president of Oganix, Inc., which makes and sells cow manure compost, cows are fed a lot organic matter such as hay, alfal-fa, and corn so high volume organic matter is coming out in the form of manure.

“Sandy soils like those found in Central and Eastern Washington are low in organic matter and don’t have the best water hold-ing capacity,” he said. “Dairy compost is organic matter and nutrients the soil needs

for production and water retention.”

Dairy compost helps rebuild soils that have been damaged by years of applying chemical fertilizers that feed plants but rob nutrients from soil.

Dry, dusty soil requires more water and causes unwanted runoff because there’s nothing to hold the water.

“Dairy manure compost adds needed organic matter and nutrients to damaged soil,” Davis continued.

Chuck Phillips, president of Spokane‐based Bark Boys Landscape Supplies, says dairy manure compost is popular with peo-ple for their annual and perennial gardens.

“There are different types of compost on the market but with the Organix cow ma-nure compost, customers see results faster than with other compost,” Phillips says. “Everybody is now a bit more conscientious about what kind of chemicals they should apply to their surfaces, making the organic manure compost a preferred natural option.”

Davis adds, “There is no doubt about the increased yields that come from using dairy manure compost, especially when compared to areas where compost has not been applied.”

Davis continued, “We work with an ap-ple orchardist who used manure compost on one side of his field and conventional fertilizer on the other. The customer said he could draw a line where the compost was applied and where it was not. The composted trees were healthier, with bright leaves, and produced a ‘much dif-

Compost increases yields, reduces water demand


DeVries Family Farm owner Tom DeVries (L) describes the operation of his farm’s screen separator machine to Steve George of the Washington Dairy Federation. The screen separator separates solid manure that is made into nutrient rich com-post – which is in demand from commercial landscapers and nurseries throughout the Northwest.

ferent apple’.” Valley dairies now export 60 to 70 per-

cent of their manure nutrients as organic compost, according to the Lower Yakima Valley Conservation District, with in-creasing amounts being exported out of

the Valley every year.


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by Laura Gjovaag

Port districts in the state of Washington are best known for developing and encouraging industry, a task that the Port of Sunnyside does in a unique way: one that has yielded benefits to the local dairy industry.

Sunnyside’s port officials decided a good way to draw industry into the city was to provide a needed service: industrial waste-water treatment.

Water is used in a variety of ways by dif-ferent companies ranging from agriculture to manufacturing. By offering a safe way to handle the water used in production process-es, the port opened up new possibilities for industries.

After treatment, the port needed to dis-charge the water in an environmentally

Sunnyside Port: always a friend to the dairy industry

The ground was broken for the Darigold milk processing plant in Sunnyside on Feb. 1, 1991. Pictured are (L-R) Sunnyside Mayor Don Hughes, Port Chairman Arnold Martin, Darigold President Wes Eckert, County Commissioner Alex Deccio, Darigold Board Chairman Henry Polinder and Congressman Sid Morrison.

The Industrial Waste Water Treatment Facility is the gem of the Port of Sunnyside’s operations, cleaning millions of cubic feet of water, much of which is applied to sprayfields to grow feed for local dairy farms.

Daily Sun News file photos

see “Friend” next page


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The Port of Sunnyside turned to technology to encour-age industrial development in the area by purifying wastewater from industrial processes. The work re-quires chemists to test the safety of the water regularly.

responsible way. One of the methods they chose is one that has had a positive impact on local dairies. The water, once cleaned, is used to irrigate fields of alfalfa, which is then sold to dairy farmers and cattle ranchers as feed.

The process is called “cradle to grave recycling” and saves on irrigation costs while handling water that otherwise could have presented a pollution hazard.

“We’ve always supported local dairies with the sprayfields,” said Port Executive Director Jay Hester. “Even before Darigold moved in, the port was helping the indus-try.”

The port’s ability to handle large volumes of wastewater also attracted another facet of the dairy industry to Sunny-side. Darigold built a plant in town in 1991.

The Darigold plant quickly became the largest user of the port’s wastewater facility, accounting for between one half to two thirds of the total volume of water treated, and at-tracted other companies, including LTI, Inc. Milky Way, a bulk transportation company specializing in milk. The port also handles Milky Way’s waste water.

The Darigold plant provides more than 100 jobs for lo-cals while giving dairies a closer location to ship milk to be processed.

But the port’s contribution to the dairy industry doesn’t stop with the active works. The former Carnation plant in Sunnyside was bought by the port. Ground contamination has been cleaned up to make it ready for sale to another in-dustry, continuing the cycle of growth.

‑ Laura Gjovaag can be contacted at 509‑837‑4500, or email [email protected]

Friendcontinued from page 14

Each day, a cow spends about six hours eating and eight hours

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Dairy incentives lead to cost savings and energy efficiency


The huge metal units located behind Art Mensonides of Mab-ton and his daughter, Amy Huenefeld, contain the power station that controls the farm’s milk cooling system. The family was re-cently able to increase the size of the dairy’s chilling station and in the process, save money, thanks to Benton REA’s custom project incentive package.

With the use of local electrical company incentives, for everything from updating milking parlors to wastewater treatment facilities, area dairymen are able to reduce energy costs while enhancing the farm environment, increase productivity, and, of course, profits.

by Julia Hart

Making electrical upgrades on a dairy of any size can be a major investment.

But, when everything from the milking machines to the farm’s water pumps run on electricity, looking for ways to implement effi-cient and energy saving technologies is always on the minds of the dairymen.

It’s good to know that there are a number of cost saving incentives, via rebates and custom project financing packages, available to make life on the dairy both more efficient and cost effective.

For example, electrical power companies like Benton REA have a number of incentive packages which range from lighting rebates to facility heating and cooling upgrades.

Likewise, Pacific Power offers its own set of incentives, known as wattsmart® Businesses for farms and dairies. Each company’s incen-tive packages cost the farmers some outlay of money, but over time the cost savings more than makes up for the changes.

“For most of the dairymen, the incentive packages are a “win-win” situation,” said Dal-las Flory, a sales manager for Orange Dairy Service of Sunnyside.

Orange Dairy Service, a Pacific Power trade ally, works with area dairymen to provide esti-mates for upgrade costs, Flory explained.

The electrical company then bring meters to the farm to determine how much power is be-ing used before the upgrades are installed.

“We always remind the farmers that we’re only giving them energy saving estimates, but sometimes the changes have resulted in 10 to

20 percent cost savings over time,” Flory add-ed.

He said while electrical companies like Pa-cific Power can’t guarantee large savings, the estimates of energy cost savings can range from $10,000 to $90,000 over the course of time.

Once farmers are shown how to switch out to high power efficient equipment and the re-sulting cost savings, most decide to make the investment.

Such was the case when Mabton’s Men-sonides Dairy, LLC management learned its electrical power provider, Benton REA, had a program which could help finance a retrofit of the farm’s aging milk cooling system.

Mensonides’ manager Jeremy Payne was contacted by a Benton REA representative who suggested that there might be a way for the farm to save significant amounts of energy with the installation of a new and more effi-


see “Incentives” next page


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Benton Rural Electric Association offers incentives and rebates for dairys that Benton REA serves who areinterested in improving their energy efficiencies:

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Making sure cows are comfortable in the milking parlor is a huge reason for mak-ing sure it is cool in summer and warm in winter, a function made possible thanks to modern technology.

cient cooling unit. The Benton REA incentive package used

at Mensonides Dairy is called a “custom proj-ect,” according to Eric Miller, Benton REA energy services director.

The program allows the power company and the farmer to find ways to determine which cost effective measures could save a significant amount of energy and increase productivity and profitability on the farm, Miller explained.

Payne, who has been working at the 800-acre Mensonides operation for the past several years, said he had previously learned of the grants and incentives programs being available, so he was eager to investigate the possibilities.

“The Benton REA people were very helpful and the savings to the farm have been substan-tial,” Payne said.

Not only has the farm management been able to improve its milk chilling station, the size of the chiller was more than doubled, Payne said.

“We were able to increase the size of our chiller and now it uses less power while ensur-ing the quality of our milk,” said dairyman Art Mensonides.

In addition to having the milk cooling sys-tem increase the dairy’s ability to quickly cool fresh milk, the heat given off by the compres-sors has an added feature.

“We have captured the heat generated by the cooling unit to heat water used for cleaning in other parts of the milk barn,” Mensonides ex-plained.

Mensonides has also taken advantage of

Incentivescontinued from page 16

the Benton REA lighting rebates to update the existing lighting system throughout the farm, from the milking parlor to office spaces. Man-agement has also used Benton REA rebates to make improvements to the farm’s irrigation pumping sites and air compressors.

Nearly everything on the farm is automated, Mensonides said.

“We recycle every drop of water and having equipment that works 24-seven is what helps us to be efficient and environmentally friend-ly,” he added.

“So anything that is going to save us money and help us do our work, we are going to look into it,” Mensonides added. ‑ Julia Hart can be contacted at 509‑837‑4500, or email [email protected]



Last December representatives from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Yakima dairies had ‘stepped up’ to reduce sources of nitrate from their operations, as officials reported on pro-gress that four Yakima Valley dairies are making to mitigate sources of nitrate in groundwater.

Agency staff presented their findings from more than a year of working with the four Valley dairies that had signed a legal agreement with the EPA to study nitrate sources.

The data will be used in context as work of the Lower Yakima Valley Groundwater Advisory Committee (GWMAC) moves forward.

Jay Gordon, representing the Washing-ton Dairy Federation, says Valley dairies are cooperating with the advisory com-mittee to assess how they can modify operations together with other valley ag‐operations to improve water quality.

“GWMAC is the only place where all stakeholders are at the table,” Gordon said. “The GWMAC helps mitigate the ef-fect of traditional ag‐methodologies that may not now be consistent with current science‐based practices.”

Valley dairies are cooperating with

Yakima Valley dairies have ‘stepped up’ to mitigate groundwater nitrate content

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Dairy producers are converting from surface to pivot sprinkler systems that pro-vide computerized and automated movement. While dispersing irrigation water and fertilizer measured increments all activity is recorded for the farm’s dairy nutrient management plan.

the GWMAC to develop a framework for implementation of reasonable rules, guidelines, and regulations for basin groundwater improvement.

Steve George of the Yakima Farm Bu-reau and others said the EPA data will be helpful as one piece of the high nitrate groundwater puzzle.

“The Lower Yakima Valley Ground Water Management Advisory Committee is working on several ag‐related nitrate sources that the Valley has wrestled with for more than 100 years ‐ long before the dairy industry’s growth here,” said George.

EPA representatives said Yakima Valley dairies had taken several steps to con-trol nitrate sources. They said dairies are providing safe drinking water for about 90 Lower Valley residences, installed a network of 19 monitoring wells, imple-mented ‘Manure Nutrient Management’ best practices in 34 application fields, and are evaluating 41 nutrient storage lagoons for USDA compliance.

EPA plans to work collaboratively with dairies for the next eight years to assess and remedy potential nitrate sources. Dairies will continue to sample application fields twice a year, and collect samples from monitoring wells.

see “Nitrate content” next page


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Dairy representatives say EPA informa-tion is a good start, but urge caution with data that can easily be manipulated out of context.

“Assessing nutrient balance through deep soil sampling is complicated by more than 100 years of ag‐activity in the Valley,” said Kevin Freeman, principal geologist for Inland Earth Sciences Cor-poration of Spokane and under contract to independently implement consent order activity.

Valley dairies have pledged to work with the GWMAC to assess how they can modify operations in tandem with others to improve water quality.

EPA representatives said agriculture ‐ and dairies in particular ‐ are complicated businesses. Whether you are a grower, dairy producer or cattle rancher, the im-

portance of working collaboratively has never been greater, especially in regard to environmental compliance in balance with local economic realities.

Yakima Valley dairies support thought-ful science‐based approaches to improve water and air quality while at the same time preserving a robust industry that con-tributes $940 million and 4,800 jobs to the local $5.5 billion ag‐economy.

They pledge their support of the GWMAC as the only place where all stakeholders are working collaboratively at the table to find solutions to the Valley’s historic nitrate groundwater problem.


Nitrate contentcontinued from page 18

When a cow eats, the food is processed through four stomach compartments.

– courtesy of the Dairy Farmers of Washington.

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by Laura Gjovaag

It’s been hard not to notice the cranes and towers at Darigold these past couple of years as the company’s Sunnyside plant under-goes a major expansion project.

The current expansion started in 2013 with a $5.2 million addition to the plant’s milk receiving bays, allowing it to bring in more prod-uct from dairies.

Last July, the second phase of the expansion included further up-dates to the plant costing around $1.3 million.

The most recent phase of the ex-pansion is the biggest and will add a milk processing tower along with a new packaging area and a ware-house.

According to Darigold com-munications specialist Michelle Carter, the upgrades will increase the capacity of the plant by 70 per-cent and allow it to produce “high quality nutritional application milk proteins.” She said the product will be powders used as an ingredient in other foods.

“It will be mostly for export,” she said.

The current expansion project is slated to continue until 2018.

The Darigold plant has been ex-panding steadily since it was built in 1991 to produce powdered milk. In 1995 an expansion added the ability to produce cheese. Another expansion four years later expand-ed the cheese production.

In 2001 a whey dryer was add-ed to increase the capacity of the plant. An update in 2005 added 10 percent to its production capacity along with new silos.

Darigold is a marketing co-operative made up of more than 550 dairy farmers in five states, founded in 1918 as the United Dairymen’s Association and now known as the Northwest Dairy Association. A dozen plants manu-facture Darigold products, with the Sunnyside plant being one of the larger ones.

‑ Laura Gjovaag can be contacted at 509‑837‑4500, or email [email protected]

Major expansion will add 70 percent to capacity of Sunnyside Darigold plant

Cranes have been a common sight around Darigold in Sunnyside

since a major expansion project started in 2013.

The expansion was made possible when the Port

of Sunnyside increased its capacity for treating

wastewater.

Daily Sun News file photo

Sunnyside’s Darigold plant employs more than 100 people and will employ more than 150 after the expan-sion is completed in 2018. The plant supports local dairy farms along with other businesses, including LTI, Inc. Milky Way, which transports milk from dairy farms to the plant.

The Darigold plant in Sun-nyside was first built in 1991

and has been expanding ever since. The plant originally made

powdered milk, but quickly added cheese production. The latest expansion will increase capacity 70 percent and allow

the production of a milk powder for export. Daily Sun News file photo

Laura Gjovaag/Daily Sun News


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Watch your energy savings grow.Our wattsmart® Business program offers cash incentives for replacing worn irrigation components such as sprinklers, regulators, nozzles and gaskets. Incentives for upgrading to efficient farm and dairy equipment also are available for VFDs on irrigation and vacuum pumps, milk pre-coolers, ventilation fans and more. Typical incentives range from $200 to more than $5,000.

Please call before you start your project and we’ll walk you through the application process. The incentive check arrives a few weeks after a qualifying application is received.

The new equipment will make your farm or dairy run more efficiently. And your energy savings will continue to grow. To apply, visit bewattsmart.com or call 971-244-8178.


Domestic, Irrigation &Community

Wells

by Jennie McGhan

“I look at calves as the foundation of the house,” Hank Benjert of Sunnyside’s Benjert Farms said recently.

He and his father, Clarence “Babe” Benjert, operate the family dairy, which has been in the family for three generations.

The elder Benjert said the farm was started in 1954. His parents and five older siblings im-migrated from Holland to the Sunnyside area to work for Gerrit Schilperoort about five years earlier, working on Schilperoort’s dairy.

The family patriarch, Hubert Sr., had been working on a farm in Holland when he learned

of the opportunities in the Yakima Valley from Dutch friends.

Babe was born shortly after the Benjert fam-ily purchased a piece of land on Waneta Road that would be the start of a family tradition.

He and his six siblings grew up on the farm, helping their parents. About 15 years ago, Babe took over the family business and his son joined him a few years later after graduating from Washington State University.

“I helped with the calves when I was young-er…my brother, sister and I took turns feeding them,” said the third generation Benjert.

Babe said calves are important for the future of a dairy. He said they are bred for higher fat


Naturally curious, these calves look over the tops of the hutches they are kept in when humans are nearby. The calves in the photo are nearly old enough to move into larger accommodations.


Clarence “Babe” Benjert (L) and his son, Hank, represent the second and third generations of Benjerts to operate the family dairy on Waneta Road just outside Sunnyside.

Strong calves result in strengthened herd

and protein content, as well as production.“Ideally, we aim for 85 pounds of milk on a

daily basis,” he said.The calves at Benjert Farms, said the young-

er Benjert, have close to 55 years of genetics bred into them.

It was around 1960 that artificial insemina-tion made it possible to breed cows without a herd bull, according to Babe.

“Calves are the future of the herd,” Hank said.

Believing this, he said, it is important to properly care for the calves from the outset.

“The better they are cared for as they are growing, the fewer the setbacks, the better off they are,” said Hank.

His father says the care of calves begins when they are still in gestation. Two weeks prior to a cow giving birth, she is provided a special feeding ration and moved into a close-

up pen for monitoring purposes.He said the calves are fed colostrum within a

couple of hours of being born.The calves are placed in group pens and are

fed milk twice a day for a few weeks before they are provided grain and moved into hutch-es.

“That’s at about 10 to 12 weeks,” said Babe.The routine is continuous at Benjert Farms,

according to Babe. He said that is because the dairy’s cows are calving all year.

Important, too, said Hank is keeping calves dry and providing them fresh bedding as their growth is monitored.

There are different hutches and pens for calves at different stages of growth, as well.

“Seasonal changes can place the calves at risk for pneumonia,” Hank said, explaining spring and fall months, when nighttime and

see “calves” next page

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Hutches like these ensure the proper monitoring and care for calves at Benjert Farms.

daytime temperatures vary greatly, are the hardest on the calves.

During the winter months, the dairy has a calf warmer. During the summer months, he said it is important to monitor the water sup-ply and consumption to ensure the calves are properly hydrated.

When a calf weighs about 800 pounds, at

about 14 or 15 months old, she is moved into the herd, Babe said.

The two men said the success of Benjert Farms is reliant on the successful raising of healthy calves and cows.

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Calvescontinued from page 22

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At a recent meeting of the Yaki-ma Regional Clean Air Agency, findings from a USDA Natural Re-sources and Conservation Service (NRCS) study were presented to suggest that Yakima Valley dair-ies are illegally mishandling their dairy cow manure.

The study, however, was con-ducted in 1992 – so the information is outdated and does not take into account new technologies asso-ciated with manure management and manure composting, nor the tremendous growth in manure ex-ports out of the county.

Scientists, third‐party experts and other authorities often com-plain about outdated information being presented as current “news” to discredit an industry and/or ad-vance a cause.

The NRCS survey’s data are 23 years old. Today, Lower Valley dairies compost 75 percent of the manure produced here.

And they are investing heavily in anaerobic digesters that convert

methane into biogas and centri-fuge‐equipped manure separators that screen out almost all solid ma-terial – greatly reducing the local industry’s environmental impact.

Steve George representing the Yakima Dairy Federation sent the 2000‐published NRCS report to Dr. Joe Harrison, a WSU professor and livestock nutrient manage-ment specialist, for his assessment and an opinion as to its relevance in 2015. Dr. Harrison was famil-iar with the 2000 report and uses it as a “baseline” teaching aid to illustrate how much things have improved in the intervening quar-ter‐century.

“The report’s model or structure is valid; however, its age makes estimates questionable,” Harrison said. “As is always with such types of data, there can be inaccurate es-timates as the data they used were collected during the 1990s.

“Maps from the report that were presented as new were based on the premise that no manure is exported off farm,” Dr. Harrison maintains, “And we know that isn’t the case in Yakima (county) where the Con-

Outdated information obscures advances in science, technology


Third generation dairy farmer Jason Sheehan reviews three screens in one of his primary tractors that applies GPS technology to direct the tractor, manage the depth of no‐till equipment that allows soil to retain water and allows him to inject measured liquefied fertilizer with a flow meter to record agronomic rates according to the farm’s Dairy Nutrient Plan. Sheehan manages 3,300 milking cows on 900 acres near Sunnyside.

servation District estimates 60 to 70 percent of composed dairy ma-nure is exported from the valley for fertilizer and for soil enhance-ment.”

Valley dairy producers will con-tinue to invest in technologies to address odor, water quality, animal well ‐being and other issues when they are identified.


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DeRuyter Brothers Dairy in Outlook employs two full-time veterinarians, Drs. Kelly Reed (L) and Alea Hoffman. They provide medical treatments and work with cow nutritionists to develop feed combinations that burn energy to reduce manure emis-sions, while providing optimum natural milk production.

Healthy dairy cows produce more, emit lessby Blair Thompson and Pete DeLaunay

DeRuyter Brothers Dairy in Outlook employs two full time veterinarians who work ‘cow side’ every day in consultation with two professional dairy cow nutrition-ists.

In addition to providing medical treat-ments, the veterinarians and nutritionists develop feed combinations that the cow’s body uses to burn energy and reduce ma-nure emissions, while providing optimum natural milk production.

The DeRuyter dairy operation regu-larly monitors cow manure emissions for air quality and, according to the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency “score card,” they do very well at it.

Basic nutrition comes from understand-ing the cow’s physiology. How the cows digest nutrients in feed results in more ef-ficient manure emissions.

Pregnant cows, for example, have spe-cial needs.

“We have a group of cows that are car-rying calves at the same time so we want to make their transition to motherhood as smooth as possible,” says herd manager and lead DeRuyter veterinarian, Dr. Kelly Reed.

“The cows have a special diet just be-fore calving, and for when they start milking again. Similarly, a group that is making more or less milk gets fed differ-ently as well as younger babies and teens,” said Reed.

“We hired Dr. Reed as our full time vet-

erinarian five years ago to help keep our cows healthy and to make certain all of our 75 employees were following proto-cols from milking barn safety to animal health and feed development,” says Genny

DeRuyter who with her husband Jake have managed the Lower Valley dairy since 1976.

The DeRuyter dairy invests heavily on feed science that has evolved with tech-

nology, engaging nutrition consultants who make regular farm visits and conduct daily feed monitoring remotely.

“We have a computerized feed program that is connected from the scale to the feed truck,” Genny DeRuyter explains.

“The computerized (automated) pro-gram directs feed staff on how to mix the feed and what amount of each ingredient is needed. Every new feed is tested in the lab for a nutritional analysis.”

When Reed’s work expanded as overall herd manager to include environmental and labor issues, the DeRuyter’s brought on a second veterinarian, Dr. Alea Hoff-man, a Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine graduate, to focus on cow herd group research and medical treatments.

“My work is primarily with individu-al cows and for the total herd population from vaccinations and what they eat to treating sick animals much like a public health physician for humans,” Hoffman says. “Very similar to humans what we feed the cows is very important for their health, productivity and how much ‘feed they burn’ to reduce manure emissions.”

The two staff veterinarians herd manag-er and assistant manager respectively treat the cows for respiratory colds, upset stom-achs, mastitis and hoof ailments. They are actively involved with “feed nutrient man-agement” that focuses on how efficiently each group of cows use protein and bal-ance feed combinations to meet the needs

see “Dairy cows” next page

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of each group of cows. A Cornell University College of Veteri-

nary Medicine graduate, Reed grew up on a small farm in upstate New York, interest-ed in the cattle and enjoyed the outdoors. “I am ‘cow side‘ every day working with a phenomenal herd with very progressive owners that were focused on and wanting to the do the best for their animals and the environment,” she said of the DeRuyter family. “They take one step at a time to improve and then work on to the next thing.”

As full time dairy farm veterinarians, Reed and Hoffman are able to evaluate

and make decisions for a large group of animals, groups within the herd popula-tion, and individual cow designations for special needs.

“We have a unique role on the farm see-ing the animals every day to make those individual decisions,” says Reed, “versus being on the farm once a week or once a month and relying on information from other people.”


Dairy cowscontinued from page 26

When a cow is fully grown,

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A conservation district organized work-shop earlier this year attracted more than 50 dairy farmers and custom applicators to Snipes Mountain Brewery and Restaurant in Sunnyside to hear experts describe best practices for managing dairy manure nutri-ents.

Organized by the South Yakima and Whatcom Conservation districts, the work-shop was aimed at helping farmers mitigate the effects of their operations on Valley wa-ter and air quality.

“They packed a lot of real useful infor-mation into one six -hour meeting about how best to manage manure applications,” said Tom Devries, Valley dairy farmer and president of the Yakima Dairy Federation.

Dr. Nichole Embertson, nutrient man-agement and air quality specialist for the Whatcom Conservation District, partnered with the South Yakima Conservation Dis-trict to conduct the Sunnyside workshop.

The Sunnyside event, along with one held in Lynden, were funded with a grant from the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

Workshop participants received infor-mation about regulations, science-based approaches for nutrient cycling, crop production, agronomic rate calculation, ir-rigation water management, manure risk management, and real time manure manage-ment tools.

“Dairy farmers were supportive of

Sunnyside workshop draws dairy community


A packed house filled the second floor of Snipes Mountain Brewery and Restaurant in January for a workshop on managing dairy manure nutrients.

the manure/nutrient management educa-tion. The training focused on the entire dairy farm from identifying high risk ar-eas and custom manure application timing schedules by field, to a nutrient budget as-sessment,” Embertson said.

“There were some parts of the work-shop that we already knew about, but it was good to get a refresher and get a bet-ter understanding of agronomic rates to do a better job of managing our manure,”

DeVries added. “We support this type train-ing or workshop on an ongoing basis to ensure that we are doing all we can with new approaches and science- based manure management.”

Manure nutrient management is a nec-essary part of dairy production. These voluntary events have been created for pro-ducers, consultants and custom applicators to assist them in manure nutrient manage-ment.

The average well- taken -care- of dairy cow will produce eighth to 10 gallons of milk every day, and about 100 lbs. of ma-nure. Those in attendance participated in field examples and worked through risk management in groups.


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As the population grows, fertilizers for crops and pasture grass are increasingly in demand, including the potential of pack-aged cow manure as compost fertilizer for retail and commercial applications.

Organic cow manure is a nutrient that helps crops and pasture grass production over long-er durations before the need for reapplication because of its slow release of nutrients.

“Dairy cow manure is a nutrient‐rich, all natural fertilizer that holds moisture in the soil and reduces erosion more effectively than synthetic or chemical fertilizers,” says Dr. Pius Ndegwa, Washington State University Biological Systems Engi-neering School associate professor and livestock manure specialist.

“We are working with dairy farmers to develop channels to apply nutrient‐rich manure as compost fertilizer for the pro-duction of crops and pastures at appropriate agronomic rates to protect groundwater quality,” Ndegwa says.

WSU Extension is modeling digestion and composting systems at many Wash-ington dairy operations to help ensure the integrity of lined‐lagoons and that anaerobic protocols are followed to pre-vent nutrients from being wasted. More organic matter in the soil improves its moisture‐retention performance.

“Livestock manure compost is cheaper and easier to use than man‐made chemical fertilizers,” says Bob Ashbeck of Colum-bia Basin Spreaders, in Hermiston, Ore.


Professional landscapers say livestock manure compost is a renewable resource that contains all of the nutrients plants need with none of the chemicals. WSU Ex-tension is modeling composting systems at many Washington dairy operations.

Livestock manure produces nutrient-rich fertilizer“The livestock compost is a renewable resource that contains all of the nutri-ents plants need to grow with none of the chemicals. It is being widely used to ferti-lize potatoes and pasture grass.”

Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo is located in the heart of a city where composting an-imal waste has been ongoing since 2010. This year the Zoo will sell more than one million pounds of Zoo Doo as an all‐or-ganic, dark and rich compost fertilizer, saving the Zoo $60,000 per year in dis-posal costs.

According to Woodland Park Zoo re-cycling and compost coordinator Dan Corum, the manure comes from the Zoo’s non‐primate, herbivore animals (those that eat plants), including elephants, hippos, zebras, giraffes, gazelles and oryx, among others.

Zoo Doo manure has the same charac-teristics as cow manure.

Similar to livestock manure compost-ing, Woodland Park’s Zoo Doo process begins when fresh manure and straw bed-ding are collected from animal enclosures, then mixed with organic materials such as leaves and wood chips.

The material is watered and piled into long rows where its temperature climbs naturally to above 150 degrees, destroy-ing any pathogens it contains. After three months Zoo Doo cools, becomes dark and crumbly and is ready for use in home gar-dens.

“Zoo Doo or composted livestock ma-see “Fertilizer” next page

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nure added to soil enhances water and nutrient retention and will improve soil texture,” Corum said. “It is a complete-ly organic soil amendment that will help crops, pastures and home gardens grow.”

Although consumers should not expect “Moo Doo” at stores any time soon, Chuck Phillips, of Bark Boys Landscape in Mead is increasing sales of livestock compost to retailers as a consumer fertilizer.

“Cow manure compost is popular and widely used in annual and perennial gar-dens because the consumer sees results

fairly fast,” he says. “People are more aware of applying

chemical fertilizers so people want to use organic which is closer to nature.”

The chemicals in synthetic fertilizers are available for only a short time as com-pared to the slow release of the nutrients in livestock manure.


Fertilizercontinued from page 30

In Washington State, milk is generally produced within 50 miles of the market.

– courtesy of the Dairy Farmers of Washington.

Did You Know?


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Salute to Dairy

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