Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Five mechanical solid-liquid manure separators manufactured by three different companies and located on four production dairy farms in New York State were sampled monthly from May 2001 to December 2004 (not every separator was sampled continuously throughout this period). Samples were analyzed in an EPA approved commercial laboratory for total solids, total volatile solids, total phosphorus, ortho phosphorus, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and potassium. Organic nitrogen was determined by subtraction. The efficiency of capture of each effluent stream was calculated for each constituent analyzed. All separators, regardless of farm specific affects on separation performance, captured no more than 25 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorus in the solid effluent stream. Implications on each farms CAFO plan were analyzed and the results are presented.