Canada - Solid Manure Application System Expected to be Ready for Testing by this Summer

Scientists at the University of Saskatchewan expect to be ready to begin field testing a new prototype solid manure application system this summer. The University of Saskatchewan has developed a bench scale solid manure application system and is now working with the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute to apply the technology to the field. College of Engineering Dean Dr. Claude Lague says the objective is to provide a manure application system for solid manure similar to systems currently available for liquid manure. "We've developed a technology to allow for very accurate control of the application rate and also very accurate transverse distribution to allow for banded application so we have a machine that's able to do that right now. Of course it's not a full scale machine. It's an experimental scale machine. We're adding tools that would allow the manure to be placed under the surface of the soil just as it's done for liquid manure. At this time, what we're doing, is testing a different number of options for what we call a manure processing system because of the fact that a lot of the solid manure that you find on farms is not very homogenous. It has big clumps and stuff like that so we're developing a system that will allow the manure to be ground up basically into a more consistent texture so it will be easier for the manure to flow from the machine to the injectors. Also, we're starting to do some preliminary design and evaluation work on some concept of injectors." Dr. Lague says the goal is to be ready to field test the new prototype by the end of this summer and into next year.