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* Rob Smith Tel. 01327 860 344 has built up of IMTEC treated bedding in the shed since autumn of last year. Yes, not mucked out once the whole winter, with no mastitis problems.
* Because bedding is so good he will now muck out straight to his spreaders and onto the stubble.
* Normally he would have mucked out four times in the year and transferred the muck to a field where it would have been left to compost for at least 8 months but all this was totally unnecessary with IMTEC.
Quote of the week"Without exaggeration the manure was a rich black colour and resembled stuff that had been left in the fields for 2-3 years"
Mike visited Chris and Jean Whipps, Low Farm, Denton. Tel.01986 788 360 on Wednesday 12th June 2002 and these are the results of the visit.
1. Chris and Jean were very happy with Imtec for Bedding the quality of the bedding remained excellent in both yards after 16 and 20 weeks.The bedding was warm and dry and the animals were contented. When they cleared out the bedding came out in blocks and could be loaded easily on the trailer, it was amazingly dry and obviously good quality".
2. Not having to muck out " causes less stress to the animals who do not like being turned out in winter. When given the choice of treated or untreated bedding the animals make a bee-line for the bedding treated with Imtec".
3. Though not quantified they " have saved a lot of straw."
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4. The first stack visited the bedding was friable, dry no run off and it smelt sweet. It will obviously spread well. Mike put his hand in to show how good it is. It had been in the field for just three weeks.
5. The second stack [ third photo below ] the treated bedding was just as good as the first but some untreated bedding had been put in front, wet smelly and with run off and many flies. Mike pointed out to Jean there were no flies on the treated bedding.
| First stack, no run off. | Friable, no smell and NO flies. | 2nd. Stack, comparison between treated and untreated bedding. |
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Mr John Hepworth, Tel. 01964 532 754, due to the F&M crisis had kept his cows in sheds for nearly two years! He is recorded as saying that he could not possibly face another winter in these circumstances without IMTEC, so we sent him product to try on his pigs.
" All I know is that if you don't use Imtec, troubles come back. As for the pigs I swear they like eating the stuff. I chuck it in and the product does the rest. Smell? ; we have no smell whatsoever! After working with the pigs you get home smelling so sweetly that your family like being around you. Very good for intimate relationships!"
"Readings of a level of between 11 and 25 parts per million of ammonia were reduced in 10 days to that of between 1 and 3. Along with the drastic reduction we noticed the dunging areas to be much drier. Imtec for Slurry was also applied to the drains and whereby before we had to flush them with water and regularly drain rod
1. At the end of the fattening period pigs are clean and the ammonia smell is low.
2. After 6 months storage in an open field bedding is homogenised, temperature not exceeding 45C and no bad odour.
3. Muck spreading is even and broken down. The retention co- efficient is approaching 300%.
4. Manure in final phase of decomposition well balanced nitrogen 70% insoluble and 30% in soluble form.
5. Nitrates complete absence and therefore no risk of pollution.
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The Farm Director, Mr Colin Dennis, had inherited a serious problem.
He had slurry towers that contained so much solid matter that drastic and probably expensive equipment or procedures would be necessary to remove this 15 ft high conical shaped matter. Fortunately for him he was introduced to Imtec and although normally sceptic tried it out by chucking some of the product into an underground feeder reservoir that led to the towers. Then they tried the product out on bedding for the dairy herd and have found everything to happen as it should. The volume of bedding has been noticeably reduced and it is dry!. However not only that, but the Dairy Manager Mr Paul Robinson says for some inexplicable reason the milk yields are up!. He is well pleased with his infrequency of mucking out.
They are so pleased that plans are afoot to test the product on horse manure and examine the volume decreasing advantages that Imtec product possesses for Muck piles in General. Tim and his Dad run an organic farm 140 Dairy herd in loose housing. They have three buildings 90 x 30 x 2 and 60 x 20 feet and used Imtec for the first time last year. Tim said " We continued to muck out every 5 weeks, we have always done it this way but the composting was very good and we know it has a higher level of nitrogen and we definately had less mastitis." Tim ordered 5 more bags of Imtec for Bedding at the Imtec-Bio stand at the Dairy Event this year.
"I don't know how farmers can do without IMTEC...I certainly could not face the winter without the product"
Completely surrounded by farms that had fallen to FOOT and MOUTH, John Hepworth was left with no alternative but to keep his cattle in sheds. In fact his cattle have been in sheds since October 2000 and at the time of the interview, did not see any prospect of taking them out in the field before spring of next year.
John had several requirements:
1. Running the farm on a reasonable basis whilst keeping the animals housed.
2. How to keep the animals healthy and cut down on the amount of straw that would have to be used.
3. Though unconnected he wanted to remove the crust from his slurry tank.
What John found was in his word "Amazing"
Let him tell his story:
"The cows are all kept in the sheds. The bedding is dry and there is little or no run-off...what's more I have used only half the amount of straw...The animals are healthier and in two years [the length of time John has been using IMTEC] I have had no problems with their hooves...I have not had to trim them!" " This IMTEC stuff is great on the slurry tank crust which has almost gone..it took only four months to get rid if it...and there is virtually no smell"( this has personally brought considerable joy to both Mrs Hepworth and her washing!)
"My muck pile is dry, with little run-off.......
"If you want to grow grass, put IMTEC treated muck down and you can hardly cut the stuff when it grows".
- Nantybach Llangranog Wales. Chris Mossman Tel. 0123 965 4407
"The initial thick straw bed, instead of being reduced to a wet boggy mass by the expulsion of liquids during calving, remained safe, warm and dry"
Chris Mossman had a problem! He was in the middle of calving but had not changed the bedding and did not , despite advice to the contrary, want to move it and stress his animals. But how to maintain dry bedding and keep a healthy enviroment for his cows and calves? He sought advice from several sources. IMTEC said he could continue with what he wanted to do.
Should he continue to use IMTEC for his calving cows? when the regular medical advice stated simply that if he did:-
"It's a disaster waitging to happen" "You must clean and disinfect now before it is too late"
Chris fortunately continued to use IMTEC and two years later he is still waiting for the disaster to happen. The bedding kept warm and dry, and the was no slipping or run-off.
Technical Enquiries: Martin 01622 758 626 or 07900653819 or Michael 0033(0)233 670 321
Imtec product went to work immediately and the results amazed the workers that they started to regularly use the product. The entire hard central core of solid matter has been broken down, with a large area of each tower has been released for use, therefore needing to be emptied less frequently, with pumping and spreading almost a 'joy'. Two other factors were noticed in that in the summer. Apart from there being no crust, there was no smell and virtually no insects, as they had great difficulty in recognising the slurry for what it is! The following photos were taken on 1st February 2002.
Cattle Slurry Tower
Surface layer(not crust)is a soft 2-3 inches of wood shavings floating on the liquid. "Channels" of liquid can be seen interspersed with the bubbles of froth indicating IMTEC activity throughout the tank.
Cattle Slurry Tower
Surface consists of fine wood shavings. This area shows the intense IMTEC bacterial "activity"(even at the surface) where the slurry is pumped in.
Pig Slurry Tower
Virtually totally liquid (showing 'globules').
Pig Slurry Tower
Virtually totally liquid, with great globules of soft material which move from base to surface with 'intense' IMTEC bacterial "activity".
Colin Dennnis says that if Imtec should only reduce the volume of waste by 30% then it would be a valuable tool for any farmer, but then Imtec offers much more.
- The Farm Longnor Shrewsbury. Tim Downes Tel. 01743 718 312
- Braemar Farm Hornsea Yorks. John Hepworth Tel. 0196 453 2754
Orders:To ORDER or Ring 01622 758626
