Union County poultry
operation takes pride in 100%
manure composting
By Kyle ShaRp animals. The new barns also control fly
When New Day Farms LLC was populations by breaking the fly
formed in July 2007 after Daybreak reproductive cycle.
Foods bought part of the Daylay Egg “There is no moisture introduced in
Farm operation in Union County, the these barns, air and heat dries the
new operators had a rather strong envi- manure and a belt system is transferring
ronmental legacy to uphold. product, so it’s always moving and there
Daylay Egg Farm had adopted is no ability for flies to reproduce,”
Mark Meyer, left, New Day Farms environmental man-
numerous environmental practices,
ager, and Steve Bliesner, general manager, stand in
Bliesner said.
front of the sign that hangs near the farm’s office
including field buffer strips, stream Most significantly, by air-drying the
declaring New Day Farms the 2009 Environmental
restorations, stormwater wetlands and manure in the houses before it is Stewardship Award winner, as selected by the Ohio
land application of process water. These removed, and obtaining the proper Poultry Association and Ohio Livestock Coalition.
practices made the farm a zero-discharge permits from the Environmental
facility to the waters of Ohio. Daylay also Protection Agency, the farm has been
All of the manure produced by the farm’s birds is com-
had composted a large portion of the
posted and shipped throughout Ohio, the United States
able to convert to 100% composting of
and even into Canada, where it is applied to fields as
manure created by the farm’s laying its poultry litter.
needed. Compost reaches 140 degrees F for five days.
hens, making it a more stable fertilizer “We are the first poultry operation This process transforms normal chicken litter into a
product for land application. under the Ohio Department of dry product with an earthy consistency.
Rather than simply maintain the sta- Agriculture jurisdiction to compost 100%
away. Almost 5% of the compost was “In the two years I’ve been here, I’ve
tus quo, New Day Farms has chosen to of our manure products,” Bliesner said.
exported to Canada. The compost is popu- never gotten a complaint from a
go above and beyond the efforts of its “This just makes environmental sense. It
lar among organic growers, especially compost application.”
predecessor, said Mark Meyer, environ- helps control odors and insects, while
Amish farmers, because it is approved for New Day Farms is likely one of the
mental coordinator for New Day Farms. allowing compost to be sold nationwide
organic use. It also is sold to golf courses, few poultry farms in the country to have
The farm’s goal is to be an industry and exported into Canada.”
athletic fields and other buyers. stormwater retention for all the stormwa-
leader for other poultry farms to follow. None of the farm’s compost is spread
“One of the things that makes it mar- ter that falls on its facilities. The initial
The first major switch was replacing on the farm’s land surrounding the New
ketable for hauling is it’s dry,” Bliesner flush from a rain is collected in a large
DayLay’s egg grading machines that Day facilities. Spreading manure on this
said. “Water is hard to justify the expense catch basin, then eventually flows
supplied carton eggs to grocery chains land for years has driven soil nutrient
of hauling. Plus, the drier it is, the less they through three additional wetland ponds,
with breaker machines to supply liquid levels high enough that no more is need-
need per acre, so it goes further, too.” allowing any organic material to filter
egg markets. The change greatly reduced ed there. Very little also goes on neigh-
Poultry litter is moved from the barns off, before the water is used to irrigate
truck traffic in and out of the farm’s two boring land. Last year, only 1.4% of the
to a facility with automatic composting neighboring fields.
layer facilities — the Mad River facility farm’s compost was land-applied within
machines that rotate the product in The farm is in the process of convert-
that houses 1.6 million layers and a facili- 5 miles of the farm.
windrows and then screen it after it ing the lagoons that hold the wash water
ty referred to as Farm 3 that houses an “A lot of local farms have gotten years
reaches a desired consistency. from their breaking facilities into air
additional 700,000 birds about 3 miles to of poultry litter and will take compost
The farm also has put up enough new treatment cells. The cells would be aerat-
the west. because it is a cheap source of nitrogen,
buildings to store more than a year’s worth ed with oxygen to eliminate odor, then
“It takes two semi loads of eggs to but they are overdoing other nutrients,”
of compost. This is significant, because the water would be stored until it can be
make one tanker load of liquid,” said Bliesner said. “So we look for farmers
buyers can purchase the compost, then irrigated onto fields.
Steve Bliesner, New Day Farms general who need all aspects of the product, not
come get it when it is ready to be applied, New Day also has started composting
manager. “So we essentially cut our truck just the nitrogen, so it makes it more
Bliesner said. This avoids farmers stockpil- bird mortality and plans to soon compost
traffic in half.” valuable to them. This makes some close
ing it outside, perhaps on a hillside, which all lost birds. Prior to composting, lost
Next, they tore down four old-style neighbors and friends unhappy, because
could create a hazard. birds had to be sealed in plastic bags
high-rise layer houses and replaced I won’t let them have the product. It’s
“We put a great deal of emphasis and landfilled.
them with four brand new, stack-deck, not that they don’t want it. I won’t let
when selling to farmers that they work “We think this is a huge environmental
air-dried belt system barns. The state- them have it.”
with a certified livestock manager, to be advantage because a plastic bag is some-
of-the-art houses improve ventilation The majority of the compost, nearly
sure we’re selling to someone who thing someone else will eventually have to
control and the humane treatment of 60%, was delivered to land 21 to 100 miles
knows how to use the product,” he said. deal with, where if a bird is composted, it’s
gone,” Bliesner said. “It doesn’t waste
space in a landfill, and composting mortal-
ity is another way to eliminate flies.”
For their efforts, the Ohio Poultry
Association and Ohio Livestock Coalition
named New Day Farms their 2009
Poultry Environmental Stewardship
Award winner. The projects the farm has
undertaken have come with large price
tags, and they were mainly done to
improve the environment and bolster
public relations, not to improve econom-
New Day replaced four older, but perfectly usable
All stormwater runoff from New Day’s Mad River facili-
New Day Farms has built enough manure storage high-rise poultry barns with four brand new stack-
ty is collected in a large catch basin, pictured here,
ics. But, like all farms, New Day cares
structures, such as this one, so they can store more deck, air-dried belt system barns such as this one.
then it filters through an additional three-pond wetland about the neighborhood in which it lives,
than a year’s worth of compost. This gives them the The switch was largely done with neighbors and the
system to make sure all organic matter is removed Bliesner said.
luxury of storing compost until landowners need it, so environment in mind, not economics. The new barns
before it is used to irrigate nearby fields.
“Farms care more about the land than
it is not sitting outside stockpiled in a field until a keep manure drier, which controls odor and prevents
anybody, because the land is where we
farmer can apply it. flies from reproducing.
make our living,” he said.
Ohio’s Country Journal • July 2009 • Environmental Stewards 23
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