Four pork production operations that have demonstrated their commitment to environmental conservation have been named 2005 Environmental Steward Award winners by the Pork Checkoff and National Hog Farmer magazine. This year’s winners are:
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Randy and Tom Brown match manure’s nutrient value with soil samples to protect water quality.
Photo courtesy the National Pork Board |
Maken Bacon Farm
Brothers Randy and Tom Brown of Nevada, Ohio, run Maken Bacon
farm, a 600-sow, farrow-to-finish operation surrounded by
approximately 1,200 acres of corn and soybeans. Their mother,
Anne, manages the books
for the operation. The family has raised pigs since 1951.
Manure produced at the farm is held in pits under the
barns and in one holding pond. It is incorporated
into the soil through injection
or with a disk immediately after it is spread. Manure
is tested prior to injection to match nutrient availability
to soil requirements. Air
quality and odor are addressed with abundant trees and
practices that keep dust and odor from the hog barns to
a minimum.
Strict water conservation and protection measures
are enforced at Maken Bacon. Filter strips along
road ditches and waterways
minimize runoff; manure hauling and spreading is done
away from waterways, wells,
ditches and streams. Practices are in place to minimize
water waste in production.
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Rob and Regina Richardson build soil organic
matter – and good neighborly relationships – through careful
manure management.
Photo courtesy the National Pork Board |
Richardson Farms
Nestled among the wetlands and forests of Kalamazoo
County, Mich., is Rob and Regina Richardson’s 4,000-head nursery
barn. The Richardsons, their son Roy, and one employee operate
the facility and farm approximately 2,300 acres of irrigated
seed corn, soybeans
and green beans.
Each of the seven rooms in the nursery barn sits atop two
9,000-gallon concrete pits. As each room is emptied, the
pits are flushed
into two underground, prefabricated concrete tanks. The
tanks are covered with more than 2 feet of soil and groundcover.
The Richardsons take
great steps to control odor from the barn through correct
handling and application of the manure generated at the
farm. Manure is agitated
and pumped out of storage three times per year. The Richardsons
use a 5,300-gallon tanker and knife injectors to incorporate
the nutrients into previously tested soil.
Water is a precious resource for farmers in the Richardsons’ area.
The sandy soil that characterizes their land has limited
water retention. Incorporating manure increases organic
matter in the soil, increasing
water-holding capacity and crop yields.
The area is rich
in wildlife and acres of undisturbed wooded areas, and grasslands
are purposely left for wildlife habitat.
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Sandy Ludeman uses manure to cut commercial
fertilizer needs by 75 percent, meeting his goals of economic and environmental
sustainability.
Photo courtesy the National Pork Board |
Saratoga Pork
Sandy Ludeman can trace back his farming roots in Tracy,
Minn., for more than 100 years. Sandy, his brother,
Brian, and nephew, Ben, manage the 2,800-acre farm and
the 15,000-hog-per-year finishing
Saratoga Pork operation near the Cottonwood River in
southwestern
Minnesota.
The Ludemans take great pride in adopting new technologies
to improve their land and to reduce the impact of
their farming activities on the environment. They established
one of the first manure ponds for
livestock slurry and adopted some of the earliest
living snow fences and wind barriers in the state of Minnesota.
Nutrients from the hog farm are stored under the five finisher
buildings until application. The manure generated
at Saratoga Pork and purchased nutrients from nearby
swine operations are enough to satisfy
the nutrient requirements of most of their land,
allowing the Ludemans to cut their commercial fertilizer
needs by
75 percent.
With multiple waterways running through
their land, great effort is made to reduce water contamination
from runoff. Dams and grass buffer strips slow
the water running into waterways and minimize soil
erosion.
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Clifford and Glenda Treadway built a hog
farm (and great wildlife habitat) on an Oklahoma ranch once deemed unfit
for cattle or even coal mining.
Photo courtesy the National Pork Board |
Treadway Ranch
Clifford and Glenda Treadway built their 500-sow farrow-to-wean operation
with a view of the Sans Bois mountain range near Poteau,
in eastern Oklahoma. The farm is inside Treadway Ranch,
a 720-acre area of restored
pasture and woods that also sustain a cow-calf operation
and a rock quarry. The Treadways purchased the ranch after
it was deemed unworthy
to fence by a local cattle rancher and unworthy to mine
by a local coal mining operation. In it they have created
a haven for their family,
livestock and abundant wildlife.
The hog operation’s effluent
is stored in a three-stage lagoon system lined with 18 inches
of red clay. Water is recycled from the
second and third lagoons and used to flush out the pits
under the barns. An irrigation system of over 6,000 feet
in length distributes the nutrients
to six pastures of wheat, rye grass and clover.
The Treadways
and their grandchildren are passionate about their surroundings
and the wildlife that inhabits it. Deer,
turkey, Canada geese, mallard ducks and rattlesnakes are
just some of the species
with which they share their land.
For more information
Environmental Stewards are selected by judges drawn from pork producers, academia
and environmental organizations. The judges look for pork producers from
throughout the country who are representative of the pork industry’s
commitment to minimizing its footprint on the environment by working to preserve
and improve water and air quality, to protect the land and to promote wildlife.
To participate, producers completed an application or were nominated by their
state pork association.
This is the 11th year the Checkoff has funded the Environmental Steward Awards.
To meet the winners and view their farms, visit the Checkoff Web site at porkboard.org
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