Many of the difficulties dairymen face with stored waste is due to a slow down in microbial decomposition. Let us look at the specifics and ways to speed this up. The accumulation of crust due to the use of various bedding materials and the undigested portion of feed-stuffs can be a real challenge to dairy producers. Producers dealing with this challenge have utilized mechanical means to try and solve the problem. Mechanical solutions are usually reactive rather than proactive, and reactive solutions really do not address the source of the problem.
Viscosity is a measure of the flow characteristics of a liquid.
In this trial, the viscosity of the dairy manure was 2684 cps before treatment and was reduced to 1005 cps after treatment. This will result in more complete emptying of the storage facility and prevent the accumulation of excessive solids and surface crust. The facultative anaerobes in DWT go to work on the solids where they are accumulating. The combination of lignin degraders that work on surface crust and the facultative organisms working on the rest of the contents effectively reduce the solids and viscosity, making the waste much easier to handle. This loss is due to microbial decomposition of the undigested proteins in the manure.