Testimonials
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• Customer Letters
• Environmentally Friendly
• Fish Survival
• Nutrient Management
• Odour Control
• Reduction of Farm Input Costs
• Solids Reduction

Customer Letters

From: Lloyd and Ken Smith
Occupation: Hog Producers (110 sows farrow-to-finish)
Where: Ontario, Canada - February 1994

"Dear Doug:

After talking to you at the Canadian Farm Show Toronto and much thinking, I purchased one of your Little River Pond Mill^® circulators and had it installed on our hog manure lagoon.

Our lagoon, which we pump most of the liquid manure produced from our 110 sow farrow-to-finish operation, measures 105 ft. x 80 ft. with tapered sides and is about 13 ft. deep.  In the past when we went to irrigate out of this lagoon, we had to use a tractor driven agitator which would need to be run for about three or four days to attempt to agitate this pit up and usually we could not get the bottom five to six feet out of it because it was still to thick.

Last October, after crop harvest, we started pumping out of this lagoon on which the mill had been running since August, and we were, to put it mildly, "dumbfounded".  The first thing we noticed was that there was no odour from the lagoon, and the liquid was a different consistency.  We didn't use any agitation and it was just like pumping water, which is much more pleasurable than pumping manure.  I even got sprayed with the stuff, and it just dried off my clothes like rainwater, and there was no odour remaining.

We can see several other benefits to this mill - when we had a spill where the irrigator stalled out - if this had been the previous hog manure it would have laid on the ground as sludge, but this stuff just disappeared like rainwater.

This winter the lagoon was about half full, and when I walked out on the ice with a piece of pipe and broke a hole in the ice around the mill, stuck the pipe down into the liquid manure, it appears there was no sediment or solid thick manure remaining on the bottom.  At the same time I took a sample of the manure and I am including the results of this test with my letter.  We had it tested because one would think there was no value left in this manure when it changed to its current consistency, but as the test shows it has 13.4 lbs. of nitrogen, 2.6 lbs. of phosphorous, and 13 lbs. of potash.  We intend to irrigate this on our winter wheat this spring and it should save us considerable costs on our fertilizer." (See the graph below for cost savings)

"I feel this pond mill is one of the best investments a farmer could make if he has a manure lagoon - it eliminates the odour, the manure is much more pleasant to work with (just like water), and the biggest payback could be in the fact that one doesn't have to mechanically agitate the manure.

Yours truly,
Lloyd and Ken Smith"

When you take into consideration the fuel savings (because agitating can be eliminated), the reduced wear and tear on other farm equipment, and the savings in labour cost, the Little River Pond Mill^® circulator pays for itself in a relatively short period of time.  Also, obnoxious odours can be eliminated, which is difficult to put a price on!

Environmentally Friendly

From: H. Stam - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (525 sows farrow to finish)

"I think this is a proactive way of dealing with Environmental problems."

Fish Survival

From: Kerrobert & District Wildlife Federation - 1999
Where: Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, Canada
Water: 30,000 m³ fish pond

"...for the first time in five winters the fish survived...it was extremely successful in our case."

Nutrient Management

From: K. Murphy - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (180 sows farrow-to-finish)

"I'm satisfied that I'm getting an even coverage of nutrients on our fields."

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From: C. Cockle - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (900 sows)

"... no nutrients in the manure were lost."

Odour Control

From: H. Peters - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (3,500 finishing hogs)

"We have noticed less odours, so far."

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From: C. Cockle - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (900 sows)

"It did what we wanted it to do - reduce odours." "...non-farming friends describe the manure pit as having a "peat moss smell". They don't say that about his untreated manure tank..."

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From: H. Buurma - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (1200 finishing hogs)

"When irrigating we were down wind and couldn't smell anything."

Reduction of Farm Input Costs

From: J. Zandstra - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (100 sows farrow-to-finish)

"I like the system and it saved us from buying expensive equipment."

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From: D. Frey - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (150 sows farrow-to-finish)

"I feel like it paid for itself and the crust on top is gone."

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From: B. McGuire - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (300 sows)

"I was surprised by the effectiveness. We're happy enough with it to buy another one."

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>> Also see the annual fertilizer savings by Ontario hog producers Lloyd and Ken Smith.

Solids Reduction

From: A. Dow - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (900 finishing hogs)

"The biggest thing we noticed was the lack of solids in the bottom when we started agitating."

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From: L. Dyck - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (70 sows, 300 weaners)

"We emptied the pit and there were no solids at all."

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From: J. Duffy - March 1998
Occupation: Hog Producers. (70 sows farrow-to-finish)

"I'm impressed with the way the solids are kept in suspension."