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F MANURE MANAGEMENT PLAN Manure handling and management for the de Snayer Home Ranch Dairy and Acampo Heifer Ranch are accomplished primarily by two methods: 1.)All cows are located in freestalls during the rainy winter months, so there is no manure, or manure accumulation in the corrals and consequently, manure runoff is prevented. Cows in the Home Ranch freestall barns predominately defecate and urinate in the concrete flush alleys since the cows are normally lying down in the actual stall. The stalls are bedded with sand. Flush water carries the liquid and solid wastes, and bedding sand to a"sand trap" where the sand falls out of suspension. The nutrient water then travels to one of three separation basins where most of the solid �. manure particles fall out of suspension, or floats on the surface of the basin, while the nutrient water travels to the holding pond. The floors of two of the separation basins are lined with concrete. This allows easy access with a front-end loader and complete excavation of the manure solids that are then transported to the Manure Storage Pad (MSP). 2.) For the open and shade corrals,the manure solids are scraped up during the spring, summer and fall -- and placed on the Manure Storage Pad to await transport to the Blossom Ranch. Manure is loaded on spreader trucks by employees of de Snayer Dairy. At this time, a Manure Transport Manifest found in Appendix 8 is completed and manure samples are taken for analysis. Spreader trucks are provided by the Hank Van Exel Dairy. Both de Snayer Dairy and the Van Exel Dairy retain all records regarding date and volume of manure transported, and the specific location of the manure deposited at the Blossom Ranch. Manure incorporation is completed by the Blossom Ranch farmer, Mr. Allen Baroni. To obtain maximum nutritional benefit of solid manures, land incorporation is undertaken as soon as possible to minimize nitrogen volatilization and to control odors. Testing of the MSP reveals there are 17% clay content and 0%gravel content in the surface to one- foot-depth soils, as illustrated in Table 8. Testing was accomplished by taking 20 subsamples, equally spaced over the six-acre MSP, compositing them to form one analyzed sample. Although the MSP is not technically a"retention pond,"this area obviously stores manure and is therefore under the jurisdiction of the California Code of Regulations, Section 22562 (d), Subchapter 2, Article 1, Title 27: "Retention Pond Design - Retention ponds shall be lined with, or underlain by, soils which contain at least 10 percent clay and not more than 10 percent gravel or artificial materials of equivalent impermeability." The most critical items for EHD concerning manure management, are the issues of odor and fly control. Odors emanating from the de Snayer Dairy holding pond are controlled and minimized by six aerators in a north-south orientation. It is well documented in the scientific literature that aeration of animal waste treatment ponds significantly reduces odors. However, the major drawback is the high electricity cost. Within San Joaquin County, flies are the most complaint-driven issue with dairies. The de Snayer's keep informed of the most recent developments for dairy fly control. Fly baits, sometimes referred to as scatter baits, have been used by dairyman for many years as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) program. -21- Chesney Consulting