STEINBACH, MAN. THE CARILLON n C7
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2025
Agriculture Now
April 25, 2013 FLASHBACK Holtmann brothers recycle manure at Rosser Holsteins
escape attention during the one-hour tour but the Holtmanns saved the best for last, as most of the guests were waiting to see the Bedding Recovery Unit (BRU) in action. A FAN company representative from New York and Penner Farm Services manure sep- aration specialist Maurice Melnyk were on hand to explain the benefits of the new tech- nology and field questions. The system uses a specially designed press screw separator to separate the large fibres from the manure. These are usually undi- gested parts of feed, such as corn silage or hay. The solids are fed constantly to a 40-foot composting drum, which delivers a peat- like bedding product to a conveyor belt that moves it to the storage portion of the build- ing next door. In the drum process, the ma- nure reaches a temperature between 67 and 70 degrees Celsius which helps kill all the bacterial pathogens. From there, the peat-like material it is de- livered to the barn and the cycle begins again. Holtmann points out that there is a cost to operate the new system, as it has added $1,000 per month to the hydro bill. At the same time, there is a distinct saving in labor costs, not to mention the elimina- tion of the need for 3,200 bales of straw. Ben Holtmann, in charge of bedding, no longer has to grind straw bales one day a week and all the maintenance of the new equipment involves is “three grease nipples and a check to make sure everything is work- ing.” The manure separation unit is definitely low maintenance. A pump delivers manure from a 10-foot deep pit in the building hous- ing the unit. The system operates 24 hours a day and requires little attention other than pressure washing the screen once a month and re- placing parts that wear, like the auger and the screen which lasts about six months. The system produces two cubic metres per hour and needs 450 cows to make it practical. If there were under 250 cows there wouldn’t be enough manure produced. “Our philosophy is to use a lot of bedding and that meant buying 3,800 straw bales at annual cost of $60,000.” The bedding recovery system will reduce the necessary capacity of the lagoon and at the same time eliminate one of the ongoing arguments between the Holtmann broth-
by WES KEATING H enry and Tony Holtmann have never been prone to letting others try out new technology in the dairy industry and waiting a few years to make sure it works before taking the plunge themselves. Since 1997, when the brothers built their first ultra modern dairy barn near Rosser, un- til eight weeks ago, when they flicked on the switch for their brand new bedding recovery unit, Rosser Holsteins has been leading the way for dairy farmers. Mixing the latest technology and equip- ment for the recycling of manure to replace straw bedding with farm practises that stress the importance of staff in all aspects of their dairy, allows the Holtmanns to achieve a per- fect balance between man and machine. In March, 100 invited guests were given a tour of the facility, including a calf barn which incorporates a coated steel-grid floor- ing material, which eliminates the need for bedding and keeps the calves clean enough to be paraded in any 4-H competition at a moment’s notice. The free-stall area is set up in a way to allow the Holtmann brothers to separate groups of milking cows according to production. This allows for an increase in the efficiency of de- livering feed rations, Henry points out. Feed rations are measured to match milk production and lower producers later in the lactation are fed differently than those at the peak of production, for example. The newest barn is the brightest of the lot, with its bank of windows and special ventila- tion system designed to keep the cows cooler and more productive. “It’s all about cow comfort. A comfortable cow is a productive cow.” The new bedding system, although too new to have its success measured in the same way everything else on the farm is measured, is getting the thumbs-up from the Holtmanns and their herdspeople. The manure separation system and its ac- companying bedding recovery unit produces a dust-free bedding that eliminates anoth- er problem in the barn and increases herd health as well. Its overall success will be determined by the impact the added comfort has on milk production in relation to the costs of operat- ing the Bedding Recovery Unit. Even the oldest part of the barn did not
CARILLON ARCHIVES Henry Holtmann of Rosser Holsteins and Maurice Melnyk of Penner Farm Services show off the new manure separating unit during a tour of the Holtmann brothers dairy farm. The bedding recovery unit was delivered eight weeks ago, completely assembled and ready to recycle all the manure at the farm.
CARILLON ARCHIVES Interested guests at the tour of the manure recycling facility at Rosser Holsteins were Lely representative Rich Peters, hog producer Will Peters and Fred Winkler of the Farm Credit Corporation.
ers. Henry said Tony liked to use of a lot of the sub-ground straw bedding and that kept plugging up the manure pumps. That is no longer a problem with the recycled bedding. Henry explains that the bedding operation is now Ben’s responsibility instead of having the milking staff taking care of it. The Holtmanns liked what they saw, when they saw the bedding recycling equipment in action on a trip to the United States and wasted little time deciding to go with the
major investment needed to get the set up at their farm. Today they like what they see in their barn. Being the first, doesn’t bother the Holt- manns a bit. They are used to it. And at the end of the day, Henry sums up the philosophy at Rosser Holsteins in trying to constantly improve their operation. “On your way home, you may be saying, those Holtmanns are nuts. But it’s been a fun ride, so that’s okay.”
Get ready to reduce canola losses this harvest CANOLA COUNCIL OF CANADA W
hat is an acceptable amount of canola combine loss for your farm? Every farm will have a different an- swer, striking their own balance between capturing as much of the crop as possible while also maintaining har- vest productivity. Farmers can prepare now to measure and adjust harvest loss with a few tools and techniques. Farms might decide that one bushel per acre (bu./ac.) is an acceptable amount of loss, but what if your combine is throwing over three bu./ac. throughout most of the harvest day? You have to check to find out. And then you can decide whether to keep going or start making adjustments. You need three tools to accurately measure losses: • A drop pan . You can get pans that attach to the bottom of the combine and drop by activating a switch in the cab. These pans usually match closely to the discharge width of the combine sieves. For a lower-tech option, someone can toss a throw pan or use a pan on a stick while the combine goes by at normal operation. No matter what pan you use, you need to know its square footage. • Some way to separate the seed from the chaff. This can be done by hand, but it can be time consuming. Canola screens or an airstream to lift chaff is best. Bushel Plus pro- duces a screening device for this purpose. • A weight or volume measure. Measure the clean collect- ed sample in grams or millilitres, dividing by the square foot- age of the pan to get a result in millilitres or grams per square foot. To do the math on loss per acre, use the Harvest Loss Calculator at canolacalculator.ca. Once you’ve made a few loss measurements, the next part of the process is to determine how to reduce those losses – if you decide they’re too high. The Combine Optimization Tool at canolacalculator.ca is an excellent resource, showing step by step adjustments to align combine losses with your har- vest goals. Back in 2019, Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) visited 31 farms across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and measured canola threshing losses from 50 machines. These included 40 models from six combine man- ufacturers. The survey found no connection between com- bine model and the amount of loss, but weather was a major
CANOLA COUNCIL OF CANADA As you prepare for canola harvest, get prepped to measure harvest loss and know how to adjust the combine to get losses to an acceptable level. Try the Combine Optimization Tool at canolacalculator.ca. It provides guidelines to set the combine to meet targets for grain loss, grain sample quality and/or productivity.
time and measuring losses from field to field and with chang- ing weather conditions. You will have in your mind what kind of loss you’re willing to accept, but you can’t know whether the combine is on tar- get unless you check. And by measuring losses, you have a better idea how the combine performs and can be reassured that the combine is doing exactly what you want it to do.
factor. This emphasizes the need to regularly adjust and test throughout the day and harvest season. Temperatures great- er than 23°C, relative humidity less than 45 per cent, and low cloud cover all contributed to lower losses. Once you become familiar with a machine, you will start to recognize ideal settings for those harvest afternoons that are warm and dry and for the evenings when the straw starts to toughen up. But you can’t get familiar without putting in the
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