Making dairy manure more valuable than milk

Matthew FreundApril 2, 2015

Making Manure More Valuable

Than Milk

“and it doesn’t even stink”

CowPots Factory

200 acres pastureland400 acres add’l cropland200 acres forestland

Blac

kber

ry R

iver

Barns and Farm house

Route 44

Lagoon

Farm Market

Neighbor

Neighbor

Freund’s Farm, Inc.A family farm since 1949

The Dairy Situation

Reduce input costs:

–Rotational Grazing/Cropping

–Energy efficient lights/coolers

–Recycling

–Renewable Energies-methane and solar

Increase farm income:

–Diversification

–Forest management

–Value added production

Adjusting the price/cost ‘gap’ on our farm

Manure on our farm

Renewable•100 lbs/cow EVERYDAY

Recycled•Collect and burn methane•Apply separated liquids as fertilizer•Use solids for value added production– Additional solids used as cow bedding

Reducing our carbon hoof print

• Northeast SARE

• CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

• CT Department of Agriculture

• USDA NRCS EQIP

• USDA Rural Development

• USDA SBIR

Turning cow pies into CowPots with grant funding from:

Proven Winners

• Adding value to dairy byproduct for a profit

• Managing excess nutrients• Green alternative for growers

Benefits of Growing in CowPots

•Root penetration

•Air pruning

•3 month shelf life

•No tearing or crushing

•No plastic waste

Cont’d…Benefits

• Peat Free

• 100% Renewable

• American made

• Zero-waste stream manufacturing facility

12 CowPots sizes + custom

The Proof is in the Poo

"At the end of the season, manure-based containers had nearly completely degraded (88 percent), while straw, wood fiber, soil wrap, peat, coir, and rice hull degraded 18-47 percent."

And, how do you sell $#!*?

Growing production of CowPots

Questions?mfreund@snet.net

www.cowpots.com