There are some things that smell good . . . flowers, coffee, and clean sheets. Then again there are some things that don’t smell so good. My husband and I were driving back from his home town, enjoying the scenery and having a good conversation. Then it hit us like a ton of bricks. I was raised as a farm girl and I know that smell. The smell of hog manure was overpowering.
One day, last fall Bob walked into the house after a long day on the road. I greeted him at the door as usual. We had dinner and our usual discussion about my day and what he had been up to that day. He told me that he had visited a hog farm near Hampton, Iowa that had been using a new product to reduce hog manure odors.
I found that interesting because he didn’t reek of hog manure. Usually I can tell the minute he walks in the door if he had even stepped foot on a hog farm.
Bob has always been interested in finding a solution to the hog manure odor problem. He’s always on the lookout for new products that make a difference and he has found one in Bio-Amend.
Ken Hamilton of Bio Minerals Technologies, Inc. provided the following information on Bio-Amend.
Top reasons to try Bio-Amend:
Drastic reduction or elimination of odors leading to much improve herd health as well as worker health
Conversion of the ammonia and sulfur gases into the biologically fixed form so the smell is eliminated as they boost the value of the manure and its mineral value
Suppression of pathogenic microbes, yielding balance and harmony
Facilitates balance, allowing appropriate and best roles for all microbes
Reduction in flies and mosquitoes
Reduction in harmful molds
Increase in the quality of plants where treated manure is applied, improved BRIX
Increased rate of decomposition of organic matter (PNSB)
Increased retention of minerals due to beneficial microbial decomposition
End-product manure or compost has much higher nutrient value
End-product manure or compost has greatly reduced pathogenic microbes
Improves soil health, moisture retention
Greater crop resistance to drought, salinity, excessive heat / cold, disease, low light
Hardier plants, increased disease and insect resistance, increase shelf / storage life
Much happier neighbors, wives and kids
EXPLANATION OF BENEFITS
Drastic reduction or elimination of odors & elimination of toxic and malodorous gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide: Anaerobic pathogens turn solid mineral nutrients (nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous, etc) into gases; these are the unpleasant odors one smells coming from manure pit and lagoons, the gases going back into the atmosphere. It is a mineral nutrient loss. These gases are harmful to animals and humans and can be deadly in high concentrations.
Suppression of pathogenic microbes, yielding balance and harmony & facilitates balance, allowing appropriate and best roles for all microbes: by adding the AEM culture into the pits or lagoons we are restructuring the microbial profiles. We intend for the beneficial AEM microbes to dominate and control the pathogens because pathogenic microbes, when they process a nutrient, produce and release very toxic substances back into their immediate environment like alcohols, aldehyde, (formaldehyde is only one of numerous such compounds) acids, poisonous by-products that negatively effect other biology and plants too. Beneficial AEM microbes retain mineral nutrients after they process organic matter, their metabolic by-products are growth regulators or plants, enzymes that positively stimulate other biology and plants too, even antioxidants. The resident wild and pathogenic microbes become ‘entrained’ by the dominant AEM cultures to provide a healthy balance.
Reduction in flies and mosquitoes: flies and mosquitoes are parasites that flourish because there is an abundant food source that is available to them. The more thorough the organic matter digestion in a pit or lagoon, the less food available for other parasite. Also, the AEM bacteria will eat and destroy the eggs of both flies and mosquitoes so they do not hatch.
Reduction in harmful molds: Pathogenic fungi produce these harmful molds, aflatoxins and mycotoxins. They are toxic to plants and do a great deal of damage to animal and human immune systems. AEM microbes kill these pathogenic types, they are not tolerated by the AEM microbes.
Increase in the quality of plant where treated manure is applied, improved BRIX & increased retention of minerals due to beneficial microbial decomposition & End-product manure or compost has much higher nutrient value & hardier plants, increased disease and insect resistance, increase shelf/storage life: Proper decomposition of organic matter retains the mineral (elemental) components during the breakdown of organic matter into solid, plant available forms verses having those same mineral (elemental) nutrients converted to gases and lost into the atmosphere by pathogens. When beneficial microbes decompose the organic matter they are breaking down the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphate, sulfur, calcium etc, bonds and making them into less complex, smaller molecular sized particles. Also, when processed by beneficial biology, anaerobic as well as aerobic microbes, these mineral nutrients are in the right organic form for the plant to use and take up easily, with the least amount of stress and at the right pH. This is the optimum form of plant food; lesser quality nutrients (synthetic chemical compounds or inorganic minerals) have to be converted by the plant into an organic form if it can, this requires energy and stress and the nutrients that the plants use to convert poor quality minerals to plant usable substances are wasted. By increasing the organic carbon compounds, the nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, etc. the mineral density if you will, these being the dissolved solids, the BRIX levels will rise in the plant. The higher the BRIX readings, the healthier the plant, the higher the yield potential, the higher quality crop or produce, increased storage or shelf life, higher nutrient transfer to whatever eats it, reduced and eliminated insect and disease damage, the better tasting the produce, fruit, vegetable, etc. and a stronger, more superior seed is produced to begin the next generation.
Increased rate of decomposition of organic matter (PNSB): Purple Non Sulfur Bacteria are a group of beneficial anaerobic microbes that excel in decomposing and breaking down organic matter in low oxygen to oxygen-less environments. These are currently the most aggressive decomposing microbes we know of. They are very dominant and tend to help balance out the wild and pathogenic microbes and & ‘entrain’ them to work within the dominant beneficial culture they are a part of. The faster the proper decomposition rate of organic matter the less potential there is for the putrefaction of the organic matter which sets up the environment for the pathogens to prosper.
Improves soil health, moisture retention, & greater crop resistance to drought, salinity, excessive heat/cold, disease, low light: Beneficial microbes help restructure soil particles, they themselves are about 80% moisture; increase biology and you increase soil moisture and moisture retention. Soils that can ‘breath’ allowing air and water penetration are less compacted which greatly enhance root growth, meaning more root mass is in contact with the soil which translates into more mineral uptake for the plant, increased health, production, and quality. Soil microbes even out the ups and downs in soil temperatures that come from air temperature fluctuations that occur in day verses nighttime temperatures; even soil temperatures reduce plant stress and increasing the plants ability to take up more mineral nutrients. Soil temperatures that are too hot increase the electron spin of mineral nutrients making it difficult for the plant to take them up; the converse is also true, soil that are too cold slow down the electron spin making the minerals uptake by the plant extremely difficult if not impossible. Microbes can breakdown and restructure salts and reduce their negative effect on plants. Stronger plants are less affected by low light conditions, much more resistance to disease and insect attack and have an added barrier against frost damage. The higher the BRIX levels of the plant, the more frost resistant it becomes. The higher contents of carbohydrates and minerals (dissolved solids being sugars, salts, proteins, amino acids, etc) in the cell, the lower temperatures it can tolerate before these compounds freeze, burst the cell walls and cause tissue damage. Approximately 50% of the AEM beneficial microbe culture is facultative microorganisms which means they possess the enzymes that allow them to function in both anaerobic and aerobic environments. Once they have performed their functions in the anaerobic manure pits and lagoons they switch over to actively functioning beneficial aerobic microbes in the soil if the soil is aerobic; if not, they continue to function as beneficial anaerobes reducing pathogens and nutrient loses in anaerobic zones of the soil profile.
End-product manure or compost has greatly reduced pathogenic microbes: The pathogenic organisms are the major cause of future soil/plant diseases that will attack plants in the future. By reducing or even eliminating the pathogens from the compost or manure products that will be spread on the soil you take a big step in reducing the future of pathogens that will attack your crops. You control pathogens with beneficial microbes; it is truly a population game, if you have 5000 pathogens per gram of soil or milliliter of lagoon liquid and you have only 500 beneficial microbes the pathogens are going to be the dominant biology and control the environment in the manure or liquid. Reverse the population and the beneficial microbes dominate the pathogens.