• Featured Producers:
  Four Pennsylvania Contractors

In February Matt and Al were in Pennsylvania meeting with a new customer, Hostetter Management. They also had the opportunity to visit several established Pit Remedy users nearby that contract with Esbenshade Mills/Hershey Ag.

Their facilities (picture below) are unique in size – up to 3,600- or 4,000-head deep pit buildings. As with any engineering design, these large pits offer their own challenges regarding manure handling.

Their reasons for using Pit Remedy are similar to those we hear from producers across the country: tough to pump solids, crusts, flies, and building odors.

Rich Buser, who has been using Pit Remedy since early 1999, started out with heavy solids and a thick crust. The crust was a perfect breeding ground for flies. Over the spring and summer, 
Pit Remedy liquefied the solids and reduced the crust to the point that flies were no longer a problem.

Consideration of the neighbors is also a major motivator. Donald Eckman in Peach Bottom summed it up this way, "The neighbors used to complain about the odor when we were spreading manure, until I started using Pit Remedy. Now they don’t even notice. I’ve used another product but it didn’t do the job like Pit Remedy."

We want to thank Donald, Bob, Ken and Rich for taking time to show us their facilities and sharing their Pit Remedy experiences.

NOTE 1: Pictures in this Pit Remedy Press edition included:
1) Ken Martin- Quarryville, PA: Customers since 1999
2) Bob Hess- Marrietta, PA: Bob's units sit next to his family's Bed & Breakfast.  He has also used Pit Remedy since 1999.)
3) Hanging chains in Rich Buser's facility curb tail biting problems.
4) Rich and Michellle Buser's 3,600-4,000 head finishing unit.

NOTE 2: All of these producers utilize our convenient monthly AutoShip Service.  For more information on AutoShip, check out the May 2000 issue. 

• National Pork Producers Council 
  Pit Additive Testing

Pit Remedy was one of the products tested in the recent study conducted by the NPPC. At first glance, Pit Remedy appears to have performed below par. However, with further analysis of the lab results, we can gain a clearer understanding of what the testing truly reveals.

Pit Remedy is geared toward the digestion of manure compounds such as fats, proteins and carbohydrates. When Pit Remedy (a combination of anaerobic, facultative, microaerophilic and aerobic bacteria) begins digestion of manure, the first genera of bacteria that are established are anaerobic. This is how we achieve such great results eliminating solids problems with Pit Remedy.

With the resulting decomposition of the organic material (peaking at 20-25 days), the conditions are then right for the rapid growth of the facultative, microaerophilic and aerobic bacteria and odor decreases.

As we have said many times, in order for the odorous compounds to be reduced, the organic matter has to be decomposed. It is then bio-chemically possible for the odor reducing types of bacteria to become established and thrive.

After speaking with Dr. Al Heber (Purdue University), Project Director for this study, he believes that a longer test period is necessary to give a complete picture of the capabilities of the products tested. Dr. Heber is familiar with Pit Remedy through his evaluation of data for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. In that extensive field test, over 7,400 air samples were collected from a facility that had been in violation of Minnesota air quality regulations.

Though performed in a laboratory setting, we are confident that NPPC testing over a longer period would have resulted in a more accurate picture of Pit Remedy’s odor reducing capabilities.

As always, the most important test is the results achieved in the field. As reflected by Dr. Heber's field analysis, producers in Pennsylvania and 22 other states across the country continue to be impressed by what a difference Pit Remedy makes in reducing odors and improving manure management.

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