GOOD MANURE MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDY OF DAIRY FARM WITH LOOSE HOUSING SYSTEM

One of the most important directions of economic development is improving the environmental safety of production. Farm manure is the factor, which has the greatest effect on the environmental sustainability of the local agroecosystem. The rational manure handling system reduces the negative impact on the environment. Application of sustainable nature management principles allows producing various types of useful products, for example, bedding for farm animals. Thereby, the economic costs of manure processing and the purchase of bedding materials drop, and the production profitability increases. Three manure-processing options, which are used to produce bedding from manure, were considered for a dairy farm with the cow stock of 100 head. Option 1 - solid-liquid manure separation, aerobic fermentation of the solid fraction in a drum bio-fermenter and longterm storing (maturing) of the liquid fraction. Option 2 - mixing the native manure with peat and the subsequent aerobic fermentation in a drum bio-fermenter. Option 3 - mixing the native manure with peat and the subsequent aerobic fermentation in a chamber bio-fermenter. According to the study results, Option 1 had the capital costs of 395 914 EUR, the operational costs of 151 302 EUR, the labour inputs of 0.45 man-hours.t(-1), and the payback period of 2.5 years. Options 2 and 3, requiring the addition of peat as a moisture absorber, showed higher capital costs (1 416 571 EUR and 1 030 429 EUR, respectively), operating costs (457 305 EUR and 376 922 EUR, respectively) and labour inputs (0.84 and 0.94 man-hours.t(-1), respectively), resulting in negative profitability. The choice of a rational manure-processing technology allows the farmers to reduce costs and to receive an additional profit.