Anaerobic Digestion at Sunny Knoll Farms

Abstract

•Sunny Knoll Farms, Inc. in Wyoming County, (Perry, NY) is a third generation family farm owned by Don Butler and his three sons, Eric, Scott and Jason •The farm houses 1,500 dairy cows in three 6-row freestall barns •Cows are milked three times a day in a double-24 herringbone parlor •Milk production is 25,500 lbs. on a rolling herd basis •All lactating cows are fed Rumensin® •Manure is spread on a land base of 2,000 acres, used to raise forage crops •Freestalls consist of mattresses bedded with green sawdust/shavings •At this time, the farm does not plan to switch to post-digested separated manure solids for bedding, since they do not have, and do not plan to install, a solid-liquid separator •The farm spent considerable time identifying, investigating and responding to multiple financial grant opportunities. After successfully receiving a cost-share from NYSERDA (through the Town of Perry) and USDA, construction of a plug-flow digester started in August 2005 and was completed in July 2006