September 28, 2017

Hartland dragline manure operation on newly-harvested corn field, SE corner of Hughes Hwy. and Beecher Rd., Hudson Township.  (Raisin/Lake Erie watershed).  No more growing crop, nothing left to irrigate, nothing left to fertilize.  Just spewing. Up, down, back and forth, here, there, everywhere.

Up the hill …

Then, down the hill …

And what do you get?

A flood of raw animal sewage, ponding so bad it’s reflecting the bright September sunlight.  Vegetation in photo is on neighbor’s property at fencerow.  Manure has been applied right up to the property line.

Then there’s gut-wrenching, headache-causing stench, along with emissions:  Hazardous hydrogen sulfide, methane, and ammonia gases, the blowing particulates.  Imagine the worst case of the most intense diarrhea ever, 100+ acres worth, dumped right next to your lawn and home.  You can’t get away from it, indoors or outdoors.  The best you can hope for is a change in wind direction.

Surely this will all be absorbed by the soil, where it will be stored and used for the next crop, right?  Not when there’s more than the crop can use or the soil can hold.  Same field, where manure was applied the day before, still ponding at bottom of hill (bottom of pic), with dried manure on field’s surface.

Bakerlads manure slurry application on corn stubble, n. side of Cadmus Rd. between Hughes and Morey Hwys., Hudson Township (Raisin/Lake Erie), a few days after corn harvest.  No more growing crop, nothing left to fertilize, nothing left to irrigate.  Even the corn stubble left in the field has a thick brown coating.   Art project?  Halloween decoration, perhaps?  Hope it’s not either – way too stinky.