Manure Raises New Stink in Indiana

Post date: Feb 27, 2010 3:21:12 PM

Manure Raises Stink

21m gallons / 77m liters cow manure

Mr. Goltstein also must contend with bubbles the size of small houses that have sprouted from the pool of manure at his Union Go Dairy Farm. Some are 20 feet tall, inflated with the gas released by 21 million gallons of decomposing cow manure.

Gas Bubbles in Indiana Dairy Farm's Waste Pond

Frighten Neighbors

But he has a plan. It requires a gas mask,

a small boat and a Swiss Army knife.

The saga of Mr. Goltstein's bubbles, which are big enough to be seen in satellite photos, began about seven years ago and traces the recent boom and bust of U.S. dairy farmers.

Last year, a hog farmer in Hayfield, Minn., was launched 40 feet into the air in an explosion caused by methane gas from a manure pit on his farm. He sustained burns and singed hair.