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Concentrated animal feeding operations typically use manure lagoons to hold the manure produced by the cattle that are being held. If an individual animal produces 50 L of manure each day and the average concentrated animal feeding operation holds 800 cattle on any given day, how much manure is produced each day?
Daily manure production = 50 L ⁄animal × 800 animals = 40,000 L
Your Turn
If a manure lagoon needs to hold 30 days’ worth of manure production for 900 cattle, what is the minimum capacity of the lagoon a farmer would need?
After the manure has broken down, the manure must be spread onto farm fields. A modern manure spreader can hold 40,000 L of liquid manure. How many trips will it take for the manure spreader to remove the 30 days’ worth of manure that is held in the manure lagoon?