This is an expanded version of a shorter feature that appears in our Jan/Feb 2025 edition of Manure Manager.
With the larger average size of today’s dairy farms and alternative dairy products nipping at the industry’s heels, anything helps keep more money in farmers’ pockets is of interest. As Penn State University agricultural engineer John Tyson (Mifflin County Extension) says, “History would show us that farms are always looking to lower labor, and sometimes that comes with specialized equipment.”
In dairy barns, one piece of equipment that has made a major impact on labor savings in recent years is of course the robotic milker – it’s even thought to be the biggest source of labor savings.
But manure vacuum technology may hold in second place.
There are several vacuum systems that remove manure from the floor and barn alleys on the market, but Robb Meinen, director of the Pennsylvania nutrient management education program at Penn State, says they’re still not common.
Manure vacuums, such as the Alley Vac from Nuhn Industries and the Mensch Manure Vacuum from Mensch Manufacturing, provide an efficient way to clean inside dairy barns. But they have other advantages as well. If you plan to use them in a new barn, the structure needs no integrated manure handling system (pumps, augers and concrete channels) to transport manure from the barn to the storage lagoon. Auxiliary suction hoses on these alley vacuums can also be used to clean manure spills, spills from water troughs, runoff from silage and more.
For horse operations, as well as sheep, goat, alpaca etc. farms and zoos, there’s also a smaller-model manure vacuum marketed by Greystone USA, which has its headquarters in Australia and added U.S. manufacturing about a year ago. Its largest model, the Maxi Vac, holds the equivalent of about six wheelbarrow loads and can be towed behind a ride-on mower, quad, small tractor, etc.
“One of the latest updates we’ve made to our vacuum design is the introduction of a removable back door,” says company spokesperson Danielle Steffen, “Which makes it much easier to empty the vacuum.” This design change also reduces physical strain and risk of injury. Affording to Steffen, the company has several new designs and products in the works for the next year. Priorities for designs and functions include enhancements in automation and, potentially, larger-capacity models for larger farms.
Automated systems
Greystone isn’t the only company with an eye on automation. Already available on the market is a small autonomous, battery-powered manure vacuum system, about the size of a pushmower, which Tyson has seen in use on a few farms in his home state of Pennsylvania.
“It follows a pattern around the barn collecting manure,” he says. “[It] then ‘dumps’ into a small transfer pit within the barn.”
This is the Lely Discovery Collector (C1 for short), launched in the fall of 2016.
Daniel Schreiner, proposition manager (feed and manure) at Lely North America in Pella, Iowa, estimates that the company currently has about 1,000 units running across North America. Early last year, it released the C2 model in Europe. The model is under a limited release validation in North America in some locations, and is expected to achieve full commercial release across North America in the first half of this year.
Schreiner says C1 and C2 share the same dimensions and tank size (with the size aimed at minimizing interference with the routine movements of cows), but the C2 has a higher removal capacity over time due to the ‘run time’ of the lithium-titanium battery and its charging system.
The automation aspect of the system continues to an attractive attribute, says Schreiner. “Automating the manure system allows the barn to be much cleaner through more frequent cleaning, automated cleaning of the crossovers and programable zone cleaning to focus on the areas that need to be cleaned more often,” he explains.
Addressing safety
With anything automated comes safety concerns, and in early December, automated farm equipment such as the Collector were discussed at the two-day Safety for Emerging Robotics and Autonomous Agriculture (SAFER AG) Workshop, hosted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign department of agricultural and biological engineering. There, farmers, scientists, industry and governmental officials discussed current developments in automated and novel equipment designs, gaps in knowledge connected to risks, insurability and regulations, and more. The workshop also featured a demonstration of current and upcoming autonomous systems, sensors and robotic platforms.
It was “specifically focused on machine safety and risk as it relates to new machine formats, with a bigger focus on automation and increased levels of autonomy/guidance control,” says John Shutske, professor and agricultural safety and health specialist at University of Wisconsin. Shutske led a session focusing on unanticipated risks and safety consequences that go beyond the typical machine accident scenarios (machines running over people or people getting tangled). He and others discussed fire risk, uses of new machines inside buildings that might normally only be used outside (due to electrification or other factors), the impacts of newer power sources like electric or hydrogen, cyber-related risks and more.
One of the SAFER AG workshop organizers, Jennifer Lincoln, notes that looking at automated systems in general, “Increased use of robotics is a two-sided coin for worker safety, health and well-being.” If we take a robotic system that removes manure in the dairy barn as an example, it’s designed to provide labor-saving benefits that would positively affect farmer well-being but potential risk of injury exists through unanticipated contact or perhaps the robot distracting a farmer (or technically a cow) from other barn hazards.
Lincoln is the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, a research and advisory agency) and an associate professor University of Washington. The NIOSH Center for Occupational Robotics Researchprovides a wide range of analysis relating to such areas as injuries and emerging risk factors associated with robots but also evaluates robotics to improve worker safety and wellbeing.
Regulation
In the big picture of how regulations come into play with the development of novel manure vacuums and other new farm equipment, Shutske first explains, “Typically, we would not think of ‘regulation’ first in the design of any traditional or novel agricultural machine.
“That said, design engineers and technologists rely heavily on engineering design and safety standards, which are promulgated by groups that include ASABE, SAE, ANSI and ISO. Generally, these standards are independent of regulation and they are technically considered voluntary, in the majority of, but not all cases.”
Developing products that meet safety standards is essential, but can also be difficult when marketing to a global audience, as different markets will often have varying standards and regulations for safety, whether they’re voluntary or mandatory. This can pose a challenge for manufacturers.
For example, Lely’s Schreiner explains that with one unit covering all Lely’s territories through the globe, it is required to meet the standards within each market, creating a different challenge than if focusing on market-specific built units.
He adds, however, that it’s not quite right to say there is no connection between engineering design standards and regulations/laws. “There are instances when a law, regulation, rule etc. incorporates a standard,” Shutske explains. One example is the Roll Over Protective Structure on tractors, where the standard (SAE/ASABE/ASAE) dictates how this structure is designed and how it must perform.
Shutske adds, “An engineer who designs and manufactures a product and does not closely consider and comply with engineering standards will find themselves in much trouble if a person is killed or injured, or if property is lost in the case of fire. Most often, this occurs through civil litigation. When a lawsuit results from such a case, one of the ‘bedrock’ pieces of many instances is ‘What would a competent, knowledgeable, skilled engineer and manufacturer do or ‘follow’ in the transaction of normal work and duties?’ One of the answers is to fully consider all safety standards applicable to that machine.” •
