Jon and Julie Patterson are the sixth generation to own and operate Patterson Farms Inc. Their dairy farm is in the heart of the Finger Lakes in Cayuga County, New York where they milk 1,800 cows and crop over 3,000 acres.

Dairy producers have a valuable resource in the form of manure to provide home-grown nutrients for sustainable crop production and organic matter back to their soil. However, managing that manure responsibly comes at the cost of cash, labor, and environmental challenges

Accidental manure spills happen. The difference between being the lead story on the 6 o’clock news or it being a minor incident can depend on what you or your employees do in the first critical minutes.

As crops come off the fields, it will be time to start emptying manure storage and hauling the “black gold” back and forth to the fields.