Q&A: Dairy Sustainability With Farmer Steve Schlangen Of Albany, Minnesota

This article was written by Nate Birt, Vice President of Trust In Food, a Farm Journal initiative. Learn more at www.trustinfood.com.

Of the more than 30 sustainability practices Steve and Cheryl Schlangen have adopted at SC Dairy in Albany, Minn., the one that has proved most challenging—and the source of their greatest pride—is manure injection.

The owner-operator couple’s journey on that practice illustrates their determination, commitment to excellence and deeply held belief that any dairy producer of any size can make a difference with their stewardship. 

“We used to really work hard to get our manure in the soil,” Steve Schlangen explains in a video interview with Trust In Food, Farm Journal’s sustainability initiative. “We hauled it on in the fall, spread it and disked it in at the end of the day. It protected the manure pretty good.” 

It wasn’t enough, though. “After you haul liquid manure all day, you need to disk two to three hours at the end of the day to get caught up,” Schlangen recalls. That resulted in a hard, messy job and long work days that slid into nights. He needed the manure to do its job: In addition to running a 60-cow herd, the farm owns and operates 200 acres of row-crop land including corn, soybeans, alfalfa and barley to supply all the dairy’s feed needs. 

The Schlangens built their operation from nothing, and their commitment to a successful manure strategy represented the next phase of a lifetime sustainability journey.

Things started to change for the better when the family installed an injector pump on their manure tank and learned to control the flow of manure using a hydraulic motor. “That was really, really nice,” Schlangen says. 

“When you were done with that for the day, you were done. Everything was in the ground. It was where you put it and it was at the amount you wanted it in most situations. That was challenging to get there, but it was also very rewarding because we get the most out of our manure.”

He recalls visiting with another farmer whose use of manure had reduced their dependency on synthetic fertilizer, saving money. That ability to solve for one’s needs while optimizing expenses and prioritizing sustainability has stuck with him.

“It does definitely help to have some projects that have a little bit better return so you can afford to do more things,” Schlangen explains.

Beyond the fields—which feature cover crops, buffer strips and sediment basins—the farm’s extensive sustainability investments include a stacking slab that separates manure from water running off the farm; LED lighting and a robotic milker with a variable rate pump to optimize energy usage; and water reuse systems. 

To learn more about Schlangen’s operation and his advice to other dairy farmers about the importance of taking proper credit for sustainability investments, watch the video attached to this article.

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