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More Power To Cattle

Attention feed lot operators. Panda Energy International in Hereford, Texas, wants your manure.

But only the good stuff.

What's the difference? Well, if you're using manure as fuel, it should contain less than sixty percent dirt and twenty percent water. Basically, it's a high fiber cow pie.

Panda Energy anticipates needing 1,500 tons of clean manure a day to power the largest biomass-fueled ethanol refinery in the U.S. So, the Texas Cooperative Extension is teaching local feedlot operators how to develop "best practices" for harvesting manure from their pens.

When manure is burned, it generates about the same amount of heat and carbon dioxide as natural gas and coal. However, the carbon comes from plants that got it from the atmosphere -- it is a renewable energy source. Thus, the ethanol that's produced by a manure fueled refinery is a much greener product.

And when manure is harvested properly, the process increases its value while decreasing the amount of dust, flies and odor produced.

So if you want manure that's ready to burn, try to keep it clean. And if you're around manure that isn't, remember to stay up wind.

Script by Stephen Webb

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