Questionnaire Survey on the Effects of Installing Automatic-turning Composting Facilities and Biogasification Facilities for Treating Cattle Excreta in Hokkaido

Abstract

A questionnaire survey was conducted of farmers in Hokkaido who had installed automatic-turning composting facilities (composting facilities) or biogasification facilities for treating cattle excreta. The purpose of this survey was to investigate the characteristics of the farmers and the advantages and disadvantages of these facilities, as well as to clarify the effects of their installation for the farmers.
Most of the farmers who installed composting or biogasification facilities had large farms feeding about twice as many cattle as the average in Hokkaido. Their motivations for installing these facilities were determined to be, first, the need to solve cattle excreta management problems and, second, the existence of financial support for installing such facilities.
Many farmers answered that the advantages of installing composting or biogasification facilities were that they could produce solid or liquid manure that was of high quality and low odor, and that the processing of cattle excreta in these facilities was stable even in areas with cold winters. They also said that the high construction and maintenance costs of the systems and the labor required for their operation were disadvantages. The construction and maintenance costs of the biogasification facilities were less than those of the composting facilities. There was only a small difference in the increased labor time required for management of cattle excreta between composting and biogas-ification facilities. The average increase in time for both types of facility was about 20%, although about twice as many cattle farmers who had installed biogasification facilities said that the process was laborious, compared with those who had installed composting facilities. The reason for this was assumed to be that farmers found the maintenance of the biogasification facilities more troublesome because they have many parts that need to be maintained and some repairs require experts.