ABSTRACT
Batteries with manure belts are very popular in the Netherlands on account of their cleanness and minimisation of malodour in the stall. Normally the manure must be removed 2–3 times per week and dropped in a pit. After this the manure is handled like liquid manure. Liquid manure is easy to handle but it has some disadvantages, in particular high transport costs and odour problems during storage and spreading. In this report a description is given of an in-house drying system on belt batteries, followed by a composting process in a shed outside the stall. With the in-house drying system air from outside is blown through polyethylene tubes mounted underneath the ridge of the poultry house by centrifugal fans. While passing through the tubes air is warmed up by the surrounding stall-air of about 22°C. It is then blown into perforated ducts and distributed over the manure on the belts. The diameter of the perforated ducts is important since electrical power consumption depends on ventilation rate and backpressure. The drying process works well with an air movement of 0.4.-0.5 m3/hen/h with a backpressure of at least 300 Pa in the perforated ducts. After 5–7 days the manure with a DM-content of about 45% is removed from the belts and transferred by transport belts to a storage shed. During storage much of the moisture evaporates by spontaneous internal heating. Although there is some smell during storage in the shed, especially from ammonia, this system produces a dry and crumbly odourless manure with a DM-content of 55 % or higher. Calculations show that this system of drying manure is economically more advantageous than drying systems with stall storage.
