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Sustainable whole-tree harvesting practice requires that nutrient removal from the forest is compensated. Wood ashes contain all the nutrients, except for nitrogen, that are found in unburned fuel and can also increase soil pH, which makes ash recycling a natural way to stabilize the nutrient balance and counteract the acidification of forest soils that occurs due to intensive forest management. Several methods for processing ashes into spreadable products have been developed. The aim of this paper is to compare these methods. The study mainly focused on an economic evaluation of production, transportation and the spreading of self-hardened ash, ash pellets and ash granules. Self-hardened ash is generally considered to be the cheapest alternative to manufactured ash products, but these results imply that the most cost effective alternative is ash pellets. Around 27% of total costs could be earned from recycling the ash by producing pellets and 8% if granules are produced instead of self-hardened ash. This partly depends on the higher density of the pellets and granules and a significant reduction in the number of transportation operations. The reduction in transportation operations and diesel consumption also has major environmental benefits. Furthermore, it is more efficient to produce granules and pellets than it is to produce self-hardened ash and it is also easier to produce a reliable product of an appropriate size, shape and texture for a market that has well defined requirements.

Antimicrobial resistance is threatening humans and animals worldwide. Biosecurity and 1-year usage of antibiotics on a dairy concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in NY State, USA, were mapped: how much antibiotics were used, for what purpose, and whether any decrease could be warranted. Approximately 493 kg antibiotics was used, of which 376 kg was ionophores (monensin and lasalocides), 79 kg penicillin, 16.5 kg lincosamides, 8.0 kg aminoglycosides, 7.7 kg sulfamides, 3.4 kg cephalosporin, 2 kg macrolides, 0.7 kg amphenicols, and 0.1 kg fluoroquinolones. Usage reduction by 84% was realistic without compromising the animal welfare. Further reduction could be possible by improving the biosecurity and by utilizing antibiotic sensitivity testing.Keywords: antibiotic usage; dairy CAFO; biosecurity; ionophores; mastitis(Published: 23 May 2014)Citation: Infection Ecology and Epidemiology 2014, 4: 24259 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/iee.v4.24259

Formalin footbaths are commonly used in the dairy industry to prevent cattle hoof diseases. Although formalin is a well-documented disinfectant, it is also a carcinogen and irritant. The aim of this study was to estimate the exposure of farm workers and dairy cattle to formaldehyde from footbaths located in a milking facility and a heifer facility at a dairy farm in western New York, USA. The dairy farm included approximately 3900 dairy cattle including young stock; of these, 1670 cows were milked three times per day in a 60-stall carousel milking parlor, and approximately 800 heifers were located at the heifer facility where footbaths with formalin were in use. The formaldehyde concentration of the air was measured using a Formaldemeter™ htV approximately 50cm above the 3% formalin footbaths in the milking (one footbath location) and heifer (three footbath locations) facilities on three consecutive days. The measured formaldehyde concentrations varied between 0.00 and 2.28ppm, falling within the safety guidelines established by the Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the United States. Significant differences were found in the formaldehyde concentrations at the different footbath locations in the heifer facility, potentially due to the varying levels of ventilation at each location. Changes in the ambient temperature during the 3-day sampling period did not significantly affect the concentrations. We believe that the substantial ventilation at both the heifer and milking facilities ensured that the formaldehyde concentrations did not exceed OSHA guidelines, thus permitting the safe use of formalin footbaths in this farm.

Use of biofuels in the form of logging residues is increasing in the European countries. This intensive forestry, where entire trees are removed from the felling sites, may contribute to a negative nutrient balance in the forest soil. Recycling of ash from the combustion of clean wood fuel, sometimes in combination with limestone or additives/binders, back into the forest soil could maintain the soil nutrient reservoir intact. Before spreading ash, it is important to determine its contents and, particularly, its decomposition pattern using reliable laboratory leaching tests. In this study, mineralogy and the leaching of Na, Ca, K, Mg, Mn, Al, Cu, Fe, P, and Zn from wood ash pellets and granules, produced both from green liquor sludge and fly ash, are examined by XRD and by subjecting these substances to three different laboratory leaching tests: upflow percolation (CEN/TS 14405), batch leaching (SS-EN12457), and a new Swedish leaching test using a magnetic stirrer. Mineral phases such as quartz, ettringite, calcite, gehlenite, and aphtitalite were identified in the ash granules and in the ash/green liquor sludge granules, by means of XRD. Six additional minerals were detected in the granules of ash only, and another six in the ash/green liquor sludge granules. At L/S 2, the batch leaching test resulted in the highest amounts of elements leached and the upflow percolation test the lowest. At L/S 10, both the batch leaching test and the upflow percolation test resulted in high amounts of elements leached. The batch leaching test at L/S 10 complies quite well with the percolation test and could be suitable for ash/green liquor sludge granule evaluation in daily practice. The magnetic stirrer test seems to underestimate the release potential of elements from granules. The batch test is simple to perform, and has the ability to dissolve 70-80% of the elements with the highest mobility from the materials under study.