Small scale ad, self build?

[Slowcow]

I'm in the process of moving our dairy cows to new housing and looking at all my options.

A small scale ad plant would suit well I think, but my budget is too small to think about the containerized plants, I'm aiming to get to around 100 cows housed for as short a period as I can on sand.

Lagoon is not yet dug and I was considering putting insulation under my sand channel's (cast in place) and maybe underfloor heating pipe in the concrete to form a long thin digester?

Could be a really daft idea, any one done similar?

Will a lagoon storing digestate be exempt from the legislation to cover them?

I know sand is no friend of digesters but it is so much better for the cows and ground where we are.

Hoping some one has experience of building their own

 

[deleted user 436632456]

 

[deleted user 436632456]

The video above would maybe suit a slurry channel idea? It would also keep the sand moving.

How to exclude air and retention time in a slurry channel would be a just some of the major obstacles to overcome on your idea.

 

[Slowcow]

Thanks, that is pretty close to what I was thinking! I could save a bit on how big a hole I have to dig if my lagoon was further from the shed, my back of a envelope calculation came to needing a 40m long channel for 18 day retention, as you say sealing the ends would be the major challenge but I have a few ideas.

Its going to be a long term project but if I don't do the channel now to suit what I might do in the future it wouldn't be possible.

I'm just trying to decide if its worth it, we are off grid so the electric and heat is welcome but I can't sell any!

Thanks for the reply!

 

[sjt01]

Avoid Michael's horizontal plug flow digesters! His vertical ones (like ours) work fine after they have had all the machinery replaced.
Avoid digesters if you are bedding on sand, you will have nothing but trouble.
If you are bedding on sawdust, Cosibed or something similar I would build a digester from a second hand milk silo or two, something like this

We have not built our own, but with my experience of getting my current digester to work well I would certainly do so now.
We are in Norfolk and would be happy to show you round.