| I am not against mink
farming. I am not against people making a
profit. The development of industry in this
area is very important. However I really
believe that the chemical soup that is being
discharged into our waters presents a serious threat
to the ecosystems in our area. This is being
felt now and will felt for years to come. This does
not have to happen! G.J.LeBlanc How serious is the mink manure problem? Mink manure is not the same as most other types of manure and the way it is handled is not the same. Dairy farmers recycle their manure putting it on pastures to grow hay which is fed to the cows and in the following year the minerals in this manure are in the hay that feeds next years cattle and so on. Mink are carnivorous, cows are herbivorous, and the biological food pyramid suggests that that their waste is many times more mineral concentrated. Also phosphates are added to the food of mink making their waste 10's of times more environmentally hazardous then most other livestock. Mink manure is not recycled. Millions of tons of manure is added to last years pile which was part of the previous pile and the only way this pile significantly decreases is that the minerals go into the ground water and the volatile chemicals go into the air. There are several ways to calculate how much waste an organism produces. Basically if you eat a pound of food you produce a pound of waste. Some sources mink eat about 1.2 pounds of food a day. Other sources mention that on a farm of 100,000 mink they are processing 80,000 pounds of food a day a day. Other sources indicate that from birth to pelting a young mink produce about 44 pounds of feces. This does not include urine waste. Breeders represent about 20% of the population and they are around for 365 days/year, and if we include the dead bodies of these and the pelted mink we are coming very close to 100 pounds of waste for every mink pelt produced, not including liquid waste. Liquid waste would double or triple this amount. Therefore if we process 1.5 million mink that is 1,500,000x100=150,000,000 or 150 million pounds+ of waste. If the mink production goes to 15 million, as has been suggested, that would equal 15,000,000 x 100 = 1,500,000,000, 1.5 Billion pounds. We already have a problem. If these calculations are correct we may have a potential disaster, that repeats and increments itself every year. . In my mind these are conservative estimates; however, if these calculations are incorrect I invite the Dept of Agriculture to send their figures. One pound of phosphorous can potentially generate 500 pounds of algae. Mink manure contains about 50 lb phosphorus in 2000 lb,1 ton of manure (source ) The "Dept of Mink Farmers" have to find a way to process and maybe make money processing this manure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_phosphorus Phosphate reserves are being depleted. 85% of the known reserves are in one country Morocco Peak phosphorus is the point in time at which the maximum global phosphorus production rate is reached. Phosphorus is a scarce finite resource on earth and due to its non-gaseous environmental cycle has resulted in alternative means of production other than mining being unavailable Source Links:........................................ http://nerrs.noaa.gov/doc/siteprofile/acebasin/html/modules/watqual/wmeutro.htm EPA has suggested a maximum of 0.1 mg/l of phosphorus in freshwater streams to prevent accelerated eutrophication. Similarly, concentrations of nitrate/nitrite <0.2 mg/l are recommended to discourage eutrophication. 50ug=.05mg=.5ppm ---- 100ug=.1mg=1ppm http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101217082249AAkyO7Y http://www.unitconversion.org/weight/micrograms-to-milligrams-conversion.html .1mg (milligrams) = 1ppm( parts/million) = 100micrograms [µg] 1.mg (milligrams) = 10 ppm( parts/million) = 1000micrograms [µg] 1ml (milliliters) = 1000µg microliters 1 ppm is 1 part per million = 1 microliter per liter Manure cannot be treated as a waste product but as a industry of it's own. Sources: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nova-scotias-mink-farms-are-booming-but-the-neighbours-arent-pleased/article4487797/ Not far away is a farm that breeds about 45,000 mink and produces 250,000 skins a year. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/environmental-hazards-of-fur.aspx Each mink skinned by fur farmers produces about 44 pounds of feces http://www.cleanwatermn.org/app_themes/cleanwater/pdfs/forTeachers/Algae.pdf Algae Adage”. Where did it come from – and is it true? Have you heard this adage? One pound of phosphorus can produce from 300 to 500 pounds of algae. http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/components/DD8241_4h.pdf Under optimal conditions, the addition of only one pound of phosphorus can promote the growth of 500 pounds of algae! Political attitude: Political tunnel vision. http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/105779-mink-industry-booms-despite-pollution-concerns Related topics Pollution in the Bay of Fundy? |