Manure system gets OK

The Jay County Commissioners, in their capacity as Jay County Drainage Board, gave permission today to a Wells County farmer to lay piping for a high-pressure manure delivery system underneath a county ditch.
Darrick and Randy Plummer, whom farm ground in Nottingham Township in Wells County, approached the commissioners to explain their plans to install an underground manure delivery system that will make it easier for them to spread it over their fields. Darrick Plummer's farm is located next to a dairy operation, which supplies him with 18 million gallons per year of manure for his fields.
"You install underground pipe to pump manure through," explained Randy Plummer. "The purpose is to get across this farm so we don't have to lay hose."
"The system we've modeled this off of has been in for four years," Darrick Plummer said of a system he studied in Michigan, which has more than four miles of underground pipe.
The Plummers' plans include some of the pipes crossing under the Camp Run Ditch, part of Jay County's Loblolly watershed, which is why they approached the commissioners this morning.
Underground manure delivery systems are an up-and-coming technology in agriculture. Jay County Surveyor Brad Daniels said neither Mercer County, which has a few within it, nor the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has guidelines regulating the systems.
"They just ask the people to use good materials," Daniels said of Mercer County.
Darrick Plummer said he is intending on installing 8-inch PVC piping for the lines as well as stainless steal components, which he said would weather time better. He also said the expected life of the system is 10-14 years, although the oldest similar systems he's encountered in his research are around four years.
The commissioners agreed that the Plummers' plan sounded OK and were convinced that the system would be a safe and effective way to transport the manure to the fields. They granted permission for Plummer to install under the ditch as long as he followed the recommendations of Daniels on overhead cover.
"Sound to me like you're going to do it and do it right," said commissioner Jim Zimmerman.
In other business this morning, the commissioners:
•Were informed by Daniels that he received a letter from Ken Brunswick about a tile in the Limberlost watershed near U.S. 27 around the Adams-Jay county line. Daniels said two farmers in the area were wanting to replace the tile at their own expense and have the county vacate claim to it. The farmers would then handle maintenance of the tile.
The commissioners approved the move and told Daniels to inform Brunswick.
•Were asked by Sheriff Ray Newton if the county would be holding an auction soon, since he has two storage units that are packed with items that can be sold.
The commissioners told Newton that the next time auctioneer Pete Shawver held a major sale, they would add the county's items to the inventory.
•Signed an emergency claim for $35 to pay for water testing at the Jay County Retirement Center. The bill was for work completed in April.
•Discussed the status of a project to re-establish the Portland Pioneer Cemetery west of Jaqua Avenue.
The commissioners decided they will need to meet to the Jay County Cemetery Commission to clarify how they wanted to proceed on cleaning up the wooded area and re-establish the legal boundaries of the cemetery.[[In-content Ad]]