Slurry & Manure
10,000-pig unit: a 5–6 inch crust on a 750,000-gallon pit opened within 72 hours, and was largely gone in 47 days.
Plainview Colony, about 10,000 pigs · Ipswich, South Dakota, USA · 10 November 2026
The challenge
Larry Wipf ran multiple barns draining to a pumping station and a 750,000-gallon concrete pit, then two lagoons. The pit carried a crust 5–6 inches thick and was pumped twice a year, which took extensive agitation. May 2003 was too wet for that work to start.
The approach
On 21 May 2003 the pit received 10 gallons of MICROBE-LIFT®/HOG: 5 gallons into the liquid and 5 gallons mixed with water and sprayed on the crust. Treatment then continued at 2 gallons a week for four weeks, and 2 gallons a month after that. The same weekly dose went into the pumping station, which had been blocking with solids.
Results
Within 72 hours
Crust started to open
Crust down to a couple of inches
After 26 days
No crust on two-thirds of the pit
After 47 days
No longer needed
Twice-yearly agitation
After five days the pit was bubbling and the crust was already much reduced on two-thirds of the surface. At 26 days the crust was down to a couple of inches, apart from 12–15 feet at the south end, and odour was minimal. At 47 days there was no crust on two-thirds of the pit and what remained was about an inch or less. The pumping station stopped blocking. This is a day-by-day farm record for MICROBE-LIFT®/HOG, the pig product, and it is not a DFP result.
Source documentation
Ecological Laboratories case studies (opens in a new tab)