A Carroll County dairy farmer wants to turn cow manure into electricity.
“Cows release methane gas, so they aren?t the most environmentally friendly,” Matthew Hoff said Monday at his office at Coldsprings Farms in New Windsor.
Hoff, who owns the county?s largest dairy farm and 1,000 cattle, plans to buy a methane “digester.” It uses an oxygen-free tank to trap methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, to run a generator to produce electricity.
The digester also treats the manure to make it far less stinky than its natural counterpart and extracts the liquid part of the waste for use in irrigation.
Hoff?s Holsteins create 25,000 gallons of manure a day.
As more new residents move into the county, Hoff said he wants to become a better neighbor by spreading manure with a fainter odor.
“It helps get rid of the smell, and it?s less likely to cause fish kills and contamination in well water,” he said.
Hoff also hopes to produce enough electricity to run his farm, saving him $7,000 a month in energy bills in the summer and $4,000 a month in the winter. And cows? sensitivity to temperature quickly runs up electric bills.
Digesters cost $1 million to $5 million, so Hoff is applying for county, state and federal grants to help defray costs.
Carroll?s economic development director plans to ask the county commissioners Thursday to pay $7,500 for a study on digesters and their potential applications throughout the state, said Gabe Zepp, the county?s agriculture specialist.
“The Hoff farm is the cornerstone of the county?s ag economy, and he?s looking for ways to better his operation,” Zepp said.
FAST FACT
Matthew Hoff hopes to become the second private farmer in the state to buy a methane digester. An Emmitsburg farmer was the first.
