VERNON TOWNSHIP — Don Bortnick Jr. and his brother Jack may only be first-generation farmers, but it’s been a very busy generation.

“We started milking 20 cows 20 years ago,” Don recalled during a recent interview at Bortnick Dairy LLC on Palmer Road in Beaver Township — their current location they bought back in 2002.

Today, they have more employees than they once had cows — a staff of 30, to be exact. And they’re milking 1,200 Holsteins — the herd totals 2,800 — and farming 4,000 acres to keep them fed.

That, however, isn’t why Bortnick Dairy LLC was singled out for honors Thursday during Crawford Conservation District’s annual dinner at Days Inn Conference Center.

The district’s first-ever Conservation Innovator Award was presented to Bortnick Dairy LLC, to quote the certificate, “in recognition of their leadership and innovation in establishing a state-of-the-art methane digester system on their farm.”

“It’s easy to talk about these projects — and dream about them — but to get them on the ground and working is something extraordinary,” said presenter George Greig of Linesville. “They could be opening the door for a whole new method of supplying electricity for rural people.”

Operational since May 2009, the system features a 450-kilowatt, 675-horsepower generator that creates more than enough electricity to completely eliminate the farm’s $5,000 monthly electric bill and power an additional 200 to 300 homes served by Northwestern Rural Electric Cooperative, which buys the excess.

Approximately 25,000 gallons of manure from the farm and 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of food waste from regional food manufacturing plants is added to the digester — a set of matching covered tanks each 80 feet in diameter and 16 feet deep — on a daily basis. Giant mixers in each tank keep things moving around; after 25 to 30 days at a consistent 100 degrees, the digestion process has produced the methane gas that will fuel the generator. At any given time, approximately 60,000 cubic feet of methane keeps each tank’s cover inflated like the top of a very large hot-air balloon.

The system, which cost a total of $1.5 million — almost $600,000 from the Bortnicks and the rest in grants obtained through the tireless efforts of Don’s wife, Ann — is powered by an engine Don describes as the largest on an anaerobic (oxygen-free) digester in Pennsylvania.

Once the digester — “it’s basically a cow’s stomach,” Bortnick says of the process — works its methane-generating magic, the liquid leftovers can be applied to fields as plant-ready fertilizer and the solid waste becomes bedding for the cows. Everything is completely sterilized — and virtually odor-free — when it comes out of the digester, by the way.

Farmer of the Year

Conservation Farmer of the Year Award went to Hay-Lo Farm on Irish Road in Cussewago Township. The 683-acre farm straddles the Crawford-Erie county line.

It takes a continuing effort to learn about and implement Best Management Practices, presenter Jody Lasko, district conservationist with Pennsylvania’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, said as she described the ongoing effort put forth by Craig and Karen Hayes and their son, Jason, who is continuing the family tradition as the fourth-generation operator of this family farm. Those practices have included installing state-of-the-art roof gutters and stream-bank fencing as well as employing no-till planting techniques.

Noting that the 70-head Dairy of Distinction “has always been conservation conscious,” Lasko went on to explain that “getting to become a good environmental steward involves taking risks.”

“Conservation farming is maintaining family — and a viable business,” Craig said as the family accepted the award. “Everything must both fit the business plan and be environmentally productive.”

Educator of the Year

Terry Lobdel received the Conservation Educator of the Year Award from Environmental Educator Kathy Uglow.

Lobdel may be known to the area’s Cub Scouts as “The Nature Guy,” but a more appropriate title might be “Batman.” Since August 2007, he’s developed five different programs he presents on a a regular basis at the Crawford Conservation District headquarters — Woodcock Creek Nature Center, 21742 German Road, Meadville.

For the “Bats at Night” program, for example, the first step in setting a date is to find out when there’s a full moon, Uglow explained. “There’s nothing better than bats in a full moon — they’re definitely looking their best.”

As for keeping the program fresh, “He’s always looking for another angle,” Uglow said. “People will hear something new every time they come.”

Conservation Forestry Award

On their property near Cambridge Springs, David and Margaret Yasenchack have put conservation forestry to work, implementing timber strand improvement, wildlife habitat improvement and sustainable forestry practices. In recognition of their efforts, Mark Lewis, service forester with Pennsylvania Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Bureau of Forestry presented them with the Conservation Forestry Award.

Lewis selected a passage from the Yasenchak Web site to describe their relationship with their land. “Because wood gives rise to all of our work, it is with much pleasure and as much good fortune that we harvest trees from our own forested land and saw these logs into timbers ourselves,” Lewis read. “We cannot imagine timber framing without this degree of control or choice in our materials. Nor can we imagine designing for timber without the inspiration we take from the trees we walk among, study and use.”

Responsible for the conservation of soil, water, air and natural resources within their individual counties, Conservation Districts were first formed in the 1930s to combat the affects of the dust bowl’s soil erosion and are now found in every state and territory in the United States. Today’s Conservation Districts are guided by a simple principal: Local people are best suited to identify and protect the natural resources in their areas.



Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.