The Natural Resources Conservation Service, in conjunction with the Beaver County Conservation District, will hold a field day Sept. 30 at two farms in Beaver County.

A morning session, from 10 a.m. to noon, will be held at Myron Bonzo's One-O-One dairy farm. This operation will showcase a short-term, roofed, manure storage, barnyard heavy use area stabilization and a milkhouse treatment system.

An afternoon session from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. will be held at Steve and Chris Fischer's Windy Ridge dairy farm.

This operation will showcase a concrete, six-month, liquid manure storage, barnyard heavy use area and a gravity gutter barn cleaning system.

NRCS, district staff and the farmers will be on hand to talk about the operational improvements and to answer questions producers might have about implementing any of the practices showcased.

Topics of discussion will include determining the appropriate barnyard practices, costs associated with implementation and funding available to offset those costs.

Dairy producers are not our only target audience; all livestock operations would benefit from implementing similar practices introduced at this field day.

Myron Bonzo's farm is at 223 Muntz Road, just west of Zelienople. From Butler County, travel west on Route 68; after leaving Zelienople, turn left on Muntz Road. Travel about one mile and the farm will be on the right.

From Beaver County, travel east on Route 68; turn right on Zeigler Road and travel about ¼ mile to Muntz Road. Turn left and the farm will be on the left hand side.

The Fischer farm is at 493 North Tower Road. From Butler County, travel west on Route 288 for about 5.5 miles from Zelienople; turn right on to North Tower Road; the farm will be on the left. Refreshments will be served at the farms, so registration is requested by Sept. 26. For more information or to register, call 724-482-4800, Ext. 3, or 724-857-1043.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.