Lagoon Crawler Makes Manure Application Sexy

Sep 13, 2013

Nuhn’s Lagoon Crawler Draws Large Crowds at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

A one-of-a-kind lagoon crawler, designed to stir up manure is gaining a lot of attention in agriculture circles.

The futuristic looking machine, designed by Nuhn Industries was brought to Canada’s Outdoor Farm show after having a successful debut at the North American Manure Expo last month, as well as taking home an innovation award at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois.

“It’s an ambitious agitator that we’ve designed basically from customer demand,” describes Ian Nuhn, the 23-year-old designer. “The whole thing is remote controlled, the wheels drop down and from the remote you drive it right into a manure lagoon…once you get it into the lagoon, the entire thing floats.”

With the control of a remote device, the operator can boat the crawler around and mix up manure while using agitation guns to stir up the nutrients from the bottom of a lagoon. The machine was designed to meet the needs of farmers who manage large-scale, 10-acre or larger, manure lagoons found in Western Canada and the United States.

The bottoms of larger manure pits are often left untouched, leaving the best nutrients for the soil behind, explains Nuhn. There are seven pending sales on the crawler machine, all from the United States, including California, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Iowa and Minnesota.

Nuhn, who is the vice president of the family-owned business at 23, says he’s been working for the company since he was 12. He designed the crawler in two days – it then spent another seven days in production. “We always like to have something new for the show season,” said Nuhn, noting that they’ve been brainstorming with customers for about a year and decided to take a chance on the idea.

Young Nuhn attributes his company’s success to being a family business. “It is about putting out good quality stuff that has our name on it,” concludes Nuhn. The Sebringville, Ontario based company regularly offers tours to those interested in viewing its facility.

(Photo: Ian Nuhn above standing by his Lagoon Crawler innovation).

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.