Patent attributes
A system and method that automatically transfer liquid manure from an intermediate holding receptacle to a lagoon involves a common pump for both agitating the liquid manure in and pumping the liquid manure from the receptacle. A pump motor, first valve, second valve and directable agitation nozzle of the pump are controlled by an electronic controller. The electronic controller switches on the pump motor, ensures that the first valve is closed and ensures that the second valve is open when the receptacle is full, directs the nozzle to at least two different locations in the receptacle to permit liquid manure to be redirected to the at least two different locations to agitate the liquid manure for a predetermined period of time, and opens the first valve after the predetermined period of time to permit pumping of the liquid manure from the receptacle to the lagoon. The system and method reduce equipment cost, equipment maintenance and the amount of operator time required to perform liquid manure transfer, while providing better agitation and more complete emptying of the receptacle in a shorter period of time.
