Manure Lagoon Treatment Bacteria

What manure lagoon treatment bacteria are and how AWT works

Animal Waste Treat (AWT) is manure lagoon treatment bacteria: a high-CFU, spore-forming Bacillus blend you add to a lagoon, pit, or manure storage to digest the solids, odor, and crust that build up under heavy loading. The strains are facultative, so they stay active in the low-oxygen conditions of a deep pit or a crusted lagoon where standard products stall, and they produce protease, cellulase, and lipase enzymes that cut proteins, fibers, and fats down to liquid. As the solids digest, the crust and bottom sludge shrink, open water comes back, and the lagoon holds more of its designed volume. AWT also carries denitrifying strains that move excess nitrogen out as nitrogen gas and support the nitrifiers that keep ammonia and nitrite in balance, which steadies the nitrogen cycle and cleans up the effluent you later pump to the field. Because the strains hold up across a wide pH and temperature range, they keep working through seasonal swings and uneven manure inputs.

How manure lagoons fail: crust, sludge, and lost volume

A manure lagoon is the earthen basin where a dairy, hog, or poultry operation stores and breaks down liquid manure before it goes to the field. It works as long as the biology keeps pace with what comes in. When loading outruns digestion, the solids stop breaking down: a crust forms on top, sludge builds on the bottom, the basin loses volume, and odor climbs. A crusted lagoon is harder to agitate and pump, holds less than it was built to hold, and pushes more nutrient and odor risk onto the operation. That is the state AWT is built to reverse, by digesting the fats, proteins, and fibrous solids that form crust and sludge and breaking down the volatile fatty acids, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia behind lagoon odor.

Manure lagoon odor control

Most lagoon odor comes from volatile fatty acids and the hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and mercaptans that accumulate when digestion stalls. AWT digests the fatty acids at the source instead of masking them, and the stable biology it rebuilds resists the seasonal upsets that set off odor complaints in the first place. For an operation near neighbors or under an odor-management plan, that means fewer nuisance complaints and a lagoon that stays under control between pump-downs. The same activity that clears odor also keeps the surface open, so agitation and pumping do not stir up a fresh round of gas.

Sludge and crust removal, and restoring open water

Crust and bottom sludge are what pull a lagoon out of service, and digesting them is what AWT does best. High protease, cellulase, and lipase activity liquefies the fibrous crust and bottom sludge that eat into lagoon capacity, so a basin that had turned into a solid mat returns to open water. Run on a regular schedule, AWT works as a standing manure digestant and waste lagoon cleaner, keeping the lagoon fluid instead of letting heavy sludge layers rebuild. That protects storage capacity, shortens pumping, and pushes out the next expensive dredging. At Meadow Rock Dairy, crust, bottom sludge, and total suspended solids all dropped as the lagoon reopened to 95% water.

What the Meadow Rock trial showed

Meadow Rock Dairy ran AWT on a 67,500 cubic yard waste lagoon that had built a 3 to 4 foot manure mat and crust across the surface. The crust made agitation and pumping slow and difficult, and pumping the lagoon down for irrigation took 80 hours. AWT was applied weekly. By day 30 the lagoon had reached 60 to 70 percent open water, odor was down, and pumping time had dropped to 55 hours, a 31 percent cut before the trial was even halfway. By day 45 the lagoon was at 95 percent open water, odor was gone, and pumping time had fallen to 38 hours. That is 42 hours less pumping per cycle, a 52.5 percent reduction, with scum, bottom sludge, and total suspended solids all substantially improved. Keeping the day 30 and day 45 readings together matters: they show the lagoon improving on a tracked timeline, not a single before-and-after snapshot.

Cleaner effluent and lower BOD, COD, and TSS

AWT lowers the organic load, BOD and COD, and total suspended solids in the lagoon, which keeps the biology stable and the liquid more uniform. Cleaner, steadier effluent is easier to pump and irrigate with, carries less risk under a discharge or nutrient-management plan, and puts less strain on downstream screens, pumps, and irrigation lines. Fewer upsets in the lagoon also mean fewer odor spikes and a more predictable pump-down schedule.

More nutrient value for the field

A stable lagoon holds its nutrients in more usable form, which raises the fertilizer value of the manure you apply. In a Wisconsin dairy trial using AWT in its slow-release Pit Puck tablet form, the treated lagoon delivered an added 64.6 pounds of plant-available nitrogen and 71.6 pounds of potassium per acre at a 20,000 gallon application rate, while phosphorus came down by 13.4 pounds per acre. Lower phosphorus matters because phosphorus is usually the nutrient that caps how much manure a field can legally take, so trimming it gives the operation more room to apply nitrogen and potassium under its nutrient-management plan. This trial used the Pit Puck tablet form of AWT; the biology is the same across every AWT form.

Deep pits, CAFO lagoons, and flush systems

AWT is dosed by volume, which is what a lagoon or pit needs, and it fits the full range of manure infrastructure:

• Manure lagoons and holding ponds: dairy, hog, and poultry lagoons where crust, sludge, and odor build up.
• Deep pits and storage tanks: swine and dairy manure pits under heavy organic loading.
• CAFO systems: large operations that need lagoon volume, odor control, and compliance headroom.
• Flush systems and transfer lines: keeps lines open and stops solids from clogging pumps.
• Land application: cleaner, more uniform effluent that pumps and spreads more evenly.

For a pit dosed by head count rather than volume, the same bacteria ship as a drop-in tablet, Pit Puck, at one tablet per week per 100 cows or 300 finisher hogs, with no mixing and no dosing equipment.

Dairy, swine, poultry, and beef systems

AWT works across dairy, swine, poultry, and beef operations, from a single small-farm lagoon to a full CAFO. The strains adapt to the different manure chemistry and the variable loading these systems see through the year, so the same product handles a dairy lagoon in summer and a swine pit under winter storage. That range is why AWT ships in four forms, so you can match the dose to how each operation is set up.

AWT in anaerobic digesters

AWT works in anaerobic digesters as well as in lagoons and pits. Excess ammonia and nitrite both inhibit the methane-producing microbes a digester depends on, and by reducing them AWT helps protect the digester biology and supports steadier methane output. For an operation recovering energy from manure, cleaner biology upstream means a more stable digester and fewer sour batches.

Forms and dosing: powder, liquid, block, tablet, and Pit Puck

AWT ships in four forms so you can dose any system the same way. Powder comes at 2, 50, and 100 billion CFU per gram in 22 pound and 44 pound pails and 340 pound drums. Liquid runs at 13.5 billion CFU per milliliter from quarts up to 55 gallon drums. Slow-release blocks at 4 billion CFU per gram and tablets at 2 billion CFU per gram release bacteria steadily between doses, which suits lagoons, pits, and storage tanks that are hard to dose by hand. The slow-release tablet is also sold as Pit Puck, dosed by head count for operators who want a drop-in with no mixing. Full dosing rates for each form are in the application section below.

Specifications, storage, and handling

AWT is a high-CFU, spore-forming Bacillus blend made in the USA with lot traceability and verified CFU counts. It holds a shelf life of 2 years at room temperature and 3 years refrigerated. Store it cool, dry, and out of direct sunlight, and reseal the container after each use. It stays active across a pH range of 5.0 to 9.5 and a temperature range of 45 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which covers what a lagoon or pit sees through the year. Full concentrations, pack sizes, and application guidelines are in the technical data and application sections below.

Buy manure lagoon and pit treatment bacteria in bulk, wholesale, OEM, or private label

AWT is sold direct by the manufacturer in sample sizes through bulk and wholesale quantities, with domestic and international shipping. It is available for private label and OEM across all four forms, powder, liquid, block, and tablet, with custom CFU concentrations and packaging for qualified partners. Tell us your lagoon or pit size and your current pumping schedule, and we will recommend a starting dose and send a quote.