The Brubaker family never thought they would be in the energy business, but today their dairy farm is creating enough electricity to light a small town.

Hundreds of people, ranging from politicians to local farmers, were at Brubaker Farms in Mount Joy Wednesday afternoon to help unveil a new anaerobic manure digester that has been producing as much as 4,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a day since December — that's enough electricity to power as many as 200 homes.

Mike Brubaker, who runs the farm in partnership with his father, Luke, and his brother, Tony, said delving into energy production has been a "new adventure" on the 1,500-acre dairy farm, creating what they have dubbed "cow power."

"Our focus has always been on quality food production — which it will continue to be — but now we're also taking a look at how to better use our resources that we have to work with," Mike said. "So that's why we're taking a dual approach, looking at how we can make energy out of another product coming from our good cows that we love."

The Brubakers said the high price of fuel and rising grain prices for livestock feed have forced farmers to look for alternatives to add value to their farms. They also are looking to improve efficiency on the farm, so they waste as little as possible.

Through years of research, the Brubakers discovered manure digester systems.

The digester breaks down manure collected from livestock. The methane gas from the digestion process is harnessed and is fed into an engine that generates electricity.

The Brubakers installed the engine last year. The farm uses a small percentage of the electricity, and the rest is fed through power lines directly into the energy grid.

Although the digester cost more than $1 million to build, the Brubakers said rising energy prices makes projects like it more feasible and cost-effective. Power companies have also been forced through legislation to pay a fair market rate for energy put into the grid — something they have not had to do in the past.

Solid waste from the digester is also used for animal bedding instead of sawdust — a savings of as much as $4,000 a month. The Brubakers sell some of the solid waste as high-quality mulch.

Mike said there are serious environmental benefits to the digester, including decreasing manure odor by as much as 90 percent and keeping methane gas out the atmosphere.

"We can really get excited about teaming up an economic benefit along with an environmental benefit," Mike said. "It's a real win-win situation."

At least three other digester projects have been built in Lancaster County. Harlan Keener, a former West Lampeter Township hog farmer, installed a digester to create electricity in 1985.

Mark Moser, president of RCM International of California, the developer of the digester, said his firm has installed 70 digesters across the U.S., including one at Turkey Hill Dairy.

Moser said the digesters started taking off in popularity around 2000 when energy prices started to rise. He said energy prices and government grants are what has made the digesters successful.

Moser said the technology is improving with the use of better engines that produce more energy.

"It's always gratifying to light the flare, start the engine and make electricity," Moser said. "It's the fun of the job."

Luke Brubaker, who got into farming more than 30 years ago with 18 cows, said he never would have imagined he would be producing electric.

Now the 730 cows on the family farm have added a new dimension to their dairy production. He said each day three to four cows can produce enough electricity for an average home.

"We're not using our grains to make electricity here," Luke said. "We're using something that we were just losing into the air before. I think it's going to be a wave of the future on larger dairies where you can capture that methane from the manure."

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