Connecticut Dairy Farmer Swims With the Sharks

Appearing on the TV show 'Shark Tank' gave national exposure to Amanda Freund and her manure-based plant containers.

- By Lisa Foust Prater

Every Friday, millions of people tune in to watch “Shark Tank” on ABC. The reality show features entrepreneurs pitching their ideas to a panel of investors. In many cases, one of the Sharks provides startup funds in exchange for a percentage of the company. In April, third-generation East Canaan, Connecticut, dairy farmer Amanda Freund took the stage to pitch her family's product, although their company, CowPots, is far from a startup. They have been selling a variety of plant containers made from recycled cow manure since 2006 and have created custom materials for the hunting and packaging industries.

Necessity Is the Mother of Invention

Every dairy farmer has to deal with manure, and lots of it: a Holstein can produce around 100 pounds every day. There are 300 milking Holsteins at Canaan View Dairy using five Lely milking robots, and rumination collars that track the animals' activity. At the end of each day, the farmers are left with 30,000 pounds of manure.

The Freunds had a methane digester installed in 1997 so they could use their cows' manure to fertilize their crops with a drag line. Today, Freund says it's the longest continuously running digester in the country. The system keeps manure at 100°F year-round, which is necessary to keep it in slurry form so it can be run through a separator.

“Our initial goal was achieving that separated liquid,” Freund said. “But obviously, out of the other side of the separator are those digested solids.” The family composted them at first, but a nearby dairy with four times the cattle was already fulfilling the local demand for compost.

The Freunds joined a group of local farmers to form a cooperative dedicated to manure management. The group meets annually and brings in elected officials, members of the local resource conservation district, and USDA representatives.