Anyone chance spreading slurry yet?

babybrian

that time of year again, not as bad as last year I reckon with later date for housing.. Ground conditions are excelent this week so wondering has anyone chanced going with a few loads? especially with forecast of some rain next week its tempting!!!!

reilig

babybrian wrote: »

that time of year again, not as bad as last year I reckon with later date for housing.. Ground conditions are excelent this week so wondering has anyone chanced going with a few loads? especially with forecast of some rain next week its tempting!!!!

I saw one guy in Longford spreading yesterday - along the N4. I know another guy who has tanks overflowing and he has to take a few load out tomorrow. Luckily I have enough space for at least another month.

zetor 4911

Don't take tha chance as the consequents if caught are serious. Was talking to a nitrates inspector from Johnstown Castle before xmas and we were discussing this very issue and the penalties if caught are 25% of your single farm payment + 25% of disadvantage area payment + 25% of REPS payment which would come to a hugh sum of money. If that was not bad enough after the Department are finished with the file they pass it over to the local authority and they then will take legal proceedings against the farmer. So best advice is to wait till the 16th January.

blue5000

+1

Wouldn't chance it till next thursday in East/South. A few ppl caught in 09 at xmas. If you're badly stuck you could suck a load up and leave it in the vac tanker, or move it to a neighbour who is not in reps.

Very easy for the ***ck* to hire a helicopter for a day and fly over a county.

BOND747

Farming by dates is a joke, some of the best ground conditions are during the closed period

snowman707

we have 2 tanks that will just about get us to the 16th ,as zetor says too risky to risk it b4 hand

whelan1

I CANT BELIEVE THE OP IS ASKING THIS , WHY RISK YOUR SFP , THE FWMS WAS PUT IN PLACE SO everyone COULD BUILD FACILITIES TO MEET THE STORAGE PERIOD, COP ON.... sorry for the rant... rules are for everyone, not just some people
edited to add this is my 2000th post

LostCovey

blue5000 wrote: »

+1

Very easy for the ***ck* to hire a helicopter for a day and fly over a county.

....and even if the the ***ck* don't hire a helicopter, there's always the risk that some thoughtless ****** (that stands for person) might just sensationally expose them on the internet

reilig wrote: »

I saw one guy in Longford spreading yesterday - along the N4.

whelan1

years ago during the foot and mouth scare , when all our tanks where full we where reported for "spraying " slurry , had the council and dept of ag out , was quite helpful that i was 9 months pregnant when they came out to inspect us:o

Birdnuts

Don't understand why so many farmers treat slurry as a waste product to be got rid of by any means, given its loaded with so many nutrients that could replace alot of the expensive artificial bagged stuffed. Which is why spreading it at this time of year makes no sense since grass won't be growing to any extent for a few months yet and so most of it will be wasted(and worse - end up in local waterways:().

blue5000

LostCovey wrote: »

....and even if the the ***ck* don't hire a helicopter, there's always the risk that some thoughtless ****** (that stands for person) might just sensationally expose them on the internet

The snow should cover it for now!

whelan1

blue5000 wrote: »

The snow should cover it for now!

there are also conditions under sfp about not spreading slurry on frozen ground , i value my sfp too much to arse around

babybrian

@whelan, Im guessing OP is something like opening post? And not a fear of me going to spread slurry, have 3 weeks left I reckon so just asking the question.. and congrats on the 2000th post.

and Birdnuts maybe your correct but dont trials show that slurry is better spread now than later when weather can be warmer and nitrogen is lost to the atmoshere, something similar to Urea versus CAN in colder weather. To the best of my knowledge P & K will remain in the soil until the grass uses it, it doesnt leach easily (again Im open to be corrected because Im not 100% sure)

Pat the lad

Sister was telling me that they got a spot visit from the department the week before x mas. They did the whole neighbourhood over 2days. They made a neighbour of hers, to take hay and straw out of a shed and but farmyard manure that was out on a concrete yard into the shed. They were also very unimpressed where cattle push bedding material 6 to 12 inches out under a gate.

reilig

IMO the biggest problem with spreading slurry too late in the back end or too early in the front end of the year is the dirty sole that it causes in both pasture and meadows. This is particularly applicable to the area that I live in as we usually have to house cattle in early october and let them out in the first week of may. The grass that grows in between this time is often a small amount, but cattle don't like it because of the slurry and its often left by them as they just eat the overgrowth. I agree with you birdnuts. There was an article in this weeks journal about the value of slurry being EUR30 per 1000l. This value will increase with the predicted rise in fertilizer prices. I'm an advocate of getting as much growth out of slurry as possible. This means spreading it at appropriate thickness and at the right times rather than just spreading it to get rid of it as most people who spread it around here at this time of year are doing.

whelan1

2 things i dread are revenue audit and a a department inspection .. i have had the revenue audit in 2010 so hopefully i wont have dept for a while:)

Muckit

Leaving sensational and emotional reponses to one side, are farmers allowed to take out a load or so if the slurry is starting to go above slat level?

Birdnuts

babybrian wrote: »

and Birdnuts maybe your correct but dont trials show that slurry is better spread now than later when weather can be warmer and nitrogen is lost to the atmoshere, something similar to Urea versus CAN in colder weather. To the best of my knowledge P & K will remain in the soil until the grass uses it, it doesnt leach easily (again Im open to be corrected because Im not 100% sure)

Well alot of P occurs as Phosphate in this situation which unfortunately does readily leach into water bodies if not taken up and is primarily the reason why so many of our lakes suffer toxic algal blooms and other problems. As regards loss of Nitrogen in Warmer weather, my understanding is that the temp at which this becomes significant is alot higher then what is needed to kick off reasonable grass growth later in the year so it shouldn't be an issue for a farmer seeking to boost growth but avoiding loss of N this way. In any case the form of N in slurry is much less prone to this phenomenon:)

blue5000

I'd say you'd have to get permission, I think the dept will allow it in animal welfare situation/ force mergue (excuse the spelling). I think as already said we all should have enough slurry storage capacity by now.

dar31

just looking ahead at the long range weather and it is giving rain most days after the 13th of the month.
but sure we must abide by the rules, the slurry will flow from thur on, and there was great conditions for spreading the week gone by.
they really do beat us with the sfp stick

surely there is some gom in the dept that realizes that farming to the calendar makes no sense
they must look in at us from the eu and laugh at our stupidity

JohnBoy

Got a fine smell of it driving home on thursday night, after dark so couldnt see it, but I'd travelled the same road an hour before with no smell, I'd say he'd just spread it in the dark

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

IMO the biggest problem with spreading slurry too late in the back end or too early in the front end of the year is the dirty sole that it causes in both pasture and meadows. This is particularly applicable to the area that I live in as we usually have to house cattle in early october and let them out in the first week of may. The grass that grows in between this time is often a small amount, but cattle don't like it because of the slurry and its often left by them as they just eat the overgrowth. I agree with you birdnuts. There was an article in this weeks journal about the value of slurry being EUR30 per 1000l. This value will increase with the predicted rise in fertilizer prices. I'm an advocate of getting as much growth out of slurry as possible. This means spreading it at appropriate thickness and at the right times rather than just spreading it to get rid of it as most people who spread it around here at this time of year are doing.

surely you mean €30 per 1000 gallons?

IMO the biggest mistake people make with spreading slurry is not diluting it enough, we have found we get good results by adding maybe 20% water, usually used soiled water from the collecting yard

Slurry, lime and graze tightly with sheep and you will grow a lot of quality grass

Muckit

snowman707 wrote: »

surely you mean €30 per 1000 gallons?

IMO the biggest mistake people make with spreading slurry is not diluting it enough, we have found we get good results by adding maybe 20% water, usually used soiled water from the collecting yard

Slurry, lime and graze tightly with sheep and you will grow a lot of quality grass

Snowman,

With your years of knowledge and experience you may be able to answer a few queries for me.

We don't have sheep. I agree sheep keep a grass swarth tight and promote good grass. With this in mind, I've a bit reseeded that i wouldn't mind maybe letting for winter grazing with sheep next backend.

Would you know what the usual let period would be?

Also whats the going rate/acre?

Thanks

Bizzum

There is no doubt that grazing recently reseeded ground tight with sheep is beneficial to tiller out the grass and do minimal damage.
It's not essentail though, and you probably need to be set up for sheep or it can get messy.
We did offer a neighbour a field once that was inclined to be damp to graze with his sheep FOC and he put up a temp electric fence.
We just graze now ourselves with light stock, and pay attention to ground conditions. Forward graze weanlings on it maybe.
We made hay with new grass a number of years back at the back end, spread slurry and some of the hay seed struck. Made a great job of it.

defadman

put out slurry today, was a perfect day for it. the frost had the ground hardened up and therefore there was little or no tracks left.