Stiching Slurry

alderdeer

Was wondering if any of ye got their slurry stiched in, I was talking to my silage contractor yesterday about it, He bought a self propelled last year and is charging €35/ load its 3,500gl tanker. At the price of fert and the way teagesc talk of the advantages of stiching im wondering should i sell my own tanker 2500gl and put money towards maybe a nice new trailer/mower/bale grab/bigger roller the list goes on, I have to admit it would be nice to have someone do the slurry for me, 12 bays emptied one and a half times in the yr.

st1979

I had my slurry put on this year with the trailing shoe with umbilical system (contractor also has normal tankers plus trailing shoe on tanker) back in feb and i was really not convinced it was the right time of year to see a big benefit as more nitrogen is lost in summer. Well i am now truely convinced the grass was so much greener and grew very well and cows could of grazed very soon after (only it got too wet due to lots of rain). Had spread some heavy soiled dirty water with my own tanker 2 days before made a mess with my small wheels and grass stayed dirty for a month. Had taught of buying a s/h big tanker as i spread about 500,000gal a year and i can't see much savings in it as i would be putting a lad to drive it for me. Plus if i wanted a shoe it would put it way out of my grasp. 1 of the few jobs i get a contractor to do. Reckon a s/h mower pays for itself way faster as i was cutting about 200 acres a year and use it for topping as well and some charge up to €25/acre around here. Mowing 5 acres/hr at 20-25 litres/hr. And as i used to do a lot of hay cutting when i want is important. Slurry is not such a timely operation especially with the shoe

F.D

i wouldnt sell the tanker just yet especially if you have time to do it your self, contractors prices are only going to go one way and thats up due to cost of diesel and parts
there are big advantages i suppose, arnt you only allowed to stitch in slurry once a year or something due to it slicing trough the root structure off the grass, i know trailing shoe is ok,
just working it our you would be giving the contractor around 1200 euro per year for slurry spreading assuming you have 12.6 slats and an 8 foot deep tank full to the neck
if you have the tank paid for would it really save you that much in fertilizer if you were to do it in the right conditions yourself ?

Muckit

F.D wrote: »

contractors prices are only going to go one way and thats up due to cost of diesel and parts

And what if your doing it yourself? Would you not face the same increases??

st1979

I had the slurry spread in ideal conditions for splashplate and i still reckoned the trailing shoe was worth it. But yea don't think i would sell a tanker if i had a good big one bought. But would keep my mower over tanker any day.
But really at 1200 a year for spreading how can anyone justify having a tanker. My fag packet calculations
At

@ €35/hr thats 34 hrs work
34hrs x €10/hr = €340
34 hrs diesel at what maybe 12L/hr at 80c/litre = €326
= €666 cost so excluding wear and tear on you tractor it leaves €534 to repay a tanker

alderdeer

Thanks for all inputs there everyone, I have a smashing tanker alright and there is no repayments on it so i wouldnt be jumping at any offer from any contractor to do the job for me as ill have to fork out the money for them to do it but there aint much other machinery on farm so when cash is so short these days 7-8k would buy alot of stuff for a lad who is tryin to get goin on his own (took over farm 2 yrs ago). Im still paying for a neighbour to aggitate for me as i only have the tanker.
Id say yer thinking where the fcuk is that lad goin with the fine tanker costing 12k and nothin else to put behind the tractor. (previous managements decision) i ask that question myself alot hence the thread.

st1979

I wouldn't like to sell such a good tanker if i had 1 cause at end of the day you know what you got which is a tanker that will last you a lifetime with the amount of work you have. Any chance you could do a bit of spreading for a neighbour and they do some mowing or something for you.