Nitrates figure for sheep

Vandy West

Got a letter saying I was way over the allowed nitrates level of 170/ha for 2013. Bought no fert and spread no slurry, had about 7 ewes to the ha, so hopefully just a mistake by dept. Anyone know where to find the figures to be used for figuring nitrates from ewes and lambs?

Green farmer

I'm guessing it's a mistake. I was getting texts from the department about making nitrates returns. I rang the department up in dublin. I stock similar amount of ewes to the hectare as yourself. your man in the department told me I was way under the limit. Said I'd want to be heavily stocked and spreading more then 6-7 bags to the acre to be over the limit. Hope this help as I'm no expert. Give them a buzz. As I said at the time the nitrates section was located in dublin.

rangler1

Vandy West wrote: »

Got a letter saying I was way over the allowed nitrates level of 170/ha for 2013. Bought no fert and spread no slurry, had about 7 ewes to the ha, so hopefully just a mistake by dept. Anyone know where to find the figures to be used for figuring nitrates from ewes and lambs?

A lowland ewe counts as 13kg/ha, so you're well under the limit

Duke92

Vandy West wrote: »

Got a letter saying I was way over the allowed nitrates level of 170/ha for 2013. Bought no fert and spread no slurry, had about 7 ewes to the ha, so hopefully just a mistake by dept. Anyone know where to find the figures to be used for figuring nitrates from ewes and lambs?

Check are ha right I was getting text messages but it turned out my ha was wrong.

Green farmer

rangler1 wrote: »

A lowland ewe counts as 13kg/ha, so you're well under the limit

Does that mean that if you had 10 ewes to the hectare, it would be 10 x 130 =130kg /ha therefore leaving you 40kg/ha in fertilisers ?

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

Does that mean that if you had 10 ewes to the hectare, it would be 10 x 130 =130kg /ha therefore leaving you 40kg/ha in fertilisers ?

There's a complicated (to me) formula for working out how much nitrogen you can spread, but as far as I know, at 130kg stocking rate, you'll be unlikely to need as much as you're allpwed ...... iykwim

Green farmer

Thanks rangler..,.

I know . Complicated. When I spoke to the guy on the phone last year he told me I was way under the limit. Said I could keep sheep and grow more grass then I'd ever need before going over. I think the nitrates thing is something the big dairy farms need to be more aware of with the slurry spreading etc.

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

Thanks rangler..,.

I know . Complicated. When I spoke to the guy on the phone last year he told me I was way under the limit. Said I could keep sheep and grow more grass then I'd ever need before going over. I think the nitrates thing is something the big dairy farms need to be more aware of with the slurry spreading etc.

Yea, I'm stocked at 130kg, and I worked it out years ago that I could spread up to 6-7 bags CAN/acre per year before I'd hit the limit

Green farmer

rangler1 wrote: »

Yea, I'm stocked at 130kg, and I worked it out years ago that I could spread up to 6-7 bags CAN/acre per year before I'd hit the limit

Your calculations weren't too bad so rangler, at 6- 7 bags per acre more or less identical to department advice. A fertiliser spreader is the next thing on my list. At the moment if I spread up to 2 bags to acre a year, that be a lot for me.

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

Your calculations weren't too bad so rangler, at 6- 7 bags per acre more or less identical to department advice. A fertiliser spreader is the next thing on my list. At the moment if I spread up to 2 bags to acre a year, that be a lot for me.

That's around what I use, 1 bag in 1st march and 1.5 on 1st Sept

Green farmer

A bag for early grazing and to extend the grazing season later on rangler ? How's your system going with the straw and meal this year as I remember you saying you don't make any fodder ? Have you seen any savings in meal prices. Don't this neck of the woods most fodder are cheaper this year, except the millers who are slow to reduce ration prices.

Username John

rangler1 wrote: »

That's around what I use, 1 bag in 1st march and 1.5 on 1st Sept

Do you soil test Rangler?

Is it only CAN you put out?
Would you not be going down a bit in P&K all the time?
Edit : although I suppose if you put out the dung it would keep the P&K up?

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

Do you soil test Rangler?

Is it only CAN you put out?
Would you not be going down a bit in P&K all the time?
Edit : although I suppose if you put out the dung it would keep the P&K up?

Every where was index 3 + 4 when I last tested 3 years ago, so going to soil test this winter again, Have to be careful with P at that level, especially adding in the Phosphorous that's supposed to be in the meal, anyway we'll see what the soil tests show

ganmo

rangler1 wrote: »

Every where was index 3 + 4 when I last tested 3 years ago, so going to soil test this winter again, Have to be careful with P at that level, especially adding in the Phosphorous that's supposed to be in the meal, anyway we'll see what the soil tests show

Are u complaining that P is low in meals?
P is never added in so only comes from the ingredients

rangler1

ganmo wrote: »

Are u complaining that P is low in meals?
P is never added in so only comes from the ingredients

No, but the rules say that every ton of concentrate contain 5 kgs of Phosphorous and you have to reduce your phosphorous use by that amount., ie if you feed 20 ton meal, you have to reduce phosphorous use by 100kg on your farm

Vandy West

Thanks for the advice. Emailed department and got a response back within a few days. Problem sorted, they had the wrong amount of land so that caused the problem.