Slurry deadline

john mayo 10

When is the deadline for spreading slurry?

greenfield21

15 Oct.

tanko

14th of October is the last day for spreading I think

alps

Thought there was a change to the classification of "dirty water" from parlour wash and washings to BOD levels. Does anyone know the new regulation? Could it mean being able to spread watery slurry from the bottom of unmixed slurry stores during the closed period?

Deepsouthwest

alps wrote: »

Thought there was a change to the classification of "dirty water" from parlour wash and washings to BOD levels. Does anyone know the new regulation? Could it mean being able to spread watery slurry from the bottom of unmixed slurry stores during the closed period?

I doubt it, but it would be great if that was true.

C0N0R

I think you can spread dairy Washings anytime but it has to be dairy Washings not soiled water

Deepsouthwest

C0N0R wrote: »

I think you can spread dairy Washings anytime but it has to be dairy Washings not soiled water

Yes, but I think the rules are if the parlour washings are coming in contact with slurry then it's considered slurry. Guys sucking unagitated water from the bottom of a slurry tank would be fcuked if they were caught and asked to show what tank u were spreading from.

alps

Found it.....change is parlour washings can be mixed with the cleanings of the collecting yard and collected in a separate tank. This can be a slatted tank at the back of the parlour that is used for milking only. As long as the BOD level of this tank is under 2500 and the dry matter is under 1% , it can be spread during the closed season. In an exiting facility this tank needs 10 day capacity but if expandingt it needs to be 15 day capacity.
Once the washings are mixed in the normal slurry store it can no longer be considered dirty water even if you could qualify under the BOD and DM limits.

C0N0R

alps wrote: »

Found it.....change is parlour washings can be mixed with the cleanings of the collecting yard and collected in a separate tank. This can be a slatted tank at the back of the parlour that is used for milking only. As long as the BOD level of this tank is under 2500 and the dry matter is under 1% , it can be spread during the closed season. In an exiting facility this tank needs 10 day capacity but if expandingt it needs to be 15 day capacity.
Once the washings are mixed in the normal slurry store it can no longer be considered dirty water even if you could qualify under the BOD and DM limits.

Any link to this?? If so I built a tank for no reason.....

And how does one figure out the bod level and the dry matter

alps

C0N0R wrote: »

Any link to this?? If so I built a tank for no reason.....

And how does one figure out the bod level and the dry matter

Will chase the si no....you would have to sample for bod and DM, but so would anyone who wished to prosecute you. Can't see how they would do this as the dirty water would most likely have been spread unless they stopped you while you were in the actual act of spreading and sampled then. Reckon that once you have the tank and correct capacity then you should be ok....

Deepsouthwest

alps wrote: »

Found it.....change is parlour washings can be mixed with the cleanings of the collecting yard and collected in a separate tank. This can be a slatted tank at the back of the parlour that is used for milking only. As long as the BOD level of this tank is under 2500 and the dry matter is under 1% , it can be spread during the closed season. In an exiting facility this tank needs 10 day capacity but if expandingt it needs to be 15 day capacity.
Once the washings are mixed in the normal slurry store it can no longer be considered dirty water even if you could qualify under the BOD and DM limits.

I wonder how many people meet all these requirements?

alps

http://www.environ.ie/en/Legislation/Environment/Water/FileDownLoad,35220,en.pdf

tellmeabit

Did I read that there is a deadline of 14 sept for spreading fertilizer ?

dohc turbo2

tellmeabit wrote: »

Did I read that there is a deadline of 14 sept for spreading fertilizer ?

bag fertiliser yes

Deepsouthwest

tellmeabit wrote: »

Did I read that there is a deadline of 14 sept for spreading fertilizer ?

U probably did!

mahoney_j

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

U probably did!

The cute lads around here always have a pallet of mop or gran lime in yard and spread away as long as conditions make it worthwhile .......

C0N0R

alps wrote: »

http://www.environ.ie/en/Legislation/Environment/Water/FileDownLoad,35220,en.pdf

I must be thick but I can't see where is says I can spread the tank in my parlour yard there!

Milked out

dohc turbo2 wrote: »

bag fertiliser yes

You can still spread potassium and granular lime out of the bag

darragh_haven

mahoney_j wrote: »

The cute lads around here always have a pallet of mop or gran lime in yard and spread away as long as conditions make it worthwhile .......

I refuse to believe that any God fearing Christian could be so deceptive 😀

Deepsouthwest

darragh_haven wrote: »

I refuse to believe that any God fearing Christian could be so deceptive 😀

Think u might be confusing God fearing Christians with Dept fearing Irishmen here Daragh, to them deception is an art!

Deepsouthwest

mahoney_j wrote: »

The cute lads around here always have a pallet of mop or gran lime in yard and spread away as long as conditions make it worthwhile .......

But for how much longer will it be worthwhile MJ? Surely any returns from this wk on will be small, and already with a fair reserve in the ground to see out the remaining growth for this yr. I wonder are they v cute at all!!

shepherd41

The slurry deadline is the most unfair, unnecessary piece of bureaucracy ever to come out of the EU. It has caused significant financial hardship to farmers and there is no evidence that pollution is less now than prior to this ludicrous rule. We've now had years of unseasonable weather in all seasons - wetter springs and summers and cold dry periods during the closed period in autumn and winter. Most alarmingly (and this really needs to be examined) has there been a marked increase in slurry related accidents/fatalities as farmers, many who are part time, struggle to abide by deadlines? Certainly in the north this seems to be the case. On the home farm, a little and often approach to slurry spreading worked perfectly for farmer and the environment. I think now is the time to push the farmers unions, North and south of the border, to lobby Brussels hard to reverse this rule. Farmers know their land and certainly know the weather suitable for spreading slurry - please give us a chance to show that we can act responsibly.

Mad4simmental

What is the point in spreading slurry in two weeks time when nights get cold and you don't get any benefit from the N?

freedominacup

Got a text from local pig farm around three weeks ago reminding me about closing date and pointing out the benefits of getting a bit of cheap p onto my ground. I'd say the increase in stock on a lot of dairy farms around here is biting hard on them. Marked reduction in the amount of tankers moving in their direction this year. They have a guy who spends a good portion of his year managing slurry and epa/co council compliance. He haunted me last year over 100k litres he needed to account for. Considering they'd have 10 million plus gallons of storage you'd think that volume wouldn't matter.

trixi2011

shepherd41 wrote: »

The slurry deadline is the most unfair, unnecessary piece of bureaucracy ever to come out of the EU. It has caused significant financial hardship to farmers and there is no evidence that pollution is less now than prior to this ludicrous rule. We've now had years of unseasonable weather in all seasons - wetter springs and summers and cold dry periods during the closed period in autumn and winter. Most alarmingly (and this really needs to be examined) has there been a marked increase in slurry related accidents/fatalities as farmers, many who are part time, struggle to abide by deadlines? Certainly in the north this seems to be the case. On the home farm, a little and often approach to slurry spreading worked perfectly for farmer and the environment. I think now is the time to push the farmers unions, North and south of the border, to lobby Brussels hard to reverse this rule. Farmers know their land and certainly know the weather suitable for spreading slurry - please give us a chance to show that we can act responsibly.

Was it not the irish government rather than the EU that brought in calender farming by classifing the whole country as a nvz ? Farming in the UK at the moment no closing dates for chemical fert or slurry.

alps

trixi2011 wrote: »

Was it not the irish government rather than the EU that brought in calender farming by classifing the whole country as a nvz ? Farming in the UK at the moment no closing dates for chemical fert or slurry.

Yes the government took the soft option and classified the whole country as an NVZ. They did this either because they just couldn't be listening to the amount of complaining or lobbying we would do to get this and that included, or they genuinely felt it was the best option for our water quality....
In the UK certain areas are designated NVZ, and this can mean that a farm has some fields in and some fields out. Being outside the NVZ, means you have no restrictions on chemical or slurry spreading, and even to have part of your farm not included is a huge relief in pressure.
However, I was on UK farm just last week and I would suggest that they pay very little attention to spoiling water quality (quiet visible) and maybe they will in time have to go down the road of limitations.
The biggest problem for dairy farmers here is that we begin to close paddocks from 1st to 10th of October coming off peak farm cover and there is just nowhere to put slurry before the closing date of the 15th.
But on yhe flip side, do we loose much production by not applying nutrients during the closed period?
I know that the more farmers complain about this, the more the officials throw back that maybe we don't have enough capacity....hmmm

WheatenBriar

Mad4simmental wrote: »

What is the point in spreading slurry in two weeks time when nights get cold and you don't get any benefit from the N?

Its actually very good when re seeding,spreading on burned off ground and then ploughing
Weather's perfect for it at the moment and it is not too late for re seeding

kowtow

Given that we are blessed with so many local creameries I never understood why they aren't home to a communal bio-digester.

It could heat the grain dryer etc. in the Autumn and give everybody a bit of flexibility.

simx

freedominacup wrote: »

Got a text from local pig farm around three weeks ago reminding me about closing date and pointing out the benefits of getting a bit of cheap p onto my ground. I'd say the increase in stock on a lot of dairy farms around here is biting hard on them. Marked reduction in the amount of tankers moving in their direction this year. They have a guy who spends a good portion of his year managing slurry and epa/co council compliance. He haunted me last year over 100k litres he needed to account for. Considering they'd have 10 million plus gallons of storage you'd think that volume wouldn't matter.

youd be ate for pig slurry around here, didn't spread any this or last year at all, not going down at 8am looking for two loads every morning like a begger man ha, neighbouring dairy farm is taking the two ish loads that's there everyday for the last while, spread v little fert this year, while I thik pig slurry is good stuff, I think too much too often is a bad yoke, poison ground and helps drive on docks imo

djmc

Wonder if they will extend the deadline due to dry suitable conditions ATM.

Mad4simmental

WheatenBriar wrote: »

Its actually very good when re seeding,spreading on burned off ground and then ploughing
Weather's perfect for it at the moment and it is not too late for re seeding

Ground frost here the last few mornings while growth is good id be very slow to put in new grass from now. Isn't it a waste ploughing in slurry? Dung is good ploughed in.

blue5000

alps wrote: »

Yes the government took the soft option and classified the whole country as an NVZ. They did this either because they just couldn't be listening to the amount of complaining or lobbying we would do to get this and that included, or they genuinely felt it was the best option for our water quality....
In the UK certain areas are designated NVZ, and this can mean that a farm has some fields in and some fields out. Being outside the NVZ, means you have no restrictions on chemical or slurry spreading, and even to have part of your farm not included is a huge relief in pressure.
However, I was on UK farm just last week and I would suggest that they pay very little attention to spoiling water quality (quiet visible) and maybe they will in time have to go down the road of limitations.
The biggest problem for dairy farmers here is that we begin to close paddocks from 1st to 10th of October coming off peak farm cover and there is just nowhere to put slurry before the closing date of the 15th.
But on yhe flip side, do we loose much production by not applying nutrients during the closed period?
I know that the more farmers complain about this, the more the officials throw back that maybe we don't have enough capacity....hmmm

Have to agree, I'm just spreading diluted stuff on ground that will be grazed first next spring. I'm going to chance leaving thick stuff in tanks all winter and spread it next year. I think I'll get more benefit from the N in the spring.

yosemitesam1

shepherd41 wrote: »

The slurry deadline is the most unfair, unnecessary piece of bureaucracy ever to come out of the EU. It has caused significant financial hardship to farmers and there is no evidence that pollution is less now than prior to this ludicrous rule. We've now had years of unseasonable weather in all seasons - wetter springs and summers and cold dry periods during the closed period in autumn and winter. Most alarmingly (and this really needs to be examined) has there been a marked increase in slurry related accidents/fatalities as farmers, many who are part time, struggle to abide by deadlines? Certainly in the north this seems to be the case. On the home farm, a little and often approach to slurry spreading worked perfectly for farmer and the environment. I think now is the time to push the farmers unions, North and south of the border, to lobby Brussels hard to reverse this rule. Farmers know their land and certainly know the weather suitable for spreading slurry - please give us a chance to show that we can act responsibly.

All the monitoring of waters actually shows that its working, no doubt there are parts of it that could be improved but ultimately its here to stay

lakill Farm

simx wrote: »

youd be ate for pig slurry around here, didn't spread any this or last year at all, not going down at 8am looking for two loads every morning like a begger man ha, neighbouring dairy farm is taking the two ish loads that's there everyday for the last while, spread v little fert this year, while I thik pig slurry is good stuff, I think too much too often is a bad yoke, poison ground and helps drive on docks imo

a lot of pig slurry around here . To much pig slurry and to heavy seals the ground. I run aerator before I go out with pig slurry

I tried to only spread pig slurry every 2nd year on a rotation

Sam Kade

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

All the monitoring of waters actually shows that its working, no doubt there are parts of it that could be improved but ultimately its here to stay

Meanwhile the council continue to dump in rivers.

merryberry

kowtow wrote: »

Given that we are blessed with so many local creameries I never understood why they aren't home to a communal bio-digester.

It could heat the grain dryer etc. in the Autumn and give everybody a bit of flexibility.

Very high investment costs little incentivisation cattle slurry bulky to transport with a high water content and has a low biofuel yield.

whelan2

Mad4simmental wrote: »

Ground frost here the last few mornings while growth is good id be very slow to put in new grass from now. Isn't it a waste ploughing in slurry? Dung is good ploughed in.

just went up and checked my reseed, sown 2 weeks ago , its up, put out dung on it before sowing, hope frost doesnt affect it

mahoney_j

whelan2 wrote: »

just went up and checked my reseed, sown 2 weeks ago , its up, put out dung on it before sowing, hope frost doesnt affect it

Did u put any slug pellets out whelan?

Bullocks

mahoney_j wrote: »

Did u put any slug pellets out whelan?

You would want them . I see a few fields done beside us coming nicely but not a bit left around the headlands from slugs

merryberry

trixi2011 wrote: »

Was it not the irish government rather than the EU that brought in calender farming by classifing the whole country as a nvz ? Farming in the UK at the moment no closing dates for chemical fert or slurry.

It made sense to class the whole country as a nvz given our size, profile of livestock agriculture and climate. U could argue that alot of the investment in infrastructure would not have happened if we elected partial territorial designation.

whelan2

mahoney_j wrote: »

Did u put any slug pellets out whelan?

No

freedominacup

merryberry wrote: »

It made sense to class the whole country as a nvz given our size, profile of livestock agriculture and climate. U could argue that alot of the investment in infrastructure would not have happened if we elected partial territorial designation.

No it didn't. If the regs adopted in the UK were used here parts if the country would never have been allowed to spread any slurry during 2012. However with closed and open periods happy days. If it says so on the calendar then fire away. We have a three month closed period here for no logical reason at all. It could rain from now until the closed period ends and on the second dry day 90% of our ground would be workable and there are huge areas like this. Three weeks would be more than adequate here.

merryberry

freedominacup wrote: »

No it didn't. If the regs adopted in the UK were used here parts if the country would never have been allowed to spread any slurry during 2012. However with closed and open periods happy days. If it says so on the calendar then fire away. We have a three month closed period here for no logical reason at all. It could rain from now until the closed period ends and on the second dry day 90% of our ground would be workable and there are huge areas like this. Three weeks would be more than adequate here.

agri practices and geographical features vary so much between different countries, such as ireland and the uk, so much so that very different policies will be necessary to achieve the same standards in water quality. Hence the uk have elected to increase the extent of areas designated as nvz.

farmerjj

merryberry wrote: »

It made sense to class the whole country as a nvz given our size, profile of livestock agriculture and climate. U could argue that alot of the investment in infrastructure would not have happened if we elected partial territorial designation.

You sound like a IFA man, Thanks so to calendar farming for our infrastructure?

merryberry

farmerjj wrote: »

You sound like a IFA man, Thanks so to calendar farming for our infrastructure?

I don't understand farmer aversion to the term calendar farming. Its the regulation that p!sses farmers off. The scientific fact is if a crop is not growing it leads to nutrient loss. You can argue that it rains heavy in the summer too but the same rules state that u must observe weather forecasts.

shepherd41

merryberry wrote: »

It made sense to class the whole country as a nvz given our size, profile of livestock agriculture and climate. U could argue that alot of the investment in infrastructure would not have happened if we elected partial territorial designation.

Unnecessary investment, especially for the smaller farmer who does not have the scale to justify building more tanks.

merryberry

shepherd41 wrote: »

Unnecessary investment, especially for the smaller farmer who does not have the scale to justify building more tanks.

The grants made available never covered expansion so how was it unnecessary???. It was necessary from the point of compliance with the nitrates and for that reson only.

whelan2

shepherd41 wrote: »

Unnecessary investment, especially for the smaller farmer who does not have the scale to justify building more tanks.

THE main thing that annoys me is alot of people spent alot of money to get everything up to scratch for the nitrates directive and others didnt bother and still get away with it.

shepherd41

merryberry wrote: »

The grants made available never covered expansion so how was it unnecessary???. It was necessary from the point of compliance with the nitrates and for that reson only.

I'm not talking about expansion. The point I'm making is that there are many suckler farmers up and down the country who are working with the same numbers of stock for years. They were always able to manage slurry when they were able to put out 4 or 5 tanker loads during the winter months on there dry fields. With the price we have been receiving for years, it is hard to argue that investment in slurry infrastructure is feasible or necessary. What we want is a common sense approach so that there is more flexibility regarding spreading dates.

Sam Kade

whelan2 wrote: »

THE main thing that annoys me is alot of people spent alot of money to get everything up to scratch for the nitrates directive and others didnt bother and still get away with it.

I know a fella that had no slurry tank and the council were after him to get it sorted and he still doesn't have a tank, all he did was build a small tank for dairy washings.

Capercaillie

whelan2 wrote: »

THE main thing that annoys me is alot of people spent alot of money to get everything up to scratch for the nitrates directive and others didnt bother and still get away with it.

x2 Hate when rules apply to some people and others seem exempt

shepherd41 wrote: »

The slurry deadline is the most unfair, unnecessary piece of bureaucracy ever to come out of the EU. It has caused significant financial hardship to farmers and there is no evidence that pollution is less now than prior to this ludicrous rule. We've now had years of unseasonable weather in all seasons - wetter springs and summers and cold dry periods during the closed period in autumn and winter. Most alarmingly (and this really needs to be examined) has there been a marked increase in slurry related accidents/fatalities as farmers, many who are part time, struggle to abide by deadlines? Certainly in the north this seems to be the case. On the home farm, a little and often approach to slurry spreading worked perfectly for farmer and the environment. I think now is the time to push the farmers unions, North and south of the border, to lobby Brussels hard to reverse this rule. Farmers know their land and certainly know the weather suitable for spreading slurry - please give us a chance to show that we can act responsibly.

Problem is that some people couldn't care less and would not care it slurry ends up in stream/rivers.

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

All the monitoring of waters actually shows that its working, no doubt there are parts of it that could be improved but ultimately its here to stay

Could definitely be improved, but with intensification of agriculture even tighter controls will be needed.