Thesis on Nutrients in slurry

tooreenlad

Hi all,

I'm doing my end of year thesis on the dietary effects on the nutrients in slurry. My supervisor in Waterford IT wants me to get 5 different farmers with bulls being fed silage and concentrates and 5 farmers with bullocks being fed beet or something else.
I must collect samples of slurry and feed every fortnight for 16 weeks and freeze them and test them in march. Anyone have any information on how to go about doing this? Or any thoughts on the subject? I must also collect dirty dairy washings and test that for nutrients also.

ganmo

...you got the **** end of the stick...

I'll get my coat

tooreenlad

Knee deep, literally

stanflt

tooreenlad wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm doing my end of year thesis on the dietary effects on the nutrients in slurry. My supervisor in Waterford IT wants me to get 5 different farmers with bulls being fed silage and concentrates and 5 farmers with bullocks being fed beet or something else.
I must collect samples of slurry and feed every fortnight for 16 weeks and freeze them and test them in march. Anyone have any information on how to go about doing this? Or any thoughts on the subject? I must also collect dirty dairy washings and test that for nutrients also.

What about cows being fed maize silage soya Brewers grains and concentrate- I could help out if you want

tooreenlad

I have a number of bull farmers lined up around waterford. the less variables i have the better. thanks though stanflt

20silkcut

Frozen sh1te that will look well in a freezer.

blue5000

How many things/elements are you going to be testing for? Have you access to an element analyser furnace?
http://www.colby.edu/chemistry/instruments/MannCHNtutorial/page4.html

tooreenlad

blue5000 wrote: »

How many things/elements are you going to be testing for? Have you access to an element analyser furnace?

Ill be doing simple tests like the Dry Matter and N, P and K of the slurry and Similar for the feed samples

i have no access to a analyser furnace but i will be looking to Moorepark to see if i could test it there.

blue5000

Can you do a search for research papers on google scholar? Has WIT free access to https://www.elsevier.com/#

tooreenlad

Yes i have been filtering through journals on all types of things on google scholar and have a few journals from elsevier also. Have almost 4000 words written on the subject so far.! A lot of Sh!t talk about slurry in it but its the samples and testing im worried about..

blue5000

One of the problems is sample taking:D The only time the slurry in the tank is anywhere near uniform is when it's agitated for spreading, what happens if rain water gets in the tank.
I think you'd get more accurate results straight from the horses mouth bull's arse, pick it up off the slats immediately when it's dropped.
Urine is a different problem, but AFAIK a lot, if not all the N is in the urine. You'd have to rig up something (on a long stick) to hold under the bull just at the right time. I don't know what the proportion in kg/day of BS:piss is? It must be published somewhere.

How much funding have you? I know some ppl, pm me if you like. Moorepark might have an elemental analyzer.

Sacrolyte

Sounds like a very interesting project. Please post results when finished. Like blue says I would gather a few composite samples off the slats when sampling. As for the nitrogen element I suggest the only accurate way is from agitated tank. One sample may suffice in this regard.

davidk1394

We're fattening bulls in tipp and I'm in WIT myself. If your ever sryck for another group to test pm me

tooreenlad

I asked about taking samples off the slats but my thesis is on slurry and how good it is for crops not manure straight from the bull so effluent and rain water can be taken into account in the results. As for agitating, Im told if I just get a sample 3 foot below the surface it would be enough.
I will post my results online but it will be April earliest before that will happen.

kowtow

are you sampling from a consistent range of tanks - i.e. slats directly over roofed tanks?

I'd be interested to see how nutrients are affected by passages, scrapers, channels - distance to tanks etc.

Presumably you either have to eliminate those variables or get a sufficient consistent selection of different setups to draw some conclusions from that...?

tooreenlad

I will be testing from all underground slatted tanks. All of my samples will be from beef bulls (hopefully) so there wont be any scrapers like there is in most dairy sheds.

Sacrolyte

tooreenlad wrote: »

I asked about taking samples off the slats but my thesis is on slurry and how good it is for crops not manure straight from the bull so effluent and rain water can be taken into account in the results. As for agitating, Im told if I just get a sample 3 foot below the surface it would be enough.
I will post my results online but it will be April earliest before that will happen.

No pressure like

tooreenlad

Does anyone know of labs that test slurry? im finding it hard to find a method of analysis.
Also I received a quote of €5,500 for testing 80 slurry samples. I kindly declined their offer.

davidk1394

Did you try Fba labs in cappaquinn ?

tooreenlad

Yes, They never got back to me. I got in contact with a lab in Carlow though
I cant message you either because im only a new member. May need slurry samples from you david.

blue5000

PM sent, let me know if you got it, didn't realize you need so many posts to message.

davidk1394

tooreenlad wrote: »

Yes, They never got back to me. I got in contact with a lab in Carlow though
I cant message you either because im only a new member. May need slurry samples from you david.

If your in kildalton ask veronica nyan. They might do it through johnstown

tooreenlad

davidk1394 wrote: »

If your in kildalton ask veronica nyan. They might do it through johnstown

will do, what year are you in?

ganmo

You could try hilsborough in NI

tooreenlad

Unfortunately due to "commercial circumstances" a few labs are unwilling to send on methods of slurry analysis but I will keep asking around.

ganmo

tooreenlad wrote: »

Unfortunately due to "commercial circumstances" a few labs are unwilling to send on methods of slurry analysis but I will keep asking around.

That's arse! Anybody getting analysis done is justified in finding out which method your sample is going to be subject to.

Plus you'll need to know for your thesis

tooreenlad

ganmo wrote: »

That's arse! Anybody getting analysis done is justified in finding out which method your sample is going to be subject to.

Plus you'll need to know for your thesis

I know.
its understandable enough that the wont tell me how to analyse it when they are charging €60 per test.

yosemitesam1

tooreenlad wrote: »

I know.
its understandable enough that the wont tell me how to analyse it when they are charging €60 per test.

Would it just be a matter of having some sort of digestion like in kjedahl method and testing for organic p in water

davidk1394

tooreenlad wrote: »

will do, what year are you in?

Im in 3rd year doing the land management course

tooreenlad

Has anyone tested their slurry recently and could you post the results and what feed the animals on the slats recieved? it would be a great help.

blue5000

tooreenlad wrote: »

Does anyone know of labs that test slurry? im finding it hard to find a method of analysis.
Also I received a quote of €5,500 for testing 80 slurry samples. I kindly declined their offer.

tooreenlad wrote: »

Has anyone tested their slurry recently and could you post the results and what feed the animals on the slats recieved? it would be a great help.

No, you put us off, cash is very tight this spring:p Maybe some tillage farmers importing slurry from another farmer might have.