Water filling Open Slurry Tank

Earnshaw

I am wondering how to deal with an open tank that fills up with rainwater quite often. Like if you had an outlet from the tank to take the excess dirty water away where could you put it that doesn't mean it goes into a stream/river?

blackbox

I think you would need some sort of effluent treatment.

Your best solution would be to prevent the rainwater getting in.

Earnshaw

There's an uncovered yard and the scrapers in the yard run into the open tank. The water from the yard would also be dirty so if this was diverted away from the tank, it would still need treatment before being let off.

Know any suppliers for such a farm effluent system? Google is throwing up very little.

wrangler

Earnshaw wrote: »

There's an uncovered yard and the scrapers in the yard run into the open tank. The water from the yard would also be dirty so if this was diverted away from the tank, it would still need treatment before being let off.

Know any suppliers for such a farm effluent system? Google is throwing up very little.

Probably cheaper to cover the yard, why is the yard getting dirty

Earnshaw

Well the cows are out in the yard eating and sh*tting, the outside srapers bring this down into the open tank then. It'd be a lot of area to cover the yard plus the open tank.


The thinking is to run a (perforated) corripipe out of the slurry tank, to take away the water - but treat it before it's let off into a stream.


At the moment the solution is pump it out with a slurry spreader and spread it into fields (off the farm roadways). The winters are getting wetter though so this will need to be done increasingly regular if no measures taken.

wrangler

Earnshaw wrote: »

Well the cows are out in the yard eating and sh*tting, the outside srapers bring this down into the open tank then. It'd be a lot of area to cover the yard plus the open tank.


The thinking is to run a (perforated) corripipe out of the slurry tank, to take away the water - but treat it before it's let off into a stream.


At the moment the solution is pump it out with a slurry spreader and spread it into fields (off the farm roadways). The winters are getting wetter though so this will need to be done increasingly regular if no measures taken.

If you're in Ireland, you shouldn't even be doing what you're doing, water has to be nearly drinkable to be allowed spread it now.
Reed beds used to be allowed for cleaning dirty water, I don't know what the position is now. Kepak in Kilbeggan had a reed bed filtration system, I don't know if it's still working but it took up a lot of land.
Basically the water flows through acres of reeds before it gets to a waterway, council used to test the quality of exiting water regularily

wrangler

[QUOTE=Earnshaw;115539784]Well the cows are out in the yard eating and sh*tting, the outside srapers bring this down into the open tank then. It'd be a lot of area to cover the yard plus the open tank.


The thinking is to run a (perforated) corripipe out of the slurry tank, to take away the water - but treat it before it's let off into a stream.


At the moment the solution is pump it out with a slurry spreader and spread it into fields (off the farm roadways). The winters are getting wetter though so this will need to be done increasingly regular if no measures taken.[/QUOTE]

If that's the case you have to tank everything and abide by close periods

_Brian

Many many years ago we fitted a dirty water pumping system for a tank like this. 3inch pipe to rotary sprinkler in fields. It was massively expensive was my overriding memory.

But the guy was along a big river and saving from a spill was worth it he said.

Mooooo

In this case all of that would be counted as slurry and have to be collected and stored for the closed periods. Things are gonna get stricter so may as well start planning on roofing or increasing storage space if you plan to keep farming

wrangler

_Brian wrote: »

Many many years ago we fitted a dirty water pumping system for a tank like this. 3inch pipe to rotary sprinkler in fields. It was massively expensive was my overriding memory.

But the guy was along a big river and saving from a spill was worth it he said.

But it's still not legal to use in the closed period

K.G.

wrangler wrote: »

But it's still not legal to use in the closed period

Are you sure.if it was spreading dairy washings tank,it would be ok but watery stuff out that type of a tank is a nono

wrangler

K.G. wrote: »

Are you sure.if it was spreading dairy washings tank,it would be ok but watery stuff out that type of a tank is a nono

'fraid so, after all it's a slurry tank not a dairy washings tank

Wildsurfer

Earnshaw wrote: »

I am wondering how to deal with an open tank that fills up with rainwater quite often. Like if you had an outlet from the tank to take the excess dirty water away where could you put it that doesn't mean it goes into a stream/river?

Yes you can do this, but the pipe must go to another tank! This is slurry not dirty water and must be stored for the closed period as said already. Hopefully Dawg doesn't see this thread or his poor view of our standards will only be reinforced!

alps

I would contact the ASSAP advisor in the local coop. This is a confidential free service. They will look and assess and advise your options here. They wont report you even if you dont follow their advise.

Whatever options you have and whatever measures you undertake, it is really important that you do correct one's. Nothing worse than spending a heap of money and still ending up with a problem..

The advisor should have a bit of experience in rectifying issues at low or least cost.

Gillespy

How short of storage are you as it is? You have to minimize clean water becoming dirty water, eave shoots and downpipes need to be right, diverting clean water away, stuff like that. Can you make the feeding area smaller. More space is brilliant but not if a night's rain brings the tank up a foot or more.

Covering the feeding area would be where I would start. As well as reducing water considerably, cows and feed will be dry. Nicer place to be.

Maybe your tank is suitable to extend upwards, building on the existing walls. Cheap storage if you could.

Gillespy

Wildsurfer wrote: »

Hopefully Dawg doesn't see this thread or his poor view of our standards will only be reinforced!

Grrrr Irish dairy farmer grrrrrrr:mad:

older by the day

I've seen all the advice, open slurry pits with holes to let water out. wans from New Zealand advising sacrifice paddocks, wood chips and lagoons. Cubbicle houses with no roofs. It all ends the same . We get a lot of rain. You need a roof. I know it's expensive but it should last a long time

roosterman71

Bear in mind that the new Ag Climatise plan states that

all existing external slurry stores should be covered as soon as practically possible, but no later than December 31, 2027

Do the job once and have this box ticked

Morris Moss

What's the story with a slurry tower, we have an old one here,( almost 50 years old) will that have to be roofed?

roosterman71

Morris Moss wrote: »

What's the story with a slurry tower, we have an old one here,( almost 50 years old) will that have to be roofed?

Looks like it alright.
If it was me and it was possible I'd build a shed around it big enough to store machinery, animals, whatever. Might be a grant for the shed too :-)

Morris Moss

roosterman71 wrote: »

Looks like it alright.
If it was me and it was possible I'd build a shed around it big enough to store machinery, animals, whatever. Might be a grant for the shed too :-)

It's fairly shook at this stage, I'm going to have to do something with it fairly soon

Markcheese

roosterman71 wrote: »

Looks like it alright.
If it was me and it was possible I'd build a shed around it big enough to store machinery, animals, whatever. Might be a grant for the shed too :-)

Wouldn't like to be agitating that ..

roosterman71

Markcheese wrote: »

Wouldn't like to be agitating that ..

Hadn't thought of that. Should be no worse than just having a roof on the tower itself though

20silkcut

Earnshaw wrote: »

There's an uncovered yard and the scrapers in the yard run into the open tank. The water from the yard would also be dirty so if this was diverted away from the tank, it would still need treatment before being let off.

Know any suppliers for such a farm effluent system? Google is throwing up very little.

Is there a ramp going down into the tank off the yards? I removed the ramp on mine so it’s four walls all round. Slowed down the rate of fill big time. Still not the final solution but it’s damn expensive problem to sort. Had some hardship over the years with it.

Earnshaw

20silkcut wrote: »

Is there a ramp going down into the tank off the yards? I removed the ramp on mine so it’s four walls all round. Slowed down the rate of fill big time.

Yea there is but still need that ramp there in order to get a lowloader in when removing dung. The water runs away from the other side of the ramp so it's not a major issue there.

It is a tricky one to cover with a roof - and slats are not an option for the whole tank either as there is the need to drive in with loader too.

Pacoa

It is a tricky one to cover with a roof - and slats are not an option for the whole tank either as there is the need to drive in with loader too.

Sounds like a dungstead to me? Maybe you should consider digging up where the cows are feeding and putting a slatted tank there with a roof over it? Be expensive but would sort it out long for the term.

20silkcut

Earnshaw wrote: »

Yea there is but still need that ramp there in order to get a lowloader in when removing dung. The water runs away from the other side of the ramp so it's not a major issue there.

It is a tricky one to cover with a roof - and slats are not an option for the whole tank either as there is the need to drive in with loader too.

Very difficult to load and spread wet scuttery dung from a water logged tank. My contractor gave up half way through it one year. Could not get a full bucket in the loader and had to drive 60 to 70 feet back up to the spreader.
Had issues too when the door opened on the spreader half the load just fell out in one go.
Suppose it depends on the spreader type as well.
But clearing a water logged tank with a bucket is time consuming.
Be easier if you could separate dung and slurry IMO.

_Brian

We have one of these dungstead tanks.

Very little water running into it so filling isn’t a problem.

Get contractor to throw out stuff every few years.

Roofing it isn’t something we ever considered and not something that would be an easy task at all.

Earnshaw

Well it's a dungstead but also a tank - all the ****e from the cubicle houses and outside feeding passage is pushed into it from automatic scrapers. The dung from a calving house is also tipped in with a grab. It's quite exposed and wide so fills up with a fair bit of water.

Anyway - thinking it'd more favorable economically to build a new TAMS funded shed with slatted tank and lie-back area than try to cover the 'dungstead tank'. However don't want to invest much more in sucklers so would consider all options - PVC cover is one I can think of. Or just get hardier cows that can survive outside for longer.

Gudstock

Earnshaw wrote: »

Well it's a dungstead but also a tank - all the ****e from the cubicle houses and outside feeding passage is pushed into it from automatic scrapers. The dung from a calving house is also tipped in with a grab. It's quite exposed and wide so fills up with a fair bit of water.

Anyway - thinking it'd more favorable economically to build a new TAMS funded shed with slatted tank and lie-back area than try to cover the 'dungstead tank'. However don't want to invest much more in sucklers so would consider all options - PVC cover is one I can think of. Or just get hardier cows that can survive outside for longer.

We had the same type system here with the open tank.
We were only messing, slaving and not compliant with the various alternatives.
Have put in a roofed slatted tank and feeding passage in what was the open area between the cubicles and the tank. Great comfort and we are compliant. The slurry pit is clean and draining away and used for bale storage.
How about dropping in a precast slatted tank in front of the cubicle house and set up a feed barrier? Still fills with rainwater if not roofed and might not get the capacity you are looking for. Hard to avoid putting in the slatted tank and roofing it.