Ending of the Common Agricultural Policy.

That's 100% up to him. Fair play to him for taking the financial hit on it. He is entitled to do that. I was only pointing it out in case he was unknowingly taking it. If he knows the implications then all good

A neighbour sowed poplars within 20mtrs of my back door, I thought it was a **** thing to do andwhen they got to 60ft I harassed him enough to take them down.

I know that legally people can do that but morally it is so wrong so tell your friend to be considerate of neighbours if they're near

Good, trees are horrible near houses

I am surprised as horticulture (as in veg) lads would be mad for FYM. Or slurry if they can get it. There is a thing that they would sometimes do called "green manure" where they grow a crop specifically to plough it into the ground because the organic matter helps to improve the soil structure. They do that because they usually don't have access to organic matter from FYM/manure and the soil needs it after years of veg being grown in it and nutrients taken away in those veg. Another factor would be the types of soil which favour veg tend to be sandier soils top begin with which don't hold on to nutrients without that organic matter.

Mixing up weight of machinery with slurry is confusing you. There are methods of application which reduce soil compaction. It has nothing to do with an inherent property of slurry itself.

The lads who left your buddy's field in bits may have done so simply because it wasn't their own. The same idea behind the concept that someone who might take good care of their own house might more or less trash a rented one. And what you see as "in bits" might just have been then being careless and taking the piss in terms of leaving cattle on it a bit too long and poaching or leaving tracks in it. Which you can get in trouble for nowadays.

You were right.

He had his rights but he also had a responsibility to not be a nuisance.

Organic farmers have to use a certain amount of straw bedded sheds in order to be certified. They can have a certain amount of slats etc. but it is limited. Regardless, even if 100% straw bedded, they will need a slurry tank to collect any slurry from yards or feeding passages (and other run off from soiled areas). What do you think they are doing with it if not collecting it - letting it run into the river?

Worms do prefer FYM over slurry. But I pointed that out in my first post on that topic.

FYM should be left for a good while alright. But that is to do with breakdown of the matter - particularly the straw.

Slurry should be left for 6 weeks but that is for pathogens to die off.

What I still don't understand is why you think that it is a problem that it can't be applied "fresh"?

So there was no damage done but a bit of mud on the road. Lol. I presume you are making it up now.

You have never heard of an organic farmer having a slurry tank.

I'll have to tell my organic neighbours they are doing it wrong, might be a problem for one, given he has been at it 27 years and gives talks and advise to organic farmers across the 32 counties.

I can visibly see the difference,the massive increase in worms in my silage ground compared to other fields. Is it ideal, 100%, no but it's still natural and working with nature.

Look I'm as about as nature friendly a farm as you can get but you need to leave the dogma aside.

I've never been a fan of organized religion, yours or others.

I just wasn't sure whether you were saying it was a problem that it can't be used fresh, or was a problem that it shouldn't be used fresh or what it was.

The worms won't really have had a chance to "colonise" the fresh dung you are collecting. It will be a better habitat for them as it breaks down. But when it is spread on the land, it isn't concentrated as in a big heap of just dung. So the worms are already present in the soil and they will love the additional organic matter.

Just be forewarned that you might not get response on here that you might expect. I don't know - the damage might indeed be terrible. But what might seem terrible to you might just seem to people on here as maybe a bit careless and sure nothing a quick run of a disc or chain harrow won't sort out next Spring.

Your buddy likely doesn't have the equipment to manage the trees either. He can get it and learn. If it is only a small area, it will cost him a lot relatively speaking to get contractors in to do anything for him so he might have to get up to speed pretty quickly

About 40 m from the house a couple planted 30 acres which would be better than the land I'm farming and built a house on it, they figured out after finishing the house they didn't want to live in it and it's left now. Other side of the farm another 30 acres was planted which was easily accessible for our cows. Both have devalued their assets by at least a half, while one has practically devalued completely their asset.