increase font size
Of the food intake ruminants use for maintenance, milk production, rearing a calf and/or to produce meat, as much as 85% can end up as waste. Waste that can be used as fertiliser.
This waste needs to be stored and used in an environmentally friendly way.
And while many farmers consider slurry a waste product, growing numbers see it has fertiliser value and so can reduce bought-in fertiliser.
Fertiliser value depends on variables such as time of application and weather. Applying it in cool moist weather in spring rather than summer increases the amount of ammonium-N captured by the crop and reduces losses of N resulting from ammonia volatilisation.
The method of application also has a major bearing, for example, applying slurry below the crop canopy with a vertical trailing shoe spreader allows the grass to harness more of the ammonia and reduce ammonia loss to the atmosphere.
Irish company Abbey Machinery, in its recent Guide to Slurry Management, refers to six key steps to get the best from effluent and realise its eventual potential.
The process starts with proper storage and agitation of slurry to get a homogenous mix, picking the right equipment to transport the slurry, application method, environmental considerations, minimising compaction and using technology for accurate application.
Abbey makes a big range of manure spreaders and slurry tankers and pays due attention to the method of application.
Its trailing shoe applicators are available in 6m and 7m working widths with 24 or 28 outlets of 50mm diameter across the unit. Feeding is by a Vogelsang ExaCut macerator that helps create a homogenous mix while also reducing potential blockages. The effluent is fed to hardened cast iron shoes carried on sprung legs attached to self levelling booms.
The Abbey Tri App system has a 7.5m working width comprising individual floating sections and a forward folding boom design. Again, fed by a Vogelsang distributor with an auto reverse function, the unit can also carry a 600m reel assembly.
The cereals applicator is set up to cover 12m. It uses much the same technologies as other applicators in the range but has rigid feed pipe ends to ensure application on the ground next to the plants for optimum utilisation.
A further option is a 7.5m door mounted (DM) band spreader that can be retro fitted to the rear door of a slurry tanker. The machine is fully galvanised.
The unit is mounted close to the tanker body to optimise weight transfer to the tractor hitch point, and it has vertical folding booms for easy transport.
Abbey says its wide range of applicators help make efficient use of a readily available organic fertiliser, emit fewer odours than traditional splash plates, reduce grazing and downtimes and help achieve a more uniform spread pattern resulting in better utilisation by plants.
See the Abbey team at the Irish Enterprise Exhibit at Fieldays.
OPINION: The Rural Support Trust ran a dinner and debate at the National Fieldays last month. In tables of 10, over 540 people were wined and dined, including the Prime Minister, supported by ministers from around the country.
A Taupiri farming company has been convicted and fined $52,500 in the Hamilton District Court for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent into the environment.
Founded in Germany as recently as 1977, today, the Fliegl Group employs more than 1100 workers, offering an expansive range of transport solutions, from their base in Bavaria.
OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.
OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
Environment Southland's catchment improvement funding is once again available for innovative landowners in need of a boost to get their project going.
The team meeting at the Culverden Hotel was relaxed and open, despite being in the middle of calving when stress levels are at peak levels, especially in bitterly cold and wet conditions like today.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
OPINION: The phasing out of copper network from communications is understandable.
Driven by a lifelong passion for animals, Amy Toughey's journey from juggling three jobs with full-time study to working on cutting-edge dairy research trials shows what happens when hard work meets opportunity - and she's only just getting started.
