Slurry utilisation waste and  management

Slurry from housed livestock in N. Ireland has a fertilizer value of £20 million as it contains valuable sources of plant nutrients in the form of Nitrogen, Potash and Phosphate. The treatment, spreading method and timing of slurry spreading dictates how successfully these nutrients are used by the growing crop whether grass or arable. Spreading slurry using alternative systems to the conventional Splash Plate such as the Trailing Shoe can improve the utilization of slurry nitrogen and maintain high rates of grass growth. This is particularly important on heavily stocked dairy farms where inorganic fertilizer application levels are limited under the Nitrates Directive.

The use of Trailing Shoe Slurry Spreading Technology has been adopted as a general policy on the CAFRE Dairy Unit, with the aim of achieving 40 percent utilisation of the nitrogen from dairy cow slurry. Nitrogen Fertiliser levels have been reduced accordingly, bringing savings in the overall forage variable costs on the dairy unit.

The Trailing Shoe slurry spreading technology has been demonstrated to farmers both at Greenmount and on farms across N. Ireland during the early summer of 2007. Farmers have had the opportunity to observe the benefits of the technology for themselves at the various local venues.

To view PDFs