| PRESS RELEASE | 2007
Crusting, odour and flies are common slurry problems. Consequences can be severe and financial. Court summons for odour, increased fly populations due to eggs being laid on the crust and agitiation hassle. Investment in man hours, expensive machinery and diesel is often inevitable.
To add to this, DEFRA is proposing an extension of NVZs (Nitrate Vulnerable Zones) from 55% to 70% of the country. The rules will force farmers to provide sufficient slurry storage capacity to cover the proposed “closed for slurry spreading “ autumn period. Therefore, farms must have capacity to store more slurry over a longer period.
It makes sense to eek out as much space from existing storage systems to avoid buying or making another store at huge cost. Two farms I know of in the local area are using a slurry additive containing bacteria to ensure stored slurry is a consistent, homogenous mix. This virtually eliminates crusting and reduces solids on the base of the tank, enabling greater utilised storage capacity, helping farms to meet the NVZ regulations.
Appleby based dairy farmer Malcolm Strong tried one such additive. “It saves me money as I don’t spend as much time agitating. The mixture is now even and ready to spread virtually straight from the store.” He also noticed a significant and welcome reduction in odour. “There’s a retail unit called The Wedding Barn selling wedding dresses on our site, so prevention of odour is a good thing!”
Edwin Cleasby, who has 70 cows and 200+ acres in Penrith, had the same two motivations. “It was the time it took to do away with the thick crust and it was too smelly. I didn’t want complaints”. He tried an additive and within a few weeks “it did away with the thick stuff. There is no crust now. It has cut the amount of time it takes to agitate and there’s much less odour.”
For more information, including a free no obligation consultation on how to make the most of your slurry, call 0800 083 0614. www.epizym.com
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