Woodchip pad

cahergowan

hello all
new to this , anyone up too speed for simple stand off pad ?

cahergowan

sorry .... meant to say regs for stand up pad

just do it

cahergowan wrote: »

sorry .... meant to say regs for stand up pad

Welcome to boards!

Have a look at this section of the Dept of Agriculture website. Scroll down to S132. I see they've added a guidance document since I looked at this option a few years ago. When I was deciding what to do this spec wasn't available so I decided against it as the last thing I wanted to do was build an outdoor pad and then be told it didn't meet the Department spec. Another 4 years till I'll have paid off the slatted shed - I may look at this again then!!

Planning with your local county council is another consideration.

cahergowan

jasus ! heavy going ... anyone operating one on a concrete yard ?

blue5000

Not in a yard, but had it in a shed with a concrete floor last year. Worked ok, cattle were comfortable on it. I mucked out the top half in jan and put fresh stuff in on top. Gone back to straw this year as the straw was better value last harvest. If you are using it don't let it near a slatted tank.

What sort of price is woodchip now?

cahergowan

think its about €35 /tonne at the mo , lot cheaper in june/july

blue5000

Thanks, is that recycled or fresh wood? It might be worth waiting a month and getting it tipped in the shed so it drys during the summer. The only demand for it during the summer might be race horse gallops and price should be a bit keener.

cahergowan

have a plan to construct a wood chip pad , collect all the run off (soiled ) water and then percolate it through a willow plantation . Any comments people ?

F.D

Wouldnt know much about these pads but just interested to know How big is your woodchip pad going to be, how much stock will you have on it, and how big a willow plantation will you need to get rid of the soiled water, looking at the greenfields in kilkenny, they seem to have a lot of run off and big contractors bills spreading it

cahergowan

Hi fd
the plan is to build a 50metre x30 metre pad to spec . stocking rate is allowed up to 100 kgs /metre sq ..... i think . all waste water to be collected to a holding tank and then pumped out onto an acre of willow . i visited a farm in derry a few yrs ago ( john gilliland ) . he was taking sewage sludge and irrigating a big plantation of src willow with it . the wllow was soaking up all the nutrients . i cant see how it wont work in my situation ... much smaller scale . posting because i want to find out is anyone doing anything like this ???? the harvest willow could be either used as biomass or chipped to put back on the pad ..

bob charles

cahergowan wrote: »

have a plan to construct a wood chip pad , collect all the run off (soiled ) water and then percolate it through a willow plantation . Any comments people ?

Depending on what county council your in, you maybe dreaming. I got so sick of the regs that were tried to be imposed on me I just gave it up and dismantled the pad. You would require a discharge licence to do as you are saying.

F.D

cahergowan wrote: »

Hi fd
the plan is to build a 50metre x30 metre pad to spec . stocking rate is allowed up to 100 kgs /metre sq ..... i think . all waste water to be collected to a holding tank and then pumped out onto an acre of willow . i visited a farm in derry a few yrs ago ( john gilliland ) . he was taking sewage sludge and irrigating a big plantation of src willow with it . the wllow was soaking up all the nutrients . i cant see how it wont work in my situation ... much smaller scale . posting because i want to find out is anyone doing anything like this ???? the harvest willow could be either used as biomass or chipped to put back on the pad ..

Like the idea of using the Willow for the soiled water, but i can see the point about the regulations and the hardship of doing it, just on you stocking rate, it seems very low, correct me if i'm wrong

blue5000

cahergowan wrote: »

Hi fd
the plan is to build a 50metre x30 metre pad to spec . stocking rate is allowed up to 100 kgs /metre sq ..... i think . all waste water to be collected to a holding tank and then pumped out onto an acre of willow . i visited a farm in derry a few yrs ago ( john gilliland ) . he was taking sewage sludge and irrigating a big plantation of src willow with it . the wllow was soaking up all the nutrients . i cant see how it wont work in my situation ... much smaller scale . posting because i want to find out is anyone doing anything like this ???? the harvest willow could be either used as biomass or chipped to put back on the pad ..

You would probably need at least one and probably two lined settlement lagoons or reedbeds before the effluent gets to the willow. As bob says your local cocos will probably try tie you up in knots with feckin paperwork to make it impossible for you. What county are you in?

Farmer Pudsey

Woodchip pad's only made since when you could buy the woodchip for virtually the haulage and diesel was cheap so you could afford to spread the water.
Now with regulation and costs involved slatted tanks are cheaper and I can only see Woodchip getting more expensive. The Coco will make you jump through hoops and at the end you will have high ongoing costs. At present the value of slurry is more than the cost of spreading it.

By the time you have holding tanks and pads build you will have nearly the cost of slatted tank and it will only take up a fraction of the area also your pad is small with pads it is all about economy of scale