Slurry extension.

It just proves the stupidity of the whole thing, Iads will be horsing out slurry over the next few days & the ground saturated then if we have a mild dry November there wouldn't be able to. There has to be a better way of ensuring slurry is spread in suitable conditions.

Should be a compulsory 1/2 day course with every biss application

we had 8 months of an open season to spread slurry and lads have tp spread it when its about to close

I’d fully agree with the last posts, what are people doing having full tanks of slurry in almost October - why wasn’t it spread months ago. Our tank is empty since May after first cut silage.

The first post mentioned full tanks, that’s why I referenced it. As for producing manure year round - ours obviously do also but not in a shed between March/April and November.

2 sheds to empty for lads. 8 spans and I’m not looking forward to it. It’ll be put out the splash plate this year.

Depends on how much of your own work you do yourself. If you are getting contractors in and/or buying things in then an intermittent half-dry two weeks will get a lot done for you. Your slurry man can come on the same day as your man baling and wrapping your silage as well as the man delivering and stacking those bales of straw for you.

Well then maybe lads need to make decisions like that. A young farmer nearby after second cut did just that. His father was in hospital. He rang a contractor. He had the tanks agitated, himself and the contractor emptied the tanks between them in a day otherwise it might not have got done otherwise.

But in general the facts are less daylight hours, it's colder and Wetter at that time of year. There is solid Science behind the dates, and in reality the closing dates are well beyond the optimal time to spread slurry. The closing date has already been extended to Oct 8th but from what I see if the closing date was November you'd have the same ones with full tanks complaining about it.

The coldest time of the year in Ireland is 3-4 weeks after the shortest day of the year. Due to heat retained in the oceans. It’s very rare to get a cold spell in November. A frequent occurrence in Feb.

Therefore soil temps also tend to be lower in Jan and Feb. Worth keeping in mine before heading out with Slurry and Urea…

A lot of assumptions on this thread but the general tone of some is that “if you have a tank not spread you are a terrible farmer”.

There are a million reasons tanks could be partially full due to variances on farms.

1) wet land (none of my farm could be traveled in the last month since the weather broke). Window might aswell have shut for me first week of September.

2) when it could be travelled there were heavy grass covers perhaps on the parts that were “dry” (and very little of my farm has been dry concert June). Lots of late silage cuts and hay cuts around so limited chance to get the slurry on the fields that need it rather than applying on ground that is bare but doesn’t need it.

3) lot of lads have been forced to house cattle at various times since July adding to tanks that wouldnt normally be added to.

4) floods of rain which may have seen water entering slurry storage due to the pure volume falling in a short time periods.

5) Being beholden to contractors who are busy. I got most of my last bit out barely after chasing the contractor for 2 weeks. Just spread before weather broke again early September. Very few other options that that contractor so it’s very frustrating.

No doubt many more reasons to still have tabks with volume.

Lots of lads in ivory towers. Keep kicking ourselves to help everyone else kicking us.

would the use of the umbilical systems not get the slurry out on wet land without ploughing it up?

Nor small fields

Why would you spread all your by mid june.....little and often here.

The extension granted by our overlords only brings the deadline in line with last year’s one. Another extra week to the 15th would be where it was for years. It’s not an unreasonable request given the amount of rain that has fallen since the weather broke in June. By the way congratulations anyone with their tanks empty, your medals are in the post.

"October to December usually wettest months of the year" 9th March 2023 to 12th may 2023. We must be due alot more rain before year end then so.

Lord save us.

Must be broken. Need a new phone.

It will be right some time soon.

Weather looking great at the moment for the time of year, hell, for anytime of the year.

Ah there's all next week yet

It's going to be an unsolvable problem. We're going to end in a situtation of County Councils requesting farmers to spread low volumes from the bottom of unmixed tanks just to keep tanks from overflowing.

I see that Luxembourg have a closing date of Nov 1st, an opening date if Feb 1st, but a 6 month storage requirement.

Loads of different reasons for slurry issues. Contractors will tell you that they are told not to come because.

Land wet

Weather meant to pick up soon

Too much grass on fields, want to graze them first.

We do silage pit here, so much easier to have a large block ready for slurry and have all done at the same time.

Yep

We need more storage,

Slurry going out this time of the year is just a waste, and will ultimately end up in the rivers resulting in further deteriation in water quality.

We need growth for the nutrients to be taken up, growth rates will fall drastically in the next week or two and only pick up in mid march next year. This is the most risky time of the year for getting slurry out from a loss of nutrients point of view.