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Know How / Slurry and manure management

Every livestock farm has to deal with waste and with the increasing focus on environmental impact, it’s key it is managed appropriately. These articles include guidance on legislation, regulation, storage systems and making the most of slurry and manure.

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DAIRY

Why East Anglian dairy values muck-for-straw deal

Muck-for-straw deals between neighbours require your own kit, being on the ball and good communication. This is what brothers Oliver and Lewis Rushmer have found, having inherited four such deals…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

New slurry tech for storage and handling benefits pig farm

A seaweed-based prebiotic treatment is dramatically reducing the volume of slurry to be stored and handled on a South West pig farm. The treatment results in water that – subject…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How a 540-cow dairy benefited from recycled bedding

A leading dairy herd has been bedded on recycled manure solids since opening its new cubicle house in 2019. The Laird family at Blythbridge Holsteins, West Linton, Peeblesshire, stress that…

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

3 regenerative initiatives build resilience on family farm

Since returning to the family partnership to join his father, Robert, last autumn, fourth-generation farmer Richard Tustian has implemented some key initiatives. They form part of the farm’s transition to…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How a sand separator improves slurry management on dairy farm

A separation system is allowing a Somerset dairy farm to remove sand bedding from manure to prevent settlement during storage and control what nutrients are spread on fields. Alistair and…

DAIRY

How a slurry robot has improved cow health and milk quality

The installation of four automatic slurry vacuums has helped a Scottish dairy farmer reduce his mastitis cases by 50%, as well as benefiting cow health and saving on labour. Farming…

Practical advice

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LIVESTOCK

Regenerative approach builds resilience for 1,750-cow herd

Building resilience into the business by growing his own cereals and having a rolling stock of 27,000t of silage is part of Neil Baker’s move to regenerative agriculture. In fact,…

GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT

Advice on efficient use of nitrogen fertiliser on grassland

Now is the time to challenge your fertiliser practices – making better use of what has become an expensive input will have a big effect on cost control and grassland…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How to store, analyse and spread manure for best value

Organic manures from livestock have always been a valuable source of fertiliser, but the high nitrogen prices of recent times have pushed this into sharper focus. Just how valuable muck…

GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT

Guide to soil biology and how to protect it

Many farms are closer to being “regenerative” than they might think, says a leading soil scientist. Ian Bell of Northern Soil Regen told delegates at Carbon Calling in Cumbria last…

LIVESTOCK

How regen practices can help cut inputs for livestock farmers

Regenerative farming can present an opportunity for dairy and mixed farms to lower production costs and greenhouse gases by reducing reliance on synthetic fertiliser and supplementary feed. Stephanie Race, founder…

NUTRITION AND FERTILISER

A guide to the updated autumn manure spreading rules

Updated guidance on how the Environment Agency (EA) should apply the Farming Rules for Water has cleared the way for muckspreading this coming autumn and winter. This is provided there…

AHDB slurry wizard

Help to calculate your slurry storage requirements

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Insights

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LIVESTOCK

How better use of slurry could help reach net zero targets

Researchers in Northern Ireland are exploring how manures can be more than just a waste product by helping reduce overall carbon footprints and associated emissions. The work, carried out by…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How a slurry chopper pump is enhancing dairy farm efficiency

Efficiency is a key priority at Old Holly Farm, Garstang, explains farmer Ian Pye. His organic herd of Holstein Friesian cross Scandinavian Red dairy cows is managed on a predominantly…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How slurry and forage analysis is benefiting from NIR tech

Adopting precision techniques more commonly used in the arable industry is allowing livestock and grassland enterprises at Myerscough College to run more efficiently. Following access to grant funding, the college…

TECHNOLOGY

Cornish firm creates kit to turn slurry emissions into fuel

Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farming rarely make for happy reading, but a small Cornish firm has come up with a raft of clever techniques for capturing and converting them…

LIVESTOCK

Farming rules for water: What’s in store?

The farming rules for water regulations (2018) (FRfW) were introduced to create a national baseline for good farm practices. They require land managers to take reasonable precautions to prevent diffuse…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

Plasma-treatment cuts ammonia loss by up to 90%

Treating slurry or digestate with an electrical plasma wave to lower its pH can reduce ammonia loss and save on nitrogen bills by closing the nitrogen cycle. The cost of…

Video

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SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

Video: High-tech machine to revolutionise slurry pollution

While there has been a reduction in water pollution problems over recent years in England, agriculture is now the sector responsible for the largest number of serious incidents. In this…

GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT

How to ‘home-test’ grass to know when to cut for silage

When there is late application of fertiliser and slurry to crops, it is vital important to test grass before cutting for silage. Excess nitrogen is a risk in these fields…