If you live in a rural area or have ever been driving your car through the countryside with the windows down, then you’ll be familiar with the strong stench of farm manure.
Known as slurry, this substance actually plays a very important role in the health of farmland.
If you own a farm (or are interested in running a farm) and aren’t fertilising your crops with slurry, here’s why you should be.
What is the Purpose of Slurry?
Slurry consists primarily of manure, water and other unusable organic matter (i.e. hay and water run-off from washing down barns etc.). Over a period of time, this will convert into a natural fertiliser that is abundant with nutrients, such as nitrates, phosphate and potash.
All these nutrients are highly beneficial in supporting the growth of grass and crops. This is why farmers will spread slurry at certain times throughout the year (typically when the ground is at its driest) across their fields, in order to yield healthy crops and have nutrient-rich grass for their livestock to feed on.
Since slurry is all natural, it is a much safer and more sustainable fertiliser to use in comparison to chemical fertilisers, which can be harmful to the environment as well as producing harmful emissions in their production. Although, slurry does also produce high gas emissions, which is why certain regulations must be followed when storing and working with it.
How to Spread Slurry
There is different farm machinery that can be used to spread slurry and it can either be done by farmers themselves or by a third party.
Below are two of the common methods for spreading slurry.
Broadcast Spreader
Slurry is traditionally spread using a type of broadcast spreader known as a slurry tanker. This is attached to the back of a tractor and involves the slurry being stored under pressure and forced out through a pipe onto the field as it is driven around the field.
One drawback of this method of slurry distribution is that there is a larger surface area of slurry that has been spread across the field that is being exposed to the air, which results in more nitrogen to be lost in the form of ammonia instead of being absorbed into the ground.
Thankfully, there are other methods that can be used to reduce the chance of this happening, known as low trajectory systems.
Low Trajectory Systems
Low trajectory systems are methods of spreading slurry that reduce the exposure it has to the air by keeping the spread lower to the ground and with less surface area. One such method is band spreading.
Band spreading is similar to broadcast spreading in that a boom is attached to the back of a tractor and spreads the slurry through a pipe system, however the difference is that there are a number of evenly spaced pipes that lay low to the ground. These allow large quantities of slurry to be easily spread in one go, as well as better immersing with the soil.
P. R. Weldhen
If you require slurry spreading for your farm but don’t have the means or equipment to do so, P. R. Weldhen are available to spread your slurry for you.
Along with slurry spreading services, we can also provide agricultural machinery to help you efficiently run your farm, including tractor hire and combine hire.
Contact us today to learn more about our services.
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