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Picture the scene: a lorry load of fertiliser in your farm yard and a full slurry tanker leaving the yard setting off to spread the contents on a nearby field. How much is each load worth?

Calculating the value of the load of fertiliser is relatively easy if a bit scary these days. But what about the slurry? That’s a harder question but one that Tim Ashley, of Ruralscapes is keen for farmers to assess.

Tim has teamed up with First Milk Academy, in conjunction with the Milk Development Council, to pilot a “Mucksmart” project with members this year with the aim of helping farmers generate cash savings through better muck and slurry utilisation and management.

Although many of the messages are familiar, Tim says one of the problems in the past has been ensuring that they are translated into practical implementation and improvements on farm.

“We are consulting with farmers to find out what information they need and what is the most effective way of delivering it to them,” he said.
Four meetings were held around the West Midlands in December as part of the first phase of the project and the feedback is currently being assessed with a view to rolling out implementation early this year.

First Milk member Rob Povall hosted one of the first meetings at his farm near Craven Arms in Shropshire. “The advice that Mucksmart are offering is very good. We should all check the value of our muck and maximise its potential as a fertiliser wherever possible. Farmers must start to treat slurry and manure as a valuable commodity worth money and not just a waste product to be thrown away.”

Many dairy farms automatically assume that the only way to improve their manure management is to build expensive new slurry stores. But there are many ways in which you can save money rather than spend it, and still improve the environmental impact of slurry.

Typical money saving “did you know” tips include:

• 62% of the contents of a slurry store isn’t slurry – it’s mostly yard and roof run-off and parlour washings, which you maybe able to reduce – thus gaining extra storage capacity.

• Applying 30 cubic metres per hectare of slurry in December will benefit the soil by 11 kg Nitrogen (N) worth £4.95/ha. Applying the same slurry in March will more than double the benefit to 26kg of N worth £11.70/ha.

Slurry and dirty water from 100-cow herd contains 7.2 tonnes of N. Of this 4 tonnes represents the maximum available N when applied to grass, this is equivalent to 20 tonnes of 20:10:10 fertiliser or over £4000. When applied at the wrong time of year and using inappropriate methods most of this nutritional value is wasted. For more tips about best utilisation of artificial fertiliser, please see our fertiliser story 'All you need to know about fertiliser'.

“With fertiliser prices going through the roof and the likely introduction of new NVZ regulations, the subject is certainly topical,” said Mr Ashley. “I am confident our project with First Milk’s Business Clubs will help farmers save money and benefit the environment.”