Introduction
It is coming the time of year when slurry tanks are being emptied for the final time before winter housing of livestock.
Slurry has become such a valuable resource for farms – from both a nutritional point of view (given the cost of fertiliser) and from a management point of view (due to soil health and the environmental impact). What was once classed as a waste product in the past, now needs to be built into the management of our grassland and cereal production.
How to get the most out of your Slurry
It is always a good starting basis to test your slurry for nutritional status. Slurries vary hugely depending on the diet of the animal that is producing it. This is a service that we, at Plant & Soil Solutions can offer. By testing the nutritional status of the slurry, it then allows the farmer their fertiliser applications, to the organic manure that has been applied.
Once the nutritional value has been established, how can we then improve the performance of this slurry on the farm? The easiest way to do this is by adding the slurry inoculant Slurry-Mór to your slurry at the start of the housing period.
Slurry-Mór Inoculant
Slurry-Mór works by adding specific strains of bacteria to the slurry tank. These in turn break down the raw fibrous material in slurry into a liquid carbon source. This has multiple benefits.
Firstly, it creates more exchange sites to hold onto the free Nitrogen that is in different forms in the slurry. Secondly, it enables more Sulphur, Phosphorus and Potassium to be made available to the grass. Finally, these Bacteria are accelerated by natural enzymes so this increases their efficiency as they work in the slurry. This process helps reduce crust formation.
Customer feedback says this leaves the slurry easier to agitate and helps reduces odour after it has been applied to the fields.
How to Use Slurry-Mór
- Recommended application rate is 1kg per 40,000 gallons. This will need to be increased to 1kg per 35,000 gallons if the animals producing the slurry are been fed a very intensive meal diet or very dry forage.
- It works best when applied at the start of the housing period as animals go inside. This allows the bacteria to multiple and have the longest period of time to optimise their performance, as the slurry fills up in the tank.
- Slurry-Mór normally only needs to be applied once per winter. However, if a very thick, dry slurry has been produced, a top up application may be needed in January.
- When applying Slurry-Mór, add 1kg to 40-50 litres of water and pour down between the slats. For large tanks (50,000 gallons plus), add the recommended rate of product to IBC of water and pour into the tank. This means that the product is evenly dispersed over the whole tank.
Slurry-Mór is a natural product and is registered for use in Organic farming.