Reed Bed

Bald Rick · Sep 21, 2022

DairyNerd said:
Need a better way of dealing with our dirty water. Parlour is on the side of a hill, below is a sloping field which levels out at the bottom. At the moment dirty water gets collected in a tank in the collecting yard above the parlour but that needs pumping out 2-3 times a week. Half the parlour doesn't naturally flow into the pit which isn't ideal and when it rains heavily either the tank fills with all the yard runoff or that goes down across the field if you open the drain, neither is ideal. Might seem a bit mad but wondered if anyone had any experience with reed bed system for dirty water? Ideas of feasibility in terms of space required and rough cost? Only 45 cows through a 10:10, so not huge volumes of water and it is very watery as milking is very quick and the yard stays pretty clean so very little muck really but feel like current system will not be ok with the EA soon as regs tighten. Building a pit below the parlour would not be easy in terms of access to pump it out, though not impossible, so looking for alternatives.

Looked in to it before.

You need a series of at least 3 beds to ensure that the final water is "potable" to the extent that it can be discharge to ditch or other watercourses.
However, EA have now set their face against reed bed filtration for dirty water but they can be made to work well if you can use gravity to move the liquid.
As previously mentioned above, winter months are "challenging" when the reeds aren't operative

DairyNerd · Sep 21, 2022

Bald Rick said:
Looked in to it before.

You need a series of at least 3 beds to ensure that the final water is "potable" to the extent that it can be discharge to ditch or other watercourses.
However, EA have now set their face against reed bed filtration for dirty water but they can be made to work well if you can use gravity to move the liquid.
As previously mentioned above, winter months are "challenging" when the reeds aren't operative

Thanks. On a hill so gravity wouldnt be an issue. Might contact catchment sensitive or the EA and go from there.

O'Reilly · Sep 21, 2022

Try the farming advice service first, they are confidential. 03000 200 301

Sandpit Farm · Sep 21, 2022

These guys have done it. I could get you a contact if it helps

Low Ballees | AHDB

Fully housed, robotic herd of 230 Holstein / Friesian type cows producing around 10,500 litres a year

ahdb.org.uk

DairyNerd · Sep 21, 2022

Sandpit Farm said:
These guys have done it. I could get you a contact if it helps

Low Ballees | AHDB

Fully housed, robotic herd of 230 Holstein / Friesian type cows producing around 10,500 litres a year

ahdb.org.uk

That would be great, PM if you want.

ollie989898 · Sep 21, 2022

DairyNerd said:
We stack everything else, as self feed in an undercover clamp and bed up in cubicles with plenty of unchopped straw.

I get your point but there would be very little Nitrogen in our dirty water. When you put the cost to put up a store just for dirty water plus cost to spread not sure its worth it for us.

I can see your point but I would view a reed bed system as a huge liability in future because the EA will want to see it, inspect it and stop you using it the second they feel it isn't outputting water that is clean enough.

If it is dirty water, then it must contain manure however dilute. My friend has a reed bed system but it only ever handles pure rainwater which comes straight off the roof of his umbrella building and so contains nothing.

What volume of material are we talking about?

DairyNerd · Sep 21, 2022

ollie989898 said:
I can see your point but I would view a reed bed system as a huge liability in future because the EA will want to see it, inspect it and stop you using it the second they feel it isn't outputting water that is clean enough.

If it is dirty water, then it must contain manure however dilute. My friend has a reed bed system but it only ever handles pure rainwater which comes straight off the roof of his umbrella building and so contains nothing.

What volume of material are we talking about?

Fair point about the EA.

It is parlour washings; plant wash, tank wash, washings from parlour and collecting yard plus rainwater from collecting yard and tin roof on parlour. Not exactly sure on volume tbh, at a guess 2000-2500L a day water plus rainwater. As i say pretty dilute; 45 cows, 9 rows, 1 hour-ish per milking on average, milk as soon as in the yard so they are not standing around for ages.

Agrifool · Sep 23, 2022

ollie989898 said:
I can see your point but I would view a reed bed system as a huge liability in future because the EA will want to see it, inspect it and stop you using it the second they feel it isn't outputting water that is clean enough.

If it is dirty water, then it must contain manure however dilute. My friend has a reed bed system but it only ever handles pure rainwater which comes straight off the roof of his umbrella building and so contains nothing.

What volume of material are we talking about?

If water is already clean from the roof, why just not divert to drain and avoid the reedbed altogether?

With droughts now looking more the norm in the future it may be beneficial to have a large final pond in the system to have your own reservoir of water for irrigation spraying, power washing etc.

ollie989898 · Sep 23, 2022

Agrifool said:
If water is already clean from the roof, why just not divert to drain and avoid the reedbed altogether?

With droughts now looking more the norm in the future it may be beneficial to have a large final pond in the system to have your own reservoir of water for irrigation spraying, power washing etc.

Planning requirements stipulated it, apparently with lots of new developments now they look at the total roof area and insist on some way of mitigating the volume of rainfall involved.

The farm I am thinking of have made their reed bed into essentially a large (and deep pond), it now teems with wildlife and fish. It could be used as a watersource for a fire I guess. Once the pond fills beyond a preset height, it will overflow through a pipe into the ditch.

Sandpit Farm · Sep 26, 2022

Looks like it is a meeting not a webinar. The link is here https://www.fas.scot/events/event/taking-the-plunge-constructed-farm-wetlands/

Stump Grinder · Dec 31, 2022

Has anyone instaled one then? I'm thinking of having one just for pipeline washings. I think I need to seperate out the milk solids to some extent before it enters the reeds. In any case id like some profesional advice.

DairyNerd · Jan 1, 2023

Stump Grinder said:
Has anyone instaled one then? I'm thinking of having one just for pipeline washings. I think I need to seperate out the milk solids to some extent before it enters the reeds. In any case id like some profesional advice.

I started this thread and looked into it a bit, i like the idea of it, there is a chap in scotland who has one on fairly big scale for parlour washings only, link to his farm walk is above, think they are ahdb monitor farm. After speaking to a few people about what is possible with them i think moving the parlour to a more sensible location when it comes to it will be more cost effective than muddling with what we have, at the moment the cows can basically knock on the front door of the house in any case.

Reed Bed

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