Concrete muck heap base

[North Yorkshire man]

Just read the leaflet from defra , I'm hoping there will be a grant available for a muck heap base or shed ?
We had our yard concreted in 2019 under countryside stewardship and it has made a massive difference.
Now if we can get away from paddling land rutting it , job would be sorted .

 

[snipe]

Just read the leaflet from defra , I'm hoping there will be a grant available for a muck heap base or shed ?
We had our yard concreted in 2019 under countryside stewardship and it has made a massive difference.
Now if we can get away from paddling land rutting it , job would be sorted .

Does it say you need to be in a water catchment sensitive area( or something along those lines).

 

[North Yorkshire man]

I believe that helps and we were for the yard been concreted . Although I think you're restricted to one grant per land parcel over 5 years .

 

[milkloss]

Does it say you need to be in a water catchment sensitive area( or something along those lines).

Ah yes! That old 'right side of the line' boll0cks.

 

[Hilly]

Just read the leaflet from defra , I'm hoping there will be a grant available for a muck heap base or shed ?
We had our yard concreted in 2019 under countryside stewardship and it has made a massive difference.
Now if we can get away from paddling land rutting it , job would be sorted .

Farm near me has a shes for muck , great idea imo

 

[Tarw Coch]

Ah yes! That old 'right side of the line' boll0cks.

Went into an NVZ about 10 years ago here but no financial help with constrtucting extra storage.
It’s bloody frustrating when farms not that far away are in a catchment sensitive area and getting grants, yet none of the NVZ restrictions

You would think catchment sensitive areas and nvz’s wete pretty much the same thing but evidently not

 

[milkloss]

Went into an NVZ about 10 years ago here but no financial help with constrtucting extra storage.
It’s bloody frustrating when farms not that far away are in a catchment sensitive area and getting grants.

You would think catchment sensitive areas and nvz’s wete pretty much the same thing but evidently not

Agree whole heartedly. We're prime candidates for assistance with water management: quit dairying because of the massive investment required to comply with NVZ and now struggling to comply as a beef herd. We do our best but the money just isn't there to be as good as we would like. The amount of farms I've seen that are basically derelict with new concrete yards, gutters etc leaves a sour taste.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Agree whole heartedly. We're prime candidates for assistance with water management: quit dairying because of the massive investment required to comply with NVZ and now struggling to comply as a beef herd. We do our best but the money just isn't there to be as good as we would like. The amount of farms I've seen that are basically derelict with new concrete yards, gutters etc leaves a sour taste.

Equally frustrating, being right on the edge of an NVZ is seeing what happens not too far away on some farms knowing full well that any run off is heading towards the same rivers down ditches and tributaries as here.

I don’t have to travel far to see slurry being spread on maize stubble no questions asked yet I am restricted on where and when I can spread and keep records of all applications which have been inspected by the EA to a level where they are taking notes and using their calculators to check I haven’t put just a bit too much on one field.
Obviously there’s a lot of sense contained within the NVZ regulations but I can’t help think the EA are looking for trouble in the wrong place when checking my records when you see what’s happening not too far away

 

[deleted user 837354]

I would think putting manure on concrete would just create more issues than it saves? If it's on concrete any effluent/seep created will have to be directed into a tank. In a field you don't have this to worry about provided you don't do something daft like sit the heap over a drain or put it near a watercourse.

 

[Tarw Coch]

I would think putting manure on concrete would just create more issues than it saves? If it's on concrete any effluent/seep created will have to be directed into a tank. In a field you don't have this to worry about provided you don't do something daft like sit the heap over a drain or put it near a watercourse.

I’m pretty sure that it’s somehow worded that muck tipped in fields shouldn’t produce any run off.........so that would need to be fairly high straw content

As I say, not sure on the exact wording but I seem to remember there is something to that effect

 

[deleted user 837354]

I’m pretty sure that it’s somehow worded that muck tipped in fields shouldn’t produce any run off.........so that would need to be fairly high straw content

As I say, not sure on the exact wording but I seem to remember there is something to that effect

Basically you are right and as anyone here knows virtually all manure stacked up produces a trickle of something but it's not an issue (unless you are actually tipping semi-solid dung up in a field which I have seen people do).

 

[Tarw Coch]

Basically you are right and as anyone here knows virtually all manure stacked up produces a trickle of something but it's not an issue (unless you are actually tipping semi-solid dung up in a field which I have seen people do).

Maybe I just worry too much about what the strictest interpretation of the regulations are but on the occasion when the EA make an inspection they are looking at me and the fact that some are doing far worse and some making no effort at all is no defense.
As I worry about such things I pay a consultant to keep my records in a state the EA would approve of taken from my diary notes of what muck and fert has gone where and when and they also keep me informed of what I need to be doing to do things right.
This means that they submit an annual grassland derogation to the EA on my behalf which puts me on the EA radar.
I know there are plenty of farms around who make no attempt to keep any records whatsoever, I recently purchased some land next door, the seller had declared it wasn’t in an NVZ. I did ask if they could provide me with 5 years worth of records to which the reply was the tenant had only put a bit of 20:10:10 on..........somehow they seemed to think that was ok and didn’t need recording. Not that it makes much difference but I know the tennant had been putting nitrogen on but I strongly suspect he hadn’t been keeping any records either.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Farm near me has a shes for muck , great idea imo

What is a Shes?

 

[Hilly]

What is a Shes?

Typo for shed sorry .

 

[Greythundercloudys]

I just concreted a lump of my yard, it was over 2 grand don't think there such grants up here.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Maybe I just worry too much about what the strictest interpretation of the regulations are but on the occasion when the EA make an inspection they are looking at me and the fact that some are doing far worse and some making no effort at all is no defense.
As I worry about such things I pay a consultant to keep my records in a state the EA would approve of taken from my diary notes of what muck and fert has gone where and when and they also keep me informed of what I need to be doing to do things right.
This means that they submit an annual grassland derogation to the EA on my behalf which puts me on the EA radar.
I know there are plenty of farms around who make no attempt to keep any records whatsoever, I recently purchased some land next door, the seller had declared it wasn’t in an NVZ. I did ask if they could provide me with 5 years worth of records to which the reply was the tenant had only put a bit of 20:10:10 on..........somehow they seemed to think that was ok and didn’t need recording. Not that it makes much difference but I know the tennant had been putting nitrogen on but I strongly suspect he hadn’t been keeping any records either.

I'm afraid I dare say you are right with your suspicion but a lot of farms are a bit better at recording it all these days. I've got a couple of former clients who have a record book that their tractor driver keeps in the cab with them and they record all muck and slurry applied. Wouldn't be too hard to go one better and put a tablet in the cab and record it all electronically to be fair but that's another discussion.

I think the EA are only keen in record keeping so they can track down the offender if they find a river half dead one day.

 

[Tarw Coch]

I'm afraid I dare say you are right with your suspicion but a lot of farms are a bit better at recording it all these days. I've got a couple of former clients who have a record book that their tractor driver keeps in the cab with them and they record all muck and slurry applied. Wouldn't be too hard to go one better and put a tablet in the cab and record it all electronically to be fair but that's another discussion.

I think the EA are only keen in record keeping so they can track down the offender if they find a river half dead one day.

On the record keeping front I have had a routine EA inspection where two ladies scrutinised my records, taking notes and doing calculations on their calculators to check I hadn’t breached any field limits which isn’t that difficult to do as the limits are on a 365 day rolling limit rather than per calendar year, making it perfectly possible for a muck application to be in breach of the limits one day but not the next.
I would hope that a breach on a technicality would result in a soft warning but you can’t count on that, maybe the inspector has been having a bad day, maybe they’re under pressure from above to find faults, as I say, the fact that far worse is happening elsewhere ain’t no defence if you’re caught in the wrong

 

[ploughman1963]

I assume any storage area for muck of any sort would have to incorporate measures to collect any run-off, whther any was produced or not?

 

[Optimus]

We concreted a massive chunk of our yard about 15 year ago.got help from SNH an SEPA. Sometimes store dung on it if we can't get into the field.any run off, which their is.goes through a swale then into a reed bed pond.all the silage effluent does the same.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Typo for shed sorry .

No worries. I was hoping is was some smart design that I had not heard of that separated the water out or something.