Mobile slurry separator

dannewhouse

Member
Location
huddersfield
how much of a real benefit are seperators, when you think about it your just creating 2 products to deal with rather than 1? I know solid is cheaper to deal with but is it enough to matter?
I understand the fetching slurry back in silage argument, put less on? or is the separated stuff like liquid fert, (nothing left on plant but acts well )
 

Lawnseed

Member
how much of a real benefit are seperators, when you think about it your just creating 2 products to deal with rather than 1? I know solid is cheaper to deal with but is it enough to matter?
I understand the fetching slurry back in silage argument, put less on? or is the separated stuff like liquid fert, (nothing left on plant but acts well )

I refer my right honourable friend to the reply I gave earlier
 
We nearly went for green bedding few years ago but dicided not too in the end as Sand was so cheap. Sand getting more expensive and eating so many things. Our cow slurry is properly thin on organic clover Multicut. Is there enough in this to separate or has cow digested what little fibre there was.
By the way I’m not sure mobile separating is a good idea due to bacteria etc and the AD plants have almost certainly got their own if that’s what they want to do. Thanks
I am always amazed by the amount of fibre still in the slurry.
We use sawdust , about 4 bags a day on average , but the fibre that comes out in the seperated muck is enough to half fill a 7.5 cubic yd muckspreader - so predominantly from the silage diet , although that is quite dryish grass silage . I like the idea of feeding the biodigester though:rolleyes:
 

Lawnseed

Member
I am always amazed by the amount of fibre still in the slurry.
We use sawdust , about 4 bags a day on average , but the fibre that comes out in the seperated muck is enough to half fill a 7.5 cubic yd muckspreader - so predominantly from the silage diet , although that is quite dryish grass silage . I like the idea of feeding the biodigester though:rolleyes:

I don't think sawdust would be a success in a bio digester
 
Hes correct of course. And a collection of other bodyfluid carried deseases. Especially out of a biodigester. You are trying to create an environment where bacteria thrive and moving a plant around that will be contaminated with everything. Then you use the dry materials to bed your cattle. Botulism is a major concern if some of your customers are using poultry litter. In the event of foot and mouth you would deffo be parked up.
Buying this is not without risk . I'm busy talking myself out of it..

Digester operating normally is the least likely place you will acquire TB from.
 

Lawnseed

Member
Google gasifiers if you don’t believe there is Methane in wood, unbeliabke things.

There is no methane in any of the ingredients used in a digester. The methane is the result of the bacteria breaking down the solids. Wood requires a longer time to break down than grass. The longer the period of decay the more nitrogen will be used in the process. Wood is not fertiliser. Eg tree bark is used to help prevent vegetation growing on rockerys and flower beds. If you want to grow grass or crops keep wood away from them. Sawdust is a pain in the arse with separation it blocks the holes in the screen. Virgin sawdust is expensive. Recycled timber can be painted or preserved (old garden fence) this type of material could be floating around your farm for 20yrs Be careful what you bring through your gate
 

Lawnseed

Member
All evidence I have seen is that virtually no pathogens will exit in the digestate from a digestor.

I can confirm that if you are using slurry from a biodigester where poultry litter is being used. You will need to vaccinate your livestock for botulism. You will need dept of ag permission to carry out this work. I know someone who lost dairy cows and replacement heifers
 
Sawdust is a pain in the arse with separation it blocks the holes in the screen.
Yes , I have come to believe that you are quite right. I need to Turbolance our screen every few weeks or else the bugger slows up :mad: I also suspect the groundnut bits do a ruddy great job of blocking it too , unless its very small black grit ?
MInd you , my son ordered the finest stuff you ever saw ,so apart from giving us our very own Sahara dusting every day ,it has not been such a problem this yr.
 

Lawnseed

Member
Yes , I have come to believe that you are quite right. I need to Turbolance our screen every few weeks or else the bugger slows up :mad: I also suspect the groundnut bits do a ruddy great job of blocking it too , unless its very small black grit ?
MInd you , my son ordered the finest stuff you ever saw ,so apart from giving us our very own Sahara dusting every day ,it has not been such a problem this yr.

Have you tried Green bedding with the solids
Regards
 

Lawnseed

Member
Its a Carier rotary screen. Not that dry and anyway , I have enough trouble trying to get cows and heifers from lying in their own shyte !!:D

The YouTube videos look pretty good. Cows look very clean. I know that cattle like laying in compost especially if it's still heating/breaking down. We used stuff from a recycling company who were composting green waste. Once it dried out and was mixed with dung it was mighty fertiliser for ploughing down.
 
Yes , I have come to believe that you are quite right. I need to Turbolance our screen every few weeks or else the bugger slows up :mad: I also suspect the groundnut bits do a ruddy great job of blocking it too , unless its very small black grit ?
MInd you , my son ordered the finest stuff you ever saw ,so apart from giving us our very own Sahara dusting every day ,it has not been such a problem this yr.

You need to look at a press screw separator, solves your screen blocking issues and far easier to maintain
 
The YouTube videos look pretty good. Cows look very clean. I know that cattle like laying in compost especially if it's still heating/breaking down. We used stuff from a recycling company who were composting green waste. Once it dried out and was mixed with dung it was mighty fertiliser for ploughing down.

Bedding on compost is not permissible, but RMS/green bedding is and is covered by Red Tractor and Farm Assurance. You won’t see cleaner cows than n green bedding and abrasion/hock sores are a thing of the past
 

Stinker

Member
As an an owner of a green bedding separator I think this idea is crazy. No 2 farms are the same. Even on this farm throughput can vary greatly anything between 70-120 cows an hour depending on what's getting fed.

Talking in metre cubes an hour is a waste of time because it's all about the solid content of the slurry. I even return some separated liquid back to the tank as it makes no difference to separation times.

I have had to change screen slot sizes depending on what we are feeding over the years so you would probably need a good range of screens to go contracting.

Some farms slurry would be full of string, net wrap etc that will leave you tearing you hair out.
 

Lawnseed

Member
As an an owner of a green bedding separator I think this idea is crazy. No 2 farms are the same. Even on this farm throughput can vary greatly anything between 70-120 cows an hour depending on what's getting fed.



Talking in metre cubes an hour is a waste of time because it's all about the solid content of the slurry. I even return some separated liquid back to the tank as it makes no difference to separation times.

I have had to change screen slot sizes depending on what we are feeding over the years so you would probably need a good range of screens to go contracting.

Some farms slurry would be full of string, net wrap etc that will leave you tearing you hair out.

To be honest I have more or less gone off the idea. For 60k I could do alot better things with my time. What is bothering me mostly is the thoughts of standing there looking at a trickle of stuff coming out of a 60k machine and trying to make excuses for the poor output. There is a market for a big tractor driven machine that can wipe out a tank in a few hours but not these 5 and 7.5hp electric toys.
Back to the drawing board. This time next year we will not be millionaires Rodney.
 

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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