The £ value of fym

[Joe Boy]

Every day's a school day. Thank you.

What do you think the N losses are due to composting versus fresh FYM? Your OP said 30% total fresh weight loss in the process.

I have tested the difference. Basically the ammoniacal nitrogen goes down to next to nothing but the total nitrogen goes up by the amount that the ammoniacal N has lost.

Other nutrient levels are higher w/w due to the loss of quite a bit of carbon and water out of it.

 

[Joe Boy]

I'm not sure if the total N goes up due to N fixing bugs in it or if it is the amonical N being utilised in the biomass of the bugs and therefore being used to breakdown the carbon in it.

 

[Chae1]

So the original question was “risky investment or no brainer?”

I am assuming that the analysis posted was prior to spreading, i.e. after composting and so that when spread at 12t/ha you are applying 58kg/ha Total N, 38kg/ha Total P2O5 and 78kg/ha Total K2O.

Assuming that all of the P & K will at some stage become available to the crop and is therefore a fertiliser replacement then on current TSP & MOP values that is worth about £50 per hectare but there are cheaper sources of P & K, e.g. Fibrophos, P-Grow & Sewage cake and this is based on all of the P&K in the FYM becoming available to the crop which may not happen.

With regard to putting a value on the N then it is only worth anything if you reduce your fertiliser N or it gives you a yield benefit. There has been chat on here about 10% availability so if it is 10% then I would suggest that you would not adjust fertiliser Nitrogen application for 6kg/ha of available N coming from the manure so there is no cost saving there so do you get a yield benefit?

There is no question that regular applications of OM will be beneficial to the soil and I did see some trial work from WRAP that showed that wheat yields did improve 0.5t/ha on fields treated with FYM but it was not clear what caused that yield improvement and it may be from the trace nutrients that manures apply and are not present in TSP and MOP but would be supplied by Fibrophos for example.

So “risky investment or no brainer?” I don’t think it is either. Your soils will benefit from regular applications of manure. That will help your crops but there is probably a net cost to you based on the FYM at £4 delivered in and whether you are happy to take that cost will depend on your philosophy, lowest possible cost of production or farming with a long term sustainable policy.

For a ten ton/acre application of muck I reduce N applied by ten units. This is on spring barley. If I didn't do this the crop would go flat.

 

[kneedeep]

I've never tested OM - I think its a pointless test

I do feel that anything I can do to increase OM is a good thing though so I get as much mick, compost and grow as much cover crop as I can

I can't prove any of it gets me better yields and even if I could spend money doing so would it make me any better off ? ............that's the art bit, trust instinct and what many previous generations of farmers have founds works

May I be bold enough to state that's what differentiates farmers from growers. Imo

 

[Neddy flanders]

Has anyone got any muck/slurry they want to sell?

 

[Brisel]

Ask your local AD plant

 

[Flat 10]

As far as I can see (as both a beet grower and muck user) they share many of the same problems, in field heaps, bulk, compaction, trashing of farm tracks, delivery/collection just when you don't want it...,,,

 

[Beef farmer]

Has anyone got any muck/slurry they want to sell?

There's tons of slurry free to a good Home round these parts. Where you too?

 

[Joe Boy]

So the original question was “risky investment or no brainer?”

I am assuming that the analysis posted was prior to spreading, i.e. after composting and so that when spread at 12t/ha you are applying 58kg/ha Total N, 38kg/ha Total P2O5 and 78kg/ha Total K2O.

Assuming that all of the P & K will at some stage become available to the crop and is therefore a fertiliser replacement then on current TSP & MOP values that is worth about £50 per hectare but there are cheaper sources of P & K, e.g. Fibrophos, P-Grow & Sewage cake and this is based on all of the P&K in the FYM becoming available to the crop which may not happen.

With regard to putting a value on the N then it is only worth anything if you reduce your fertiliser N or it gives you a yield benefit. There has been chat on here about 10% availability so if it is 10% then I would suggest that you would not adjust fertiliser Nitrogen application for 6kg/ha of available N coming from the manure so there is no cost saving there so do you get a yield benefit?

There is no question that regular applications of OM will be beneficial to the soil and I did see some trial work from WRAP that showed that wheat yields did improve 0.5t/ha on fields treated with FYM but it was not clear what caused that yield improvement and it may be from the trace nutrients that manures apply and are not present in TSP and MOP but would be supplied by Fibrophos for example.

So “risky investment or no brainer?” I don’t think it is either. Your soils will benefit from regular applications of manure. That will help your crops but there is probably a net cost to you based on the FYM at £4 delivered in and whether you are happy to take that cost will depend on your philosophy, lowest possible cost of production or farming with a long term sustainable policy.

Some great info there. Thanks.

That analysis was the fresh fym I brought before composting. After composting there is hardly any ammoniacal N left.

The weight goes down between 1/3 to 1/2 so when I spread 12 t of composted material it's a bit more concentrated than straight fym so it's not quite as bad compared to other p and k sources.

Like you say it's part of a bigger picture and about being sustainable and that is the way I intend to farm, let's face it the purely chemical side of the industry is not looking to great at the moment. Most fields near me have had £ of chemical chucked at them and are mostly full of blackgrass.

At least with manure you know your investment is going to do the job you wanted.

 

[Brisel]

There's tons of slurry free to a good Home round these parts. Where you too?

I think he's in East Anglia, so you won't get many loads out in a day...

 

[Matt]

FYM and the such puts things into the soil bagged stuff can't. Also finding that good 4-5 year leys really have helped get on top of black grass. Got a 'trial' plot which had got next to no black grass in it, which 10 years ago would have been chocked out. Not resistant black grass tho. Combined the grass with probably 3 good applications of FYM in 12years the soil it now friable where as before it was heavy which in itself encourages blackgrass