Tomorrow is the dawn of a new day

[Sid]

Yep, 1st feb outside of closed period, we are chockablock full of slurry and can spread!

Grass has been growing all winter and needs feed but the calendar says it can't be fed!

 

[Brisel]

It is a heavy handed rule designed to stop massive doses of slurry being applied to grass crops with minimal growth to make use of the nutrients and them ending up in the nearest watercourse. Post CAP, in the Agriculture Bill, conserving the quality of air, water and soil is going to be even more important.

Playing devil’s advocate and working on the basis that there will always be a closed period due to pollution, what would you say was a better alternative? A T Sum model?

 

[neilo]

It’s a sledgehammer to crack a nut, brought about to stop the farmers that used to (& still do in some non-NVZ areas) cart slurry out onto flooded fields all winter, just to get rid. Used to see it on maize fields by Gloucester all the time when we went to mart there. It was washed into the Severn with the next rain, then more put on again. The industry brought it on itself through behaviour like that.

We’re outside an NVZ currently, and there’s been a sewage nurse tank on a field right next to the Severn nearby for a lot of the winter, with an umbilical system spreading. Might as well save the effort and drop it straight off the bridge into the river!

....and there’s widespread disquiet about proposed plans to put all of Wales into a NVZ.

 

[7610 super q]

In more ways than one.

 

[Hindsight]

It is a heavy handed rule designed to stop massive doses of slurry being applied to grass crops with minimal growth to make use of the nutrients and them ending up in the nearest watercourse. Post CAP, in the Agriculture Bill, conserving the quality of air, water and soil is going to be even more important.

Playing devil’s advocate and working on the basis that there will always be a closed period due to pollution, what would you say was a better alternative? A T Sum model?

Brilliant. So we go from a simple rule, easy to implement, everyone knows where they stand and in general about technically correct, to a more complex variable system open to abuse and conjecture which will require more complex legislation and policemen. Welcome to the crazy world of cake and eat it deregulation promised by Gove, Villiers, Johnson, Mogg et al. Hey ho.

Or are you assuming no regulation for Nitrates at all. Back to the fifties.

 

[Sid]

We’re outside an NVZ currently, and there’s been a sewage nurse tank on a field right next to the Severn nearby for a lot of the winter, with an umbilical system spreading. Might as well save the effort and drop it straight off the bridge into the river!

The solution to pollution is dilution.
Far less pollution incidents in winter when water flow is high. Doesn't make it right though.

Grass on my fields has grown like made since new year and is looking for food. Neighbours been spreading fym and its green as where the muck has been so you can see its taking it up!

 

[Chae1]

In more ways than one.

Oh. Its you again.

 

[neilo]

The solution to pollution is dilution.
Far less pollution incidents in winter when water flow is high. Doesn't make it right though.

Grass on my fields has grown like made since new year and is looking for food. Neighbours been spreading fym and its green as where the muck has been so you can see its taking it up!

Yes I know, we’ve not had a cold spell (yet). Clover still growing here in places.?

We, as an industry, brought the sledgehammer on ourselves though.

 

[Highland Mule]

The solution to pollution is dilution.
Far less pollution incidents in winter when water flow is high. Doesn't make it right though.

Grass on my fields has grown like made since new year and is looking for food. Neighbours been spreading fym and its green as where the muck has been so you can see its taking it up!

The solution to pollution is not dilution. What you have written is criminally stupid - we need to prevent, not pollute !

 

[Sid]

Yes I know, we’ve not had a cold spell (yet). Clover still growing here in places.?

We, as an industry, brought the sledgehammer on ourselves though.

Our red was grazed but white lice ( some may call it the golden hoof) and has loved the "dirty water" application.

 

[7610 super q]

Oh. Its you again.

Sorry, couldn't resist. I'll not post again.

 

[Sid]

The solution to pollution is not dilution. What you have written is criminally stupid - we need to prevent, not pollute !

Funny it was and EA guy told me that!

So if you get chemical in your eye(pollution) the solution is to flush with water(dilution)

Best NOT to get in eye in first place though eh?

 

[Highland Mule]

Funny it was and EA guy told me that!

So if you get chemical in your eye(pollution) the solution is to flush with water(dilution)

Best NOT to get in eye in first place though eh?

That mantra was being vilified when I was in Uni, many years ago - I thought it had died with the dinosaurs.

Yes, better to prevent it getting there in the first place, or even better to use a chemical that isn’t toxic to your eyes.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

....and there’s widespread disquiet about proposed plans to put all of Wales into a NVZ.

I thought the new ag bill was likely to put all England in too as part of soil protection measures?

Far to wet to spread here tomorrow. But I spread some in Dec which has encouraged some grass growth. Not NVZ here currently.
As you say, we've brought it on ourselves. "Dumping" slurry on in large quantities despite conditions, just because "the field's gonna be ploughed anyway" was never a good thing.

 

[neilo]

I thought the new ag bill was likely to put all England in too as part of soil protection measures?

Far to wet to spread here tomorrow. But I spread some in Dec which has encouraged some grass growth. Not NVZ here currently.
As you say, we've brought it on ourselves. "Dumping" slurry on in large quantities despite conditions, just because "the field's gonna be ploughed anyway" was never a good thing.

I was chatting with a NRW fella here a couple of days ago who said they’d had quite a few ‘incidents’ this year where chicken muck had been tipped on maize stubble ready for spreading, then it came too wet for the spreading to happen. Surprisingly, he seemed quite sympathetic to the fact the farmers had been caught out by the weather this year.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

I was chatting with a NRW fella here a couple of days ago who said they’d had quite a few ‘incidents’ this year where chicken muck had been tipped on maize stubble ready for spreading, then it came too wet for the spreading to happen. Surprisingly, he seemed quite sympathetic to the fact the farmers had been caught out by the weather this year.

Certainly been a challenging year.

 

[Wellytrack]

There are rumours that the NVZ rules will be looked at again here in N.I.

It’s largely been seen as a particularly heavy handed and burdensome since it’s introduction.
It’s not going to be removed imo, perhaps relaxed by a few weeks either side of the dates..

 

[Brisel]

Brilliant. So we go from a simple rule, easy to implement, everyone knows where they stand and in general about technically correct, to a more complex variable system open to abuse and conjecture which will require more complex legislation and policemen. Welcome to the crazy world of cake and eat it deregulation promised by Gove, Villiers, Johnson, Mogg et al. Hey ho.

Or are you assuming no regulation for Nitrates at all. Back to the fifties.

Would you stick with the status quo of an arbitrary date? 1st Feb is going to be wet and stores are full after a shocking autumn. Legally (well, sort of), tankers can roll.

I’m guessing you don’t have a brim full slurry store.

 

[Danllan]

I was chatting with a NRW fella here a couple of days ago who said they’d had quite a few ‘incidents’ this year where chicken muck had been tipped on maize stubble ready for spreading, then it came too wet for the spreading to happen. Surprisingly, he seemed quite sympathetic to the fact the farmers had been caught out by the weather this year.

Yes, but, following from your earlier comments... I know some who - it seems - deliberately spread immediately before a heavy rainfall has been forecast, it just happens too often to be a coincidence.

 

[Sid]

Playing devil’s advocate and working on the basis that there will always be a closed period due to pollution, what would you say was a better alternative? A T Sum model?

Daffodils.
Nature is good at telling us ground temperature and growth.
They have to be a certain height for slurry to be spread. No putting them in the airing cupboard in a pot though!