Urea vs protectdd urea

[Jdunn55]

What's the difference other than £60/t?

Does the protected stuff milk the cows for me or transport the grass to the silage pit? Or is it another magic potion created by someone clever?

What time of the year do you need to switch to ammonium nitrate? End of may/early June?

 

[SilliamWhale]

I say its rubbish.

Put urea on before rain and its fine

 

[Barmyfarmer]

Cheap insurance for an expensive product

 

[Jdunn55]

Cheap insurance for an expensive product

What does it do? I've never used Urea before so cannot comment, normally have ammonium nitrate but that's a sh!t buy compared to Urea atm

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Nondetectable or minimal detectable residue levels of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide in bovine tissues and milk from a 28-d NBPT dosing study - PubMed

N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) (Figure 1) is an active ingredient in nitrogen stabilizer (urease inhibitor), which temporarily inhibits the action of the urease enzyme to improve the efficiency of urea-containing fertilizers. Given the potential for NBPT residues to be present in...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) (Figure 1) is an active ingredient in nitrogen stabilizer (urease inhibitor), which temporarily inhibits the action of the urease enzyme to improve the efficiency of urea-containing fertilizers. Given the potential for NBPT residues to be present in milk and tissues of dairy cattle, due diligence is needed to demonstrate the safety of NBPT in urea-based fertilizers used on forages and crops intended for consumption by Holstein dairy cows. This study used controlled dosing of NBPT in capsule form to dairy cattle for 28 d, followed by a 14-d depuration phase to assess the potential for residues to exist in milk and tissues of dairy cattle at exaggerated use levels. Fourteen lactating cows were selected for the dosing and depuration phases of the study, based on health, body weight (BW), and milk production. There were four treatment groups: 0 mg NBPT/kg BW (Control) (n = 2 cows), 1 mg NBPT/kg BW (1×) (n = 3 cows), 3 mg NBPT/kg BW (3×) (n = 3 cows), and 10 mg NBPT/kg/BW (10×) (n = 6 cows); levels were based on maximum tolerable amount of urea that a cow can ingest on a daily basis (1×) and the maximum concentration of NBPT commercially used when treating urea (0.1 wt% NBPT in urea). At the end of the 28-d dosing phase, cows were randomly selected for the 14-d depuration phase of the study (one control and three 10× cows). The results showed no NBPT residue is detectable at all dose levels, except that a residue level was above the lower limit of quantitation in a single milk and subcutaneous fat sample in the highest (10×) treatment group, which represents the level of NBPT that would be theoretically present in 10× the lethal dosing of daily consumable urea to a cow. Overall, the study demonstrated that it is unlikely for NBPT residues to be present in cattle milk or edible tissues or to cause negative effects on animal health under good agricultural practice.

 

[Farmer Keith]

Talking to my rep about this the other day, any thoughts on what happens if you spread protected and there’s only a small amount of rain. Is it the case that it’ll wash the protection off and leave the exposed urea to float away into the atmosphere? If that’s the case it still needs an 1” of rain on it and you may as well use in treated.

 

[davidroberts30]

Nondetectable or minimal detectable residue levels of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide in bovine tissues and milk from a 28-d NBPT dosing study - PubMed

N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) (Figure 1) is an active ingredient in nitrogen stabilizer (urease inhibitor), which temporarily inhibits the action of the urease enzyme to improve the efficiency of urea-containing fertilizers. Given the potential for NBPT residues to be present in...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) (Figure 1) is an active ingredient in nitrogen stabilizer (urease inhibitor), which temporarily inhibits the action of the urease enzyme to improve the efficiency of urea-containing fertilizers. Given the potential for NBPT residues to be present in milk and tissues of dairy cattle, due diligence is needed to demonstrate the safety of NBPT in urea-based fertilizers used on forages and crops intended for consumption by Holstein dairy cows. This study used controlled dosing of NBPT in capsule form to dairy cattle for 28 d, followed by a 14-d depuration phase to assess the potential for residues to exist in milk and tissues of dairy cattle at exaggerated use levels. Fourteen lactating cows were selected for the dosing and depuration phases of the study, based on health, body weight (BW), and milk production. There were four treatment groups: 0 mg NBPT/kg BW (Control) (n = 2 cows), 1 mg NBPT/kg BW (1×) (n = 3 cows), 3 mg NBPT/kg BW (3×) (n = 3 cows), and 10 mg NBPT/kg/BW (10×) (n = 6 cows); levels were based on maximum tolerable amount of urea that a cow can ingest on a daily basis (1×) and the maximum concentration of NBPT commercially used when treating urea (0.1 wt% NBPT in urea). At the end of the 28-d dosing phase, cows were randomly selected for the 14-d depuration phase of the study (one control and three 10× cows). The results showed no NBPT residue is detectable at all dose levels, except that a residue level was above the lower limit of quantitation in a single milk and subcutaneous fat sample in the highest (10×) treatment group, which represents the level of NBPT that would be theoretically present in 10× the lethal dosing of daily consumable urea to a cow. Overall, the study demonstrated that it is unlikely for NBPT residues to be present in cattle milk or edible tissues or to cause negative effects on animal health under good agricultural practice.

What does that mean in english?
They fed it to cows??

 

[FarmerWasty]

Protected urea stays stable in sunlight/dry weather. Normal urea doesn't. I'd only ever spread urea in feb/march, otherwise protected.

 

[neilo]

Protected urea stays stable in sunlight/dry weather. Normal urea doesn't. I'd only ever spread urea in feb/march, otherwise protected.

And yet unprotected urea is used as a nitrogen fertiliser all around the world, with most places being hotter and drier than the UK.

 

[hansjorgen]

Teagasc has some information on Protected Urea here: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/soil--soil-fertility/protected-urea/

 

[Tirglas]

Sorry to add another question but is all urea fertiliser the same in as being lighter and bulkier in the bag/spinner?? peasant vicon 2 bag wagtail user here

 

[Woody j]

Sorry to add another question but is all urea fertiliser the same in as being lighter and bulkier in the bag/spinner?? peasant vicon 2 bag wagtail user here

Yes

 

[Jon]

And yet unprotected urea is used as a nitrogen fertiliser all around the world, with most places being hotter and drier than the UK.

This.

Well said.

 

[FarmerWasty]

This.

Well said.

Different environmental standards isn't it.

 

[Jon]

Different environmental standards isn't it.

We are the only ones in the world using protected urea though.

 

[Two Tone]

I’ve been using unprotected Urea exclusively since the early 80’s and this nonsense about it needing rain soon after spreading or it’ll volatilise is a total load of Bollox!
It will only do so on bare soil over 27 degrees C. When is that going to happen? Even using it for late protein applications on milling wheat in June, it still works as it never gets that hot at the soil surface then.
It won’t disappear if it doesn’t rain and it will happily stay unused until the following year if it didn’t get used the year you applied it. It certainly does not need anything like an inch of rain to activate it.

Most of the rest of the world uses unprotected Urea, including hot countries like Australia and India.
It is only because we never made Urea in the UK that we stuck with AN.
The AN manufacturers have conned everybody here into making us believe the volatilisation nonsense.
Those losses if any, are lower than the leaching of AN into watercourses.
When has anybody ever smelled ammonia volatilising from unprotected Urea treated fields?

IMO, if you use AN, you are just wasting money, unless you need a very quick response.
Just put Urea on a fortnight earlier. No need for 3 dressings as 2 will do the same job.
I’ve used it in some very warm, dry years without any problems whatsoever!

In the early years, it only problem was finding a spreader that would accurately spread the pilled Urea, unless you used a pneumatic spreader.
Since granular became available, that problem was solved and forgotten.

Normally, I’d want to put my final, main dressing on in early April and definitely by the 7th, because it is slower to work than AN. But would happily put unprotected on by the end of March, if I have to.
The first dressing can go on, on a frost anytime in February. It’ll just sit there until it warms up enough to be usable.

 

[lazy farmer]

Moan all you like. Our choices going forward will either be protected urea or AN.
It appears it won’t be government policy but Red Tractor will be bringing it in on their behalf.

 

[Two Tone]

Moan all you like. Our choices going forward will either be protected urea or AN.
It appears it won’t be government policy but Red Tractor will be bringing it in on their behalf.

Not true!
Read the rules on application dates.

 

[FarmerWasty]

I thought protected urea was already a government priority? Especially in NVZ.

 

[lazy farmer]

Not true!
Read the rules on application dates.

It’s what came from our milk buyer that sits on the RT board. So time will tell.