Who's spreading slurry or digestate on their arable crops?

[matttargett4]

as above really

I'm interested to get into spreading onto growing crops, but I'm concerned about spending a heap of money and not getting a return, the essence of the job is nitrogen, if I only want p and k I can spread it outside of a growing crop much cheaper, so I need to make sure I can credit enough nitrogen to pay for the application.

So what are people up to? How much do you apply? At what growth stage? What is the analysis and how much blue bag do you credit? And what does it do to the yield?

Thanks

 

[cosmagedon]

@Speedstar might be able to help you

 

[Speedstar]

as above really

I'm interested to get into spreading onto growing crops, but I'm concerned about spending a heap of money and not getting a return, the essence of the job is nitrogen, if I only want p and k I can spread it outside of a growing crop much cheaper, so I need to make sure I can credit enough nitrogen to pay for the application.

So what are people up to? How much do you apply? At what growth stage? What is the analysis and how much blue bag do you credit? And what does it do to the yield?

Thanks

Well were do I start , yes it takes a hell of a lot of money to set up to do this & to do it right,Went to put it on when the crop is green are starting to grown in the spring with us that is mid April on wards , rate wants to be 30 to 50 cube per hec depending on what type of slurry it is , yield , yes it will be better than bagged fert only ask this guy @Fraserb did some for him this year & think it worked out well for them, as for making money out of it , depends what you spend & how much you do & how good the job is you do, we do OK from it but it is not a job for every one.

 

[Jerry]

Think its better in the seed bed.

I only use digestate, and that has to be worked in to meet regs. Yes it has an N effect, but its slow release. I use it more for organic matter and a soil conditioner including the P&K value.

Also slugs don't seem to like it.

 

[ollie989898]

as above really

I'm interested to get into spreading onto growing crops, but I'm concerned about spending a heap of money and not getting a return, the essence of the job is nitrogen, if I only want p and k I can spread it outside of a growing crop much cheaper, so I need to make sure I can credit enough nitrogen to pay for the application.

So what are people up to? How much do you apply? At what growth stage? What is the analysis and how much blue bag do you credit? And what does it do to the yield?

Thanks

Take it take it take it.

 

[matttargett4]

I'm not really fussed about trying to make it pay as a service for others, increasingly I feel that the constant chasing prices down in the contracting market leads to benefits like this being lost and impossible to charge for.

I can get all my slurry spread within a mile of here using a hose for £1 a cube, it's the cheapest answer, cheaper than I can do it, totally unsustainable but cheapest short term, markets drive it to be attractive, but I don't want to be the man with his pants round his ankles when the regulation and policing gets real.

So simply, I have 25k cube annually, 1.3kg/cum available N, 1kg N in om.

For simple numbers a kg of N is worth £1 spread out of the bag.

If I spread out of crop I get the 1kg in om, so the 1.3kg available is to play for.

If I spread with a dribble bar after my ammonia losses I might clear 1kg/cum, so it's worth £1/cube.

I think I can probably make it add up financially if I can actually credit the 1kg/cube from the bagged n and not take a yield penalty, trouble is apart from spend a shed load or ask on here I can't really think of how to find out.

Cheers

 

[Fraserb]

Our best yield of wheat last harvest came from a field which had all its fertiliser in the form of slurry, once early in the season and a second dose later on, next door field was a third wheat again with no artificial fertiliser and it also done well.

 

[Luke Cropwalker]

Have you had the slurry analysed at spreading time before? Does it all come from the same lagoon? Do you have enough land available to spread all of the slurry via umbilical?

 

[Fraserb]

Ours is analysed, in total we have 6 towers to take from but its fairly similar stuff in all of them.

The umbilical does a good chunk on both grass and crops, have two tankers to do the grass and stubble the cord can't reach.

 

[ollie989898]

I'm not really fussed about trying to make it pay as a service for others, increasingly I feel that the constant chasing prices down in the contracting market leads to benefits like this being lost and impossible to charge for.

I can get all my slurry spread within a mile of here using a hose for £1 a cube, it's the cheapest answer, cheaper than I can do it, totally unsustainable but cheapest short term, markets drive it to be attractive, but I don't want to be the man with his pants round his ankles when the regulation and policing gets real.

So simply, I have 25k cube annually, 1.3kg/cum available N, 1kg N in om.

For simple numbers a kg of N is worth £1 spread out of the bag.

If I spread out of crop I get the 1kg in om, so the 1.3kg available is to play for.

If I spread with a dribble bar after my ammonia losses I might clear 1kg/cum, so it's worth £1/cube.

I think I can probably make it add up financially if I can actually credit the 1kg/cube from the bagged n and not take a yield penalty, trouble is apart from spend a shed load or ask on here I can't really think of how to find out.

Cheers

I'm confused Matt. Are you saying you have been offered digestate, but have slurry to use anyway? I would stick to your slurry in that case.

With the proximity you have to the producers of digestate, neither you nor anyone within 10-15 miles at least should be buying any bagged P or K ever again. I would not pay for the stuff besides a contribution on haulage myself, but it is a LOT kinder to the soil and grows incredible crops of stuff. I can think of about 6 characters in all directions of you who take the stuff. I bet on a sizeable arable area it would nearly be worth building a store to store the stuff on your own farm. You just won't ever need P and K, ever and the savings on nitrogen are incredible.

 

[matttargett4]

No not digester, just slurry, I get pestered about that stuff all the time be we have plenty of our own to contend with.

This is my point, I don't buy p and k now, stubble spreading is adequate to achieve this, all of the cost of in crop spreading goes against nitrogen.

Above figures are the average of 4 tests over a yr, all from the same store, my pipe won't reach anything like all of it, we spread a good bit by hankering to the pipe, varying lengths of haul.
In my part of the world I can't really see a tanker and dribble bar being able to travel at the right times of yr unless I can spread in May.

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

Get it on in the spring!!!!!

It replaces bagged N and goes into the crop not down the drain

 

[Rob Holmes]

Ive been offered some and theyre willing to pay me £1/cube to take it

 

[ollie989898]

No not digester, just slurry, I get pestered about that stuff all the time be we have plenty of our own to contend with.

This is my point, I don't buy p and k now, stubble spreading is adequate to achieve this, all of the cost of in crop spreading goes against nitrogen.

Above figures are the average of 4 tests over a yr, all from the same store, my pipe won't reach anything like all of it, we spread a good bit by hankering to the pipe, varying lengths of haul.
In my part of the world I can't really see a tanker and dribble bar being able to travel at the right times of yr unless I can spread in May.

The chicken-keeping culprits used to manage to put their N on with spreaders flinging chicken muck from the tramlines. No bagged N at all. You will be able to cut down on N a lot with an autumn application. If the spring is too wet, it's too wet.

 

[d williams]

Ive been offered some and theyre willing to pay me £1/cube to take it

Including haulage and spreading? If so have a good look at the product seems like a good deal

 

[RFR]

Including haulage and spreading? If so have a good look at the product seems like a good deal

I'll have some of that!

 

[Rob Holmes]

Including haulage and spreading? If so have a good look at the product seems like a good deal

For product inc haulage but not spreading.
I only had a chat the other day, got to look at more detail first

 

[Michael S]

I spread pig slurry in crop with a dribble bar and tanker. Our slurry is imported from a pig farm that isn't adjacent to our own land. We have the advantage of always having some second year grass crops which will always travel sooner than cereal land. It will be interesting to see next spring whether the no-till land will carry the tanker earlier than the tilled land.

I have always used a boom half of the tramline width because it is cheaper to buy and you can get a long pull at 25m3/ha so reducing the amount of land run on more than once although doubling the number of wheelings. It is a steady job with an output in the low 30s m3/ha. I take about 6500m3/annum, roughly two thirds spring spread.

Does it pay? In pure money certainly not always, depending on the price of fertiliser, but organic manures do have an x-factor in my experience.

 

[farmerm]

Just be on the watch for Blackgrass if you dont alraedy have it. You would think seeds shouldn't survive digestion but I know one farm that was BG free and they are 100% convinced they planted a blackgrass problem when they bought in digestate. Anyone else come accross this?

 

[Clive]

It’s always been free here delivered and spread

I know some have been paid to take it

Not bad stuff - we have had wheat, OSR and spring barley too dressed with it in the passed that did as well as conventionally fertilised crops but without the cost

Can make a mess getting it on though in a wet spring