Don’t bury your head in the sand on slurry storage requirements
From the October 1, 2028, dairy farms will have to comply with additional slurry and soiled water storage requirements.
Soiled water storage requirements will increase to 0.3m3/cow/week (up from 0.21m3) whereas slurry storage requirements will increase to 0.4m3/cow/week (up from 0.33m3). Given this ~20% increase in storage requirements, Claire Mooney, Catchment Coordinator for the Suir, stressed the importance of early planning when joining Stuart Childs on a recent episode of the Dairy Edge podcast.
“I would encourage farmers to contact their advisor and sit down and plan with them,” Claire Mooney explained, encouraging farmers to avoid “burying their heads in the sand on the need for extra slurry storage and the impacts that this can have on water quality”. She urged farmers to assess the potential of applying for TAMS or availing of accelerated capital allowances to support investments in additional facilities.
As to the importance of this planning, she explained: “It’s either put additional storage in place or else you are looking at reducing stock numbers, which people don’t really want to end up in that situation, or the other option is to make alternative arrangements i.e. B&B or contract rearing.”
“On some farms, it won’t involve a lot of investment; on others, there are some serious decisions made. Advisors are finished BISS now and they will have a chance to sit down and assess the situation for each individual farm,” she added.
Given the forthcoming regulatory change, Claire Mooney explained that most dairy farmers will have to act. In the interim, however, she commented that there are strategies farmers can take to minimise the amount of additional water entering tanks. She encouraged farmers to focus on areas where clean water may be entering tanks, such as leaking water troughs.
Additionally, a focus must be placed on the areas were cows travel within the farmyard, with Claire Mooney adding: “Cows need not be using the whole yard. Minimise the area that the cows have to traffic.”
“Such options include clearly defining the areas on which cows travel using curbing, material from this area will then be collected as soiled water, whereas areas where cows don’t travel – provided it is free from urine, faecal matter or silage effluent – will be classified as grey water. Some options farmers could explore to manage grey water include the use of two-chamber settlement tanks or a willow filter bed. “
For further insights, listen to the full episode of the Dairy Edge podcast below:
For more tips and advice on water quality, visit the Better Farming for Water webpage here.
Also read: Key actions – protecting water quality on your farm
Also read: Adhere to buffer zones when spreading slurry