Understanding the new slurry storage requirements for 2028
From 1 October 2028, dairy farms will face increased minimum storage requirements for both slurry and soiled water. In this article, Brian Walsh, B&T Dairy Advisor, Teagasc, Claremorris outlines what the changes will mean at farm level.
For dairy cows, the slurry storage requirement will increase from 0.33m³ per cow per week to 0.40m³. The dairy soiled water allowance will increase from 0.21m³ per cow per week to 0.30m³. In addition, the soiled water calculation will be based on a 15-day storage period on all farms from 2028.
What does this change mean in practice?
Take a 120-cow dairy herd as a simple example. At the current rate, the weekly slurry allowance for the cows is 39.6m³. From October 2028, that becomes 48m³ per week, an increase of 8.4m³ every week. The soiled water allowance also rises from 25.2m³ to 36m³ per week, although the calculation of dairy soiled water has some important practical details, including the number of cows milking during the relevant months. This is why it is worth getting the calculation done on an individual farm rather than applying a blanket figure. A spring-calving herd, for example, will have a different soiled water requirement from a herd with cows milking through the winter.
Dairy washings
Dairy washings are an area that can catch farmers out. Parlour and bulk tank washings need to be collected and stored, but the way they are managed can have a significant impact on the storage calculation. If dairy washings are directed into a slurry tank, that tank is effectively being used to store the additional volume and the material will have to be managed as slurry for the purposes of storage and spreading.
TAMS application
For farmers who do need to build additional nutrient storage, TAMS 3 should be considered as part of the plan.
Read more: TAMS 3: Plan the investment, not just the grant
Under the current Animal Welfare and Nutrient Storage Scheme (AWNSS), eligible nutrient storage investments such as mass concrete tanks, circular slurry stores, manure pits and geomembrane-lined stores can attract 60% grant aid, subject to the scheme rules and investment ceilings. The current dedicated nutrient storage ceiling is €90,000 per holding, or €160,000 for a registered farm partnership.
TAMS approval takes time. The grant approval, design, specifications and the required paperwork all need to be dealt with in the correct order.
Planning permission
New agricultural exempted-development regulations introduced in 2025 have been created. For the first time, a planning exemption for certain stand-alone slurry, effluent and soiled-water storage facilities have been introduced.
Under the new Class 6A provision, a stand-alone store of up to 1,000m³ can qualify for the exemption, subject to the conditions and limitations in the planning regulations and an overall farm limit of 1,500m³, i.e. if you have a current storage capacity of 900m³, therefore the maximum tank you can erect is 600m³.
The exemption comes with conditions and limitations, and other planning or environmental considerations may still apply. Where a proposed development does not meet the exempted-development conditions, planning permission may be required. Farmers should therefore establish the planning position before committing to construction. This is particularly important where a new tank is close to a watercourse, road or dwelling, where there are protected areas or other environmental constraints or where the proposal forms part of a larger farm development.
For a farmer who is already tight on storage, the biggest risk is waiting until the autumn of 2028 to find a solution. A new tank can involve design, planning checks, TAMS application and approval, contractor availability and construction. All these steps take time. There is also a financial decision to make. A farmer may not need the biggest possible tank, but building a store that only just meets the minimum requirement can leave very little flexibility in a wet year. Equally, there is little value in spending heavily on storage capacity that the farm will never use.
The best place to start is therefore a simple question: how much storage do I have today, how much will I need from October 2028, and where is the difference coming from? Once that number is known, the options become much clearer i.e. improve the existing system, divert clean water, change how washings are collected, add storage, adjust stock numbers or a combination of these. It’s time to start planning now for these changes to be ready for October 2028.
Brian Walsh, is a B&T Dairy Advisor at Teagasc Claremorris, working in the Teagasc Mayo Advisory Region.