Vogelsang were among the many wide-boom applicators in the slurry equipment halls at Agritechnica with its new BlackBird 30m trailing shoe.

This massive unit offers the choice of spreading at 30m or telescoping down to either 24m or 21m, with auto shut-off on the unused boom sections.

Half the boom width is shown in the picture (above). The half-section boom uses two distributors at each side.

The unit on display also had the Blackbird trailing shoe system suitable for grassland; a simpler dribble bar would more typically be spec’d for use on tillage.

If tillage farmers with winter cereals are to take on slurry from livestock farms, they will have to ensure that they get maximum utilisation of the nutrients that will be counted in their nutrient balances.

In the case of winter crops, this means slurry must be applied in the spring with a boom applicator.

Application width is often considered a problem, with cereal tramlines typically being 24m or more today.