Slurry storage capacity is being tested to the full following last week’s snow.

The general ratio of snow to water is about 10:1, meaning that a foot of snow equates to more than an inch of rain. Snow was blown into sheds, frozen drains and sluices saw slush from shed roofs and flowing into tanks. Problems with broken and damaged chutes on sheds also contributed. In some cases, tanks went from being half-full to within a foot of the lid in a couple of days.

Farmers with drier land, particularly stubble fields in tillage areas, are in many cases accommodating slurry spreading from neighbours. It is important for all parties in such arrangements to log the import/export of slurry for nitrates purposes.

Standstill

“Everything is at a standstill. It’ll be next week at best before we get out on land again,” said contractor Peter Duffy of Rathcoffey, Co Kildare. “He had made some progress emptying slurry tanks in the week before the snow, but some farmers had not spread any slurry since the new year.”

He did remark that stubble ground was remarkably dry on Wednesday afternoon, considering all that it had absorbed in the previous week. “Tanks are only going to get fuller as the melt continues,” he added.

Farmers are reminded that while it is possible to travel on fields in severe frost, it is not appropriate to spread slurry onto frosty land. It is not permitted to add slurry from a separate herd to a slatted tank under cattle. However, it is permitted to export slurry to a lagoon, as long as the normal requirements around farm-to-farm slurry export are observed.