Splash plates to be phased out from January

From January 2022, farmers have new slurry and silage regulations to adhere to thanks to new Scottish government rules. Splash plates will be phased out over five years, as well as a new obligation for farmers to comply with the Risk Assessment for Manures and Slurries (RAMS). Silage bales can no longer be stored within 10m of any surface water.

Other changes include the minimum capacity for slurry storage, which must now be 26 weeks for housed pigs or 22 weeks for housed cattle. New slurry or liquid digestate storage must not be situated within 10m of any surface water or opening into a surface water drain where liquid could enter if it were to escape.

It must also have a life expectancy of at least 20 years.

Historic storage built before 1991 needs to meet a new ‘fit for purpose’ test, with newer units required to adhere to additional British construction standards.

The new rules start from January, but some farmers will have up to five years to comply. NFU Scotland is lobbying the government for support for farmers who require significant investment to comply with the changes. It states: “The only available Scottish government support for slurry storage in 2021 was through a very limited Agri-Environment and Climate Scheme (AECS).

“While AECS rounds for 2022-24 have been confirmed, there are no details on whether this is an option for slurry storage and spreading investment during the transitional period.”

The government is championing the changes, which it claims will cause a reduction of up to 70% of the harmful ammonia that is released into the atmosphere, which will have a significant impact as agriculture accounts for around 90% of ammonia emissions, it says.

Scottish agriculture produces

The total quantity of slurry produced in Scotland is estimated at 6.35m tonnes, or 1.67bn gallons.

A single 10m3 tanker of slurry can have an equivalent fertiliser value of between £30 to £50, with the government stating that a splash plate can lose around 30% of the available nitrogen as ammonia gas in just the first three hours.

Following a 12 week consultation with the public and the industry, changes will come as an amendment to the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011.

Trailer test licence U-turn

The UK government will not be going ahead with the expected suspension of the trailer test requirements. The changes that were supposed to come into place this week would have seen drivers with a full driving licence permitted to tow trailers with a maximum mass of up to 3,500kg.

The government states that the changes will come in to place at a later date.

Anyone who does not already hold a trailer licence for towing a heavier weight trailer with a light vehicle (B +E) will continue to be unable to tow. There are no current means of gaining a +E entitlement as tests have been stopped by DVSA.

Transport specialist Jamie Smart said: “This is the worst of both worlds, as nobody can now obtain a licence to tow with a car or pickup and you can’t tow without one.

“It is not clear when the law will change, but we do know for certain that it won’t change on 15 November.

“There are indications that the new rules that would allow for those with a full car driving licence to tow a trailer with a car without an additional test may yet come in to legislation before the end of the year,” he said.

A recent Scottish study has shown that aggressive pigs are less likely to learn from losing a fight, while non-aggressive pigs are significantly more affected by winning or losing a social conflict.

The Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) study qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) looked at the body language of animals in different situations to record the emotional state of the pigs in a social situations.

Through studying ear posture, direction of gaze and vocalisations such as grunts and squeals, researchers measured how personality (aggressiveness towards an intruder) and the experience of winning or losing a contest when paired with an unfamiliar pig, influenced how the animals felt when they were next put back into the ‘unfamiliar pairs’ situation.

Rather than being fearless and over-confident, they found highly aggressive pigs showed more negative emotions than low aggressive pigs when confronted with a strange pig. They were also less likely to learn from past defeat.

Lead researcher Lucy Oldham, a postgraduate research student at SRUC, said: “A key aim of this study was to find out what being an aggressive pig is like for the pig - which is really important when it comes to solving the problem of aggression on farms.

“Our results show that the welfare of both aggressive and non-aggressive pigs suffers.

“It is therefore advantageous for all animals if we can find ways to reduce their aggressiveness by providing social and physical environments that encourage their best natures,” she said.

Steven Smith, Sunnyhill Farms, Claymires, Turriff, with his winning champion beef carcase at Scotland’s Premier Meat Exhibition. The Limousin cross heifer carcase weighed 373.7kg and graded in at E2 and a 65.3% KO. This year there was no carcase display at Scot Beef, Bridge of Allan, but there were spectators at the live judging held at Lanark Auction Market.

New Scottish Land Commission Good Practice Advisors Karen Grant and Calum Stewart. The pair will work with land owners and managers, community organisations and local authorities to raise awareness of how to fulfil land rights and responsibilities. Stewart joins the Commission from Glasgow University, where he was a tutor in Law, having recently completed his thesis on Community Right to Buy. Grant is joining from a background in environmental campaigns consultancy and farm management.

Let is grow. Following a spring barley harvest this field in Aberdeenshire was disced, lightly sown with £70 of forage rape over 15 aces then heavy rolled on 9 September. Whilst the forage rape crop might be fairly measly, agitating the seedbed has dramatically increased the amount of barley growing. This field will now provide feed for 100 lambs for up to three weeks this winter. At 57 degrees north Aberdeenshire struggled to get any winter fodder crops established if sown in September. However simply discing a stubble field could offer a few weeks fodder for sheep by allowing spilt grain and grasses to germinate and grow before the days become the growing season stops. Stubble fields left untouched provide little cover in winter making agitating up the top of the soil essential.