SCHOOL EDITION 22 MARCH 2023 - Flipbook - Page 3
FARMWEEK
JANUARY 28 2021
FARMING VOICE
On the farmers’ side
FWeditorial
by Robert Irwin
At work
on the
turnip
harvest
fweditorial@farmweek.com
Timing key
for slurry
spreading
as season
commences
T
HE slurry spreading season commences
on Monday morning, February 1, weather
permitting.
While the date has been set for quite a few
years now, the onus is still placed on farmers to
decide whether it is wise to get the tanker out next week,
with warnings that slurry should only be spread when
ground conditions are suitable and there is minimal risk
of run-off. Where land is waterlogged or when heavy rain
is forecast, then spreading should be postponed.
There are always those farmers who nd by this time of
the year that slurry tanks are full. Cow numbers may have
increased without a commensurate increase in slurry
capacity, or stock may have been housed earlier than
expected given that the autumn saw considerable rainfall.
The pressure is on to get slurry out and it is a difcult
call to know when to go for it. Modern tankers with super
wide otation tyres are able to travel wet ground.
Umbilical systems avoid the need to put tankers on the
land at all, just a tractor to carry the spreader bar. So it
is possible to spread in wet conditions without too much
damage to the land.
It then becomes a call as to whether there will be any
risk of run-off. And that can be a hard call to make. The
following day’s rain may be much heavier than expected,
eld drainage may be much more efcient than expected,
carrying slurry away in the same system that is designed
to give efcient drainage of rainfall.
There are times when it cannot be reasonably seen as
the farmer’s fault – they are just a victim of circumstances
and this should be taken into account when prosecutions
are considered.
Wider buffer areas along waterways at this time of
the year makes sense to try to avoid pollution of the
waterway, although is there much of a difference between
an open drain and a covered drainpipe when it comes to
pollution risk?
Set against all of this is the management of the nutrients
in the slurry. It is widely accepted that early spring is
the most effective time of the year to apply slurry to
maximise the value of its nutrients. The benets can be
the equivalent of an extra six units of nitrogen per 1,000
gallons spread.
The spreading method is also an important factor and
can add three units of nitrogen per 1,000 gallons spread.
This can be achieved by using a trailing shoe or dribble
bar in place of the splash plate.
For those who feel that everything is OK to start
spreading next week, the most important aspect of all is
to keep safe. The dangers of slurry gases are well known.
It has cost the lives of both farmers and livestock and
those involved in the spreading process must do all they
can to avoid any further fatalities.
It is an invisible killer. The dangerous gases cannot even
be detected by smell so farmers must follow best advice
and make sure there is someone on hand to call for help if
they are overcome.
Don’t take chances – follow the slurry code and stay
safe.
ON FARM:
Geoffrey and
Noel Laffin
harvesting
turnips on
their farm at
Drumlough,
Rathfriland.
PICTURE:
Billy Maxwell
Letter to the editor…
Ballymena beef and sheep farmer
Kevin MacAuley writes
Sheep price increase
the best zoom of all
SIR:
Meetings of groups of people are
now non-existent due to the horrible
spread of the Covid 19 killer virus.
They have been replaced by virtual
meetings through such systems as
podcasts, webcasts, webinars and
Zoom.
Indeed, some are so new that their
names do not appear in the dictionary.
The Zoom that I like best is the zoom
in sheep prices.
All sheep prices have risen
dramatically during the past few
months. Hogget prices here have
jumped from an average deadweight
price of 425.4p/kg in the week ending
January 19, 2019, to 541p for the same
week this January.
Likewise, the live price of lambs has
risen from 402p to 521.8p during the
same period.
Here in Northern Ireland the number
of ewes dropped from 973,341 in 2017
to 931,000 in 2020. That is a fall of over
42,000.
The tumble in numbers is due to a
lack of protability which has been
accelerated by the loss of the LFA
subsidy. This has also resulted in a
drop in lambs born here.
The rise in price is due to a decrease
in imports of lamb, especially from
New Zealand, and a rise in demand.
Sheep numbers in New Zealand have
decreased considerably over the past
decade. In 2007 New Zealand had 39
million sheep but the number fell to
26.8 million in June 2019. There was
a further fall to 26.16 by June 2020,
which was partly due to drought in
North Island.
The fall between 2007 and 2020
equates to a 33 per cent drop. Many
farmers there, like farmers here, have
been switching to the much more
3
protable dairy production. On top of
that New Zealand has been exporting
more lamb to China.
The rise in lamb and hogget prices
have also been reected in a good
rise in the price of breeding stock.
Pedigree sheep have been breaking
record prices.
There is also a strong demand for
breeding ewes. Commercial ewes with
twin lambs are selling at up to £300.
I have a lot of sympathy for the
farmers that have still 9,000 breeding
sheep stranded in Scotland due to
Brexit. These are mainly ewe lambs
that have been purchased by farmers
here and are being overwintered in
Scotland.
They have been acquired to try
and improve the ocks here. Those
unfortunate farmers are in a very
difcult position and could lose
money if the situation is not resolved.
The rise in lamb prices was
desperately needed. For too long
farmers were subsidising their sheep
enterprise with their Single Farm
Payment.
Government statistics show that the
prot for lowland cattle and sheep
farmers in 2019 was £9,809 with those
in the LFA little better at £10,418.
Without the Single farm Payment,
those farmers would have had no
prot.
Let us hope that those prices will
remain high to keep sheep farmers
farming. Farmers are the true
custodians of the countryside.
PS: I sincerely hope that Minister
Poots will have his operation soon
and be blessed with a speedy and full
recovery. Then he will once again be
back to his brilliant best.
Yours, &c