“With the increased cost of fertilisers, farmers are viewing slurry as a valuable fertiliser rather than a waste product,” said Joe O’Mahony, managing director of Agway.
Agway has been supplying Irish farmers with slurry additives for 20 years, and have been producing a specialised product – Nitroslurry – to maximise the fertiliser value of slurry, and in the process, reduce agitation time and odours.
“Microbes in Nitroslurry retain more nitrogen by incorporating nitrogen and ammonia into microbial protein – when CAN (Calcium Ammonium Nitrate) was €400/t, this resulted in a monetary gain of €165 for every €100 spent on Nitroslurry, but this has dramatically increased since then,” O’Mahony said.
“It reduces blockages which allows for faster agitation and pumping. Nitroslurry reduces odours of slurry which have resulted in reduced complaints to Agway customers.”
How does it work?
The incorporation of both aerobic and anaerobic microbes means that as soon as it is added to the tank they begin to work with or without the presence of air.
Nitroslurry incorporates five different bacterial microbes, enzymes to kick-start the breakdown and other activators to ensure even distribution as well as enhancing the enzymatic activity.
Nitroslurry, when added to the tank, works quickly to homogenize the slurry, preventing separation and crust formation occurring which will dramatically reduce time spent agitating and clearing blockages.
“What usually would take two day’s agitation and maybe someone drawing water for a day, I was able to drop the agitator in and within two hours it was moving around,” said James Murphy, farm manager at Castlehyde Stud, Coolmore Group
Retaining nitrogen
A further benefit of incorporating Nitroslurry is its ability to retain nitrogen, saving costs on fertiliser, giving you more benefit from your home-produced fertiliser.
The nitrogen and ammonia in the slurry are utilised by the microbes through complete degradation and locked into microbial protein to be spread on the land, reducing losses to the air.
In trials carried out in 2021 over a 150-day storage period, 93% of ammonia present in the slurry was converted to microbial protein; assuming losses of 50% during spreading, this is an increase of 21% in nitrogen from the slurry.
Due to reduced ammonia losses, animals housed in sheds above slatted units will also reap the benefit, increasing performance rates as the level of ammonia-nitrogen in the sheds is reduced.
Nitroslurry works on and in all tank types and spreaders but will show huge differences where issues can arise such a crust formation on lagoons and overground slurry stores or lumps blocking dribble bar systems as the microbes work to change the consistency of the slurry.
When Nitroslurry-treated slurry is spread on your land, the slurry value will have increased by feeding the soil bacteria, improving soil structure and health, resulting in an increase in crop performance as well as reducing the nitrogen fertiliser required.
“Every year we get more of a benefit because the ingredients are after building up in the tank, so we get massive results from Nitroslurry,” said James Kent, farm manager at Blarney Castle Farm.
As the slurry is maintained in a liquid state, blocking ammonia losses to the air, the odours when agitating and spreading are dramatically reduced.
This is facilitated through the complete degradation of the slurry which is generally not facilitated without the incorporation of Nitroslurry’s microbes and enzymes.
The bacteria and enzymes in Nitroslurry work to capture and degrade the mercaptans present in slurry, which are the primary source of foul odours present in untreated slurry.
Nitroslurry
Joe O’Mahony advises that the incorporation of Nitroslurry to tanks is carried out by adding one 100g Nitroslurry sachet to a bucket of lukewarm water, and allowing 20 minutes for the microbes and enzymes to activate before adding to the desired tank.
Each 100g sachet will treat the slurry of 20 cows, 30 beef cattle or 40 weanlings for a four-month winter.
To learn more about Nitroslurry, visit Agway’s stand at the National Ploughing Championships at: Block 3; Row 3; Stand 55.
For more information and to purchase, click here, or contact any member of the Agway team listed below:
- Joe O’Mahony: 086 810 1819; [email protected];
- Andrew O’Connell: 086 048 9300; [email protected];
- Roland Whelton: 085 167 9566; [email protected].
