Reminder: Last weekend to spread dairy washings
After the heavy rain last weekend, farmers are being reminded to spread any remaining dairy washings before the restricted period kicks in.
Dairy farmers are obliged to have capacity to store 31 days worth of dairy washings or soiled water.
The restricted period will begin Monday (December 1) and run for the month, with the last day of the restricted period being December 31, 2025.
The restriction period was extended to the full month for the first time last year, with the exception of winter milk producers who are in liquid contracts.
However, liquid milk producers are now also obliged to store their washings for the full month this year.
The restriction period comes under the Good Agricultural Practices for Protection of Waters Regulations.
The restriction is part of an effort to reduce the impact of nutrient losses during the riskiest period.
Dairy washings
Dairy washings or soiled water is water that has been collected from the milking parlour, collecting yards, washing beet or machinery, and runoff from silage bases.
Soiled water includes water from concreted areas, hard standing areas, holding areas for livestock, and other farmyard areas where such water is contaminated.
The water may become contaminated through contact with livestock faeces or urine, silage effluent, or chemical fertilisers.
If you store your soiled water together with slurry, the regulations consider it as slurry and therefore will be subject to the same rules and restricted periods as slurry.
The following table details storage periods and restricted spreading periods;
| Zone | Storage period for cattle manure | Chemical fertiliser (N and P) | Slurry | Farmyard manure (FYM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone A | 16 weeks | September 15 - January 26 | October 1 - January 12 | November 1 - January 12 |
| Zone B | 18 weeks | September 15 - January 29 | October 1 - January 15 | November 1 - January 15 |
| Zone C (Donegal, Leitrim) | 20 weeks | September 15 - February 14 | October 1 - January 31 | November 1 - January 31 |
| Zone C (Cavan, Monaghan) | 22 weeks | September 15 - February 14 | October 1 - January 31 | November 1 - January 31 |
Within the regulations, soiled water does not include any liquid with a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) exceeding 2,500mg/L, or a dry matter (DM) content exceeding 1% (10 g/L).
Usually, the volume of parlour washings produced on farm is 30L/cow/day or 0.21m3/week, or, if your collecting yard does not have a roof over it - which is the case for many farmers - the storage requirement may be 40L/cow/day.
Farmers should make sure that their soiled water tanks and slurry tanks are completely separated and that all slurry and water are going into the appropriate tanks to get the most out their storage facilities and to save them running tight on space.
