Guide to the new slurry rules as 2023 open season starts

Ireland’s fifth Nitrates Action Programme came into effect on March 11, 2022, and has been given legal effect by Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters Regulations 2022 (SI No 113 of 2022) and Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters Regulations 2022 (SI No 393 of 2022) (Amendment).

These regulations contain specific measures to protect surface water and groundwater from nutrient pollution arising from agricultural sources.

The new regulations deal with three main aspects of farmyard management: Keeping soiled water to a minimum; collecting organic fertilisers and effluents; and storing organic fertilisers and effluents properly.

The main elements of the regulations include that farmers must not exceed 170kg of nitrogen per hectare in a year in the form of animal excretion or organic fertiliser application in the form of slurry, or farmyard manure, for example.

The 170kg per hectare per year nitrogen limit means that the amount of livestock manure that you apply to land on your holding in any year, added to what livestock deposit directly, must not amount to more than 170kg of nitrogen to the hectare.

Farmers can apply for a nitrates derogation where the 170kg of nitrogen per hectare limit will be exceeded up to a maximum of 250kg of nitrogen per hectare.

The regulations also mean that there are times of the year when it is prohibited for farmers to spread any fertiliser, manure, or soiled water on their land.

Farmers must also keep within the overall maximum fertilisation rates for nitrogen and phosphorus, the basic rule being that they only apply as much nitrogen and phosphorus as their crops (including grass) need.

Farmers must have sufficient storage capacity to meet at least the minimum requirements of the regulations, and all storage facilities must be kept leak-proof and structurally sound.

In addition, farmers must follow the rules about ploughing and applying non-selective herbicides, and they must keep various records, including records of the fertilisers and manures they bring onto their holding or send out of it.

Records must be kept for each calendar year, which means January 1 to December 31, and farmers must have them complete and available for inspection by March 31 of the following year.

For nitrates derogation farmers, they are required to have records available by March 31, 2023, on area farmed, crops grown, types of livestock and numbers, storage facilities on the farm, etc.

From 2023 onwards, farmers are required to have records available by January 31.

Farmers will already have most of this information on their basic payment application, stock registers, and Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) system profiles.

Rules

For slurry storage and management, in order to reduce the impact of nutrient losses in the riskiest period of the year, the spreading of slurry must be applied by October 1 in 2023.

For soiled water storage and management, to reduce the impact of nutrient losses in the riskiest period, the spreading of soiled water will be prohibited for all milk producers between December 10 and 31 in 2023, compared to December 21 and 31 in 2022.

From 2024, this period will change to between December 1 and 31, with exception of winter/liquid milk producers, who will have to adhere to this from 2025 instead.

Soiled water includes water from concreted areas, hard-standing areas, holding areas for livestock, and other farmyard areas where such water is contaminated by contact with livestock faeces, urine, or silage effluent; chemical fertilisers; washing such as vegetable washing or milking parlour washing; and water used in washing farm equipment.

Meanwhile, other changes under the regulations include that the excretion rate of dairy cows will change from the single figure of 89kg of nitrogen per hectare to the banded system from 2023 onwards.

The new excretion rate bands will be calculated as 80kg per hectare, 92kg per hectare, and 106kg per hectare.

Teagasc conducted research that concluded that as the milk yield of the dairy cow increased, the nutrient output also increased.

So from this year onwards, the banding of the dairy cow will be introduced which will be calculated on a rolling three-year average.

In terms of chemical fertiliser controls, there has been a 10% cut in nitrogen fertiliser allowances from March 2022.

Meanwhile, all farmers above a grassland stocking rate of 170kg of nitrogen per hectare must take soil samples from 2022, and by 2023 for holdings above 130kg per hectare and for all sown arable land.

For grazing land management, the maximum stocking rate on commonage land is 50kg of nitrogen per hectare with no chemical fertiliser allowed.

Reduced storage through outwintering is applicable to those with stocking rates below 130kg of nitrogen per hectare and from 2025 onwards, will only be applicable to farmers stocked below 100kg of nitrogen per hectare.

The use of slurry tankers with splash plates is being replaced with low-emissions slurry spreading (LESS) equipment.

It has been compulsory for all holdings stocked at or above 170kg organic nitrogen per hectare prior to exports to use LESS equipment.

Building on this requirement, it will be rolled out on a phased basis for lower grassland stocking rates.

From January 1, 2023, it is compulsory for all holdings at or above 150kg nitrogen per hectare prior to export of livestock manure from the holding.

From January 1, 2024, it will be compulsory for all holdings at or above 130kg, and from January 1, 2025, it will be compulsory for all holdings at or above 100kg.

In addition, from January 1, 2023, all pig slurry applied to land must be applied using LESS equipment and all livestock manure applied to arable land must either be applied using this equipment or incorporated within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, shallow cultivation or sowing of a crop must take place within 10 days of baling of straw post-harvest.

Where straw is chopped, shallow cultivation or sowing a crop must take place within 10 days of harvest.

In all circumstances, shallow cultivation or sowing of a crop must take place within 14 days of harvesting.

In certain weather conditions, the Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in conjunction with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine may advise when this should not apply.

For late-harvested crops, a minimum buffer of 6m shall be put in place to protect any intersecting watercourses.

Zones

The country is divided into zones, with rules for each zone about minimum storage capacity and the prohibited spreading periods — the times when farmers are not allowed to spread organic and chemical (nitrogen and phosphorus) fertilisers — set out.

• Zone A consists of counties Carlow; Cork; Dublin; Kildare; Kilkenny; Laois; Offaly; Tipperary; Waterford; Wexford; and Wicklow.
• Zone B consists of Clare; Galway; Kerry; Limerick; Longford; Louth; Mayo; Meath; Roscommon; Sligo; and Westmeath.
• Meanwhile, Zone C is divided into two parts of Donegal/Leitrim and Cavan/Monaghan, which have different minimum storage requirements, but have the same rules for the times when fertiliser must not be spread.

The prohibited period for application of organic fertilisers started on October 8 for each zone in 2022, but from 2023 onwards, it starts on October 1.

Pre-defined scientific criteria for the application of slurry up to October 15 each year have been published and include weather conditions, grass growth, and situation on farms. Where this criteria is met, farmers may be eligible to spread slurry up to October 15 of that year.

Otherwise, for Zone A, the storage period for cattle manure is 16 weeks. The prohibited application period for chemical fertilisers is September 15 to January 26, while for organic fertilisers the period is October 1 to January 12, and for farmyard manure, November 1 to January 12.

For Zone B, the storage period for cattle manure is 18 weeks. The application of chemical fertilisers in this zone is prohibited from September 15 to January 29, organic fertilisers from October 1 to January 15, and farmyard manure from November 1 to January 15.

For Zone C – Donegal and Leitrim, the storage period for cattle manure is 20 weeks. The prohibited period for spreading chemical fertilisers is September 15 to February 14, for organic fertilisers from October 1 to January 31, and farmyard manure, November 1 to January 31.

Zone C – Cavan and Monaghan, has a storage period for cattle manure of 22 weeks. Chemical fertiliser cannot be spread from September 15 to February 14, organic fertiliser from October 1 to January 31, and farmyard manure from November 1 to January 31.

Weather

In order to prevent waters from being polluted by nitrogen and phosphorus, the regulations require that farmers must spread chemical fertilisers, livestock manure, and other organic fertilisers, effluents, and soiled water as accurately and evenly as one can.

Farmers must not use an upward-facing splash plate or sludge irrigator on a tanker or umbilical system for spreading organic fertiliser or soiled water.

Farmers must also not spread organic fertilisers or soiled water from a road or passageway, even if the road or passageway is on their own holding.

They must not spread chemical fertilisers, livestock manure, soiled water, or other organic fertilisers when the land is waterlogged; the land is flooded or likely to flood; the land is frozen or covered with snow; or heavy rain is forecast within 48 hours.

They must also not spread if the ground slopes steeply and there is a risk of water pollution, when factors such as surface run-off pathways, the presence of land drains, the absence of hedgerows to mitigate surface flow, soil condition, and ground cover are taken into account.

Chemical fertiliser also cannot be spread on land within 2m of a surface watercourse.

This week, rainfall amounts are expected to be below average over much of the country, but still be above average in coastal areas of the west and north, Met Éireann said in its most recent farming commentary.

From Sunday to Wednesday, rainfall was mainly in the form of showers, some turning wintry.

From Thursday onwards, more general rain will move in from the west.

The week before saw well above normal rainfall totals across Ireland.

It was wettest across the western half of the country.

A number of snow and ice warnings were in place this week for much of the country, with low temperatures and widespread frost, ice, and snow in some areas.

Last weekend, virtually all soils were saturated across the country with most moderately drained soils and all poorly drained soils saturated, Met Éireann said.

This week, little change to field conditions has been expected, although soils in many areas will become marginally drier, however, trafficability will remain poor.

Teagasc Signpost webinar

For farmers who want to learn more, the Teagasc Signpost series of webinars will continue this Friday, January 20, with a session on the incoming National Fertiliser Database, along with the banding of dairy cows and recent changes under the Nitrates Action Programme, with Department of Agriculture officials to speak at it.

The department is in the process of developing a National Fertiliser Database, to be in place this year.

The purpose of the register is to accurately track fertiliser sales and minimise reporting requirements, which will help Ireland meet commitments to the European Commission arising from the fifth Nitrates Action Programme to develop a fertiliser sales register.

According to the department, the database will also facilitate ease of checks and timely farmer payments under the eco-scheme action relating to limited fertiliser nitrogen use under the CAP Strategic Plan, along with providing a more realistic picture of where fertiliser is applied to land.