FERMENTING SLURRY & MANURE - farmers weekly
BOKASHI ON FARM
The farm has embraced the use of microbes in slurry and on straw. For example, a pre-made liquid mix of microbes is applied weekly to the straw beds in the heifer sheds using a handheld pump sprayer. "It composts the manure, and it comes out almost like soil, without the wet heaviness and strong ammonia smell," Jamie explains.
He finds it also thins the slurry, making it easier to store and apply through an umbilical system. The aim of this fermentation is to create an effective soil food, preserving the carbon value of the manure. "You've also got to analyse slurry because nutrient value will vary," he adds.
Alongside this, several Johnson-Su bioreactors are being used to produce living biological material to add to the soil in the form of a seed dressing on cover crops and wheat.
The Johnson-Su is a composting setup in a converted intermediate bulk container, into which Jamie has been putting slurry, straw, woodchip and silage. With the addition of a handful of worms, the bioreactor will produce a compost in 400 days.
The compost remains stable for several years and can be used as a seed dressing or mixed with water and sprayed at the point of planting. Jamie plans to trial it with fresh maize. "It is all about enhancing the biology right through the whole farm, aiming for a profitable, sustainable, resilient system, with a happy team," he says.
• Jamie Butler and Martin Attwell were speaking at a recent AHDB event at Whitewool Farm
