Financial Reasons Why Using Farm Manure Pays!

This example shows a milk producer who owns 60 ha pastures and 10 ha siliage maize. His livestock is made up of:

• 120 dairy cows
• 20 heifers from 0-1 years
• 20 heifers from 1-2 years

We work on the principle that 30 % of the farm manure is used on maize crops and the remaining  0 % on pastures, the animals staying in the barn in the winter period (6 months/year) and 6 hours/day in the summer period (milking).

Considering that

• each dairy cow produces 12.5m3 slurry/year
• each heifer from 0-1 years produces 3.7m3 slurry/year
• each heifer from 1-2 years produces 5.6m3 slurry/year

The quantity of valuable slurry per year on all the grounds of this farming concern amounts to:

120*12.5 + 20*5.6 = 1.686m3

The cattle slurry contains 4kg nitrogen per ton of stock farming waste (on average). About 40 % of this nitrogen is mineral and can be directly absorbed by the plant while the remaining nitrogen (60%) is organic and will ve mineralized in the 2nd and 3rd year after spreading. As a result, the farmer can count on an annual mineral nitrogen supply from his stock farming waste that amounts to:

• immediatly (within the year):    1686*4*40%=2.698 kg mineral nitrogen
• in the second year:    2698 + (1686*4*30%) = 4.721 kg mineral nitrogen
• in the third year:    4721 + (1686*4*30%) = 6.744 kg mineral nitrogen

When relating these weights to the mineral nitrogen of chemical origin and taking the coefficient of equivalence into account (for pastures and maize crops, slurry being spread each year in spring), we get the followin quantities:

• in the first year:    (2698*70%*0.8) + (2698*30%*0.77) = 2.124 kg mineral nitrogen
• in the second year:    (4721*70%*0.8) + (4721*30%*0.77) = 3.735 kg mineral nitrogen
• in the third year:    (6744*70%*0.8) + (6744*30%*0.77) = 5.335 kg mineral nitrogen 

Considering that the factory price of chemical fertilizers(15,15,15; i.e. , 15 % N,15 % P, 15 % K) is 350 £ VAT excl./ton

• in the first year:    (2134/150)x350 = £4,979
• in the second year:   (3735/150)x350 = £8,715
• from the third year on:    (5335/150)x350 =£12,448

THIS PROVES WHERE THERES MUCK THERES BRASS!

NEW FRANCHISE AGRIMAC LTD