Two happy dairy farmers: It was an eye-opener

There were both direct benefits, such as an excellent first cut, and important side benefits, like the absence of field damage, following early slurry application with a self-propelled slurry applicator during an extreme spring.

Article from Landbrugsavisen (Agri News), 8. Juni 2024.. Text/Images: Claus Solhøj

In early spring, dairy farmers Ulrik Langballe and Thomas Jørgensen in Thy were fortunate to have slurry applied early to their grass for silage. They managed to join Morsø Maskinstation’s (Ag contractor) route through Thy with the only available self-propelled Agrometer applicator in the area before the busy machine returned to its home island.

”We simply couldn’t have applied slurry with a tanker. There wasn’t a single place in March where we could have driven a slurry tanker,” says Ulrik Langballe. On March 10, he applied about 900 cubic meters of barn-acidified slurry within a few hours, as the applicator’s capacity on fields surrounding the farm, divided into two plots, reached 170 cubic meters per hour.

For the first cut, Ulrik Langballe at Beerstedgaard A/S, who manages 350 high-yielding cows in a robotic milking setup, also had areas that only received commercial fertilizer due to field conditions. Figures from the contractor’s yield monitor show that the grass, which was fully fertilized early with slurry, produced the same yield as the grass fully fertilized with commercial fertilizer.

Important Side Benefits

But the applicator also offers important side benefits.

”We don’t see any traces from it, not even at the field ends or entries. We can’t tell it’s been on the fields, which is crucial for both yield and feed quality in the following years,” notes Ulrik Langballe, who also highlights lower diesel consumption and reduced traffic disruptions and road damage when using the applicator.

So, even if the cost per cubic meter is likely a little higher, the investment is well worth it.

Although spring 2024 was quite unusual, early application is challenging most years in his experience. As a result, he plans to use the applicator for the first cut and, ideally, also for the subsequent cuts in the future.

Losses greater than extra cost

Morsø Maskinstation’s applicator continued to Gyrup Landbrug ApS, an organic farm about 12 km from Beerstedgaard A/S, where they produce milk from a high-yield herd of 190 cows, grow barley for malt, and distill whisky under the well-known Thy Whisky brand.

Here, the closest fields for silage received 1,600 cubic meters of slurry on March 11, with pumping distances up to 2,300 meters and a field capacity of 150 cubic meters per hour.

Farm manager Thomas Jørgensen was primarily concerned about yield and quality losses in the form of reduced feed quality and slurry residues in the grass if the slurry wasn’t applied early. Here too, the large capacity and the “trackless” and eco-friendly field operation of the applicator were noted with satisfaction.

”It was truly an eye-opener. As organic farmers, we have no commercial fertilizer to supplement with, and replacement feed is very expensive to purchase. We had 30 hectares that didn’t get slurry, which likely cost us 60,000 fodder units in the first cut. So, the extra cost of using the applicator compared to a tanker is absolutely irrelevant,” he says.