Animal Waste Problem
Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 4:27 am
Although most people have great difficulty sourcing manure it may surprise you to know that this country has a very great problem with the surplus of animal waste.
Unless you are a very large farm it is not possible to provide sufficient foodstuffs to satisfy your requirements to sustain you livestock. With large Dairy Herds and Cattle Rearing Units the surpluses mount up at an alarming rate. These surpluses are generally taken by totally Arable Farms that have no manure produced. And normally when these units have sufficient manure stored that can reasonable used on their land available for spreading the surpluses are sold to the Arable Farms that in part produce the animal foodstuffs. So that part of the industry is generally in balance. If a farmer chooses to sell to a gardener or allotmenteer that really is the only way that manure leaves that cycle.
The difficulty comes with Stables, Racing Stables and Riding Schools where the greater majority of the foodstuffs are bought-in and there is insufficient land to spread the amount of waste that they accumulate. In this area again it all goes to the Arable Farms and that is in balance but in areas that have these units and insufficient spreading land herein lies the problem. Riding Schools need to be reasonably near places where there are sufficient people and probably there is no spreading land available. I feel if these units are contacted they will normally be only too pleased to fulfil your requirements. Recent Government Legislation has classified Manure as “Hazardous Waste” and all the needs for these units have to comply fully with the Law.
There is a clause that Gardeners and Allomenteers can purchase manure on the basis that the manure is strictly for horticultural purposes and the person must collect the manure themselves. Failing that surpluses have to be cleared by contractors licensed to handle Hazardous Wastes and that is mighty expensive. There is a limit set individually as to how much manure each of these units may store above which the surplus must be removed from site. The reason for the grower having to collect themselves is that only people fully licensed to carry Hazardous Waste are permitted to transport manure and it is very doubtful that the unit owners are licensed to transport it.
The Poultry Industry has absolutely massive surpluses of manure and to the point where one Poultry Meat producer in this area has found it economical to build an incinerator to burn the waste to produce Electricity to the Grid. Their only problem is disposing of the resultant ash. The ash still has got nutritional value and that is spread on land in the surrounding area where appropriate. When burnt, the firing changes the chemical composition so poultry ash has an entirely different set of characteristics poultry manure.
The Pig Industry is another one in massive surplus but since the end of swill feeding Pigs now enjoy a vegetarian diet and the manure is more user friendly and if suitably well composted with plenty of straw if good to use. The composting takes considerably longer than other manures.
Such are the surpluses, the legislation was really brought in to combat illicit dumping.
Perhaps now people may understand why I described a recent posting as absolute nonsense because to suggest that farmers get rid of their manure and use chemicals in its place is totally ludicrous.
Unless you are a very large farm it is not possible to provide sufficient foodstuffs to satisfy your requirements to sustain you livestock. With large Dairy Herds and Cattle Rearing Units the surpluses mount up at an alarming rate. These surpluses are generally taken by totally Arable Farms that have no manure produced. And normally when these units have sufficient manure stored that can reasonable used on their land available for spreading the surpluses are sold to the Arable Farms that in part produce the animal foodstuffs. So that part of the industry is generally in balance. If a farmer chooses to sell to a gardener or allotmenteer that really is the only way that manure leaves that cycle.
The difficulty comes with Stables, Racing Stables and Riding Schools where the greater majority of the foodstuffs are bought-in and there is insufficient land to spread the amount of waste that they accumulate. In this area again it all goes to the Arable Farms and that is in balance but in areas that have these units and insufficient spreading land herein lies the problem. Riding Schools need to be reasonably near places where there are sufficient people and probably there is no spreading land available. I feel if these units are contacted they will normally be only too pleased to fulfil your requirements. Recent Government Legislation has classified Manure as “Hazardous Waste” and all the needs for these units have to comply fully with the Law.
There is a clause that Gardeners and Allomenteers can purchase manure on the basis that the manure is strictly for horticultural purposes and the person must collect the manure themselves. Failing that surpluses have to be cleared by contractors licensed to handle Hazardous Wastes and that is mighty expensive. There is a limit set individually as to how much manure each of these units may store above which the surplus must be removed from site. The reason for the grower having to collect themselves is that only people fully licensed to carry Hazardous Waste are permitted to transport manure and it is very doubtful that the unit owners are licensed to transport it.
The Poultry Industry has absolutely massive surpluses of manure and to the point where one Poultry Meat producer in this area has found it economical to build an incinerator to burn the waste to produce Electricity to the Grid. Their only problem is disposing of the resultant ash. The ash still has got nutritional value and that is spread on land in the surrounding area where appropriate. When burnt, the firing changes the chemical composition so poultry ash has an entirely different set of characteristics poultry manure.
The Pig Industry is another one in massive surplus but since the end of swill feeding Pigs now enjoy a vegetarian diet and the manure is more user friendly and if suitably well composted with plenty of straw if good to use. The composting takes considerably longer than other manures.
Such are the surpluses, the legislation was really brought in to combat illicit dumping.
Perhaps now people may understand why I described a recent posting as absolute nonsense because to suggest that farmers get rid of their manure and use chemicals in its place is totally ludicrous.