TURN FARM EFFLUENT INTO MEASURED NUTRIENTS

EFFLUENT WAS ONCE DISMISSED AS a waste product, yet farm dairy effluent (FDE) can have good levels of nitrogen and potassium, making it a suitable fertiliser for maize and other crops.

Effluent “waste” can effectively be recycled - utilising it either on its own or in addition to fertiliser nutrients depending on the paddock history and crop yield targets.

When slurry or sludge is applied to land, the solids content also contributes to the soil organic matter. This can be of benefit where paddocks have been repeatedly cropped.

What’s more, the nutrients in effluent applied to land tend to be slow release, with only about 50% of the N and P available in the first year of application. K is almost all available.

So, paddocks with a long history of effluent application may have a large ‘bank’ of nutrients in the soil, waiting to be utilised. That’s why such areas show no response to added fertiliser in the first year out of pasture – and why there is an environmental benefit by planting deep-rooted crops such as maize to extract nutrient that otherwise could be lost to waterways.

At Hill Laboratories, the team sees effluent testing as a vital part of nutrient management. It offers a dairy effluent sampling kit with instructions on how to collect and send an FDE sample.

The Certificate of Analysis (report) provides test results in an easy-to read table, and shows a worked example for N, P and K results calculated on a kg/ha basis, for two different application depths.

Getting an effluent test done a few times per year is recommended, as the nutrient composition can change according to season, and also cow diet.

Contact the team at Hill Laboratories today for more information on farm effluent testing or try our new online ordering through our customer portal.