Dr William Burchill, UCC, said there were four important questions every farmer should consider before spreading slurry in order to get the best value out of it. Where are you going to spread it, when, how and how much?

He said ‘where’ depended on soil samples and targeting those with low P and K indexes. March and April were the best times to spread, and low-emission slurry-spreading was the best method. Farmers would also benefit from doing an analysis of the slurry in the different tanks in their yards, he added, and a sample should suffice for three to five years, similar to a soil sample, provided there is no change in system on that farm.