Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Calculating FYM storage requirements  (Read 2602 times)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Calculating FYM storage requirements
« on: February 23, 2018, 10:18:16 pm »
We're just finalising our plans for our 'Animal Centre', which will incorporate a milking parlour, cattle accommodation, pony stables, hay store, and so on, plus of course a midden. 

We're not in an NVZ, but I've been reading up the NVZ papers looking for guidance on volumes of muck.  I've found figures for volumes of 'solid excreta' but can't fathom what multiplicand I should use for the straw. I found something that said to use a factor of 1.3 by weight - but as straw is very light and voluminous, I'm not sure that's helped me much :/

Also, we expect to deep bed the cattle, not mucking out much unless necessary until after the winter, so a lot of their effluent will not be in the midden for most of the housed period.  However they'll be free to loaf around in the yard during the day, which will be scraped daily, so I guess that perhaps half of their poo will in fact get into the midden during the winter.

The ponies' stables will be picked out daily and rebedded as necessary to keep them on clean dry footing.  They too will have some loafing time in the yard.

My calcs of the expected total 'solid excreta' give 21-25 m3 on current predicted usage, possibly up to 40 m3 if we increase the size of the dairy herd.  (This is for four months housed, which would be a really bad winter for us.  They were in for three months two years ago, but usually it would be two months / 10 weeks, I think.). The surface area of our midden as currently designed is just under 22 m3, and I'm told that will hold 32 m3 in a 's**t pyramid' !


So I thought I'd ask whether anyone could offer practical advice from their own experience. 
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Calculating FYM storage requirements
« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2018, 07:34:19 am »
For your application I would just go with the paper figures and not fret too much on real figures.

oor wullie

  • Joined Jun 2012
  • Strathnairn
Re: Calculating FYM storage requirements
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2018, 08:27:05 am »
There are so many variables I am not sure how you can calculate this unless you know from experience how much straw you will use in a year.  Even then there are variables - leave the deep bedded cattle area an extra month before mucking out and the volume will have reduced as it starts to rot down.  You will use less good long straw than if you have poor broken straw (due to poor weather at harvest a lot of it is like this in my area this year).

A normal winter for you is 10 weeks housing - wow.  If we house our cows for as little as 6 months then it has been an early spring!   Such are the differences in locations.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Calculating FYM storage requirements
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2018, 10:02:34 am »
It’s not just about the application, [member=75709]Buttermilk[/member] - we need to build a big enough midden too!  :D

I can estimate how much straw I’ll need to buy; but quite a bit of that will be eaten, and I don’t know how to estimate the volume it takes up when wet/stood on/partially rotted down, etc. Also it’ll all settle and compress in the midden too, of course.

Yes, it’s a different world down here [member=25668]oor wullie[/member] !  In Cumbria we’d usually bring them in by the end of October at the latest (although November could sometimes be dry and crisp so occasionally they’d be out until early December), and they rarely went back out until mid-March at the earliest. (Although I used to let the house cows out for the daytimes when the weather and ground were suitable.). A couple of years there really wasn’t any grass until May.  I’m still learning how the seasons and ground work down here.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

pharnorth

  • Joined Nov 2013
  • Cambridgeshire
Re: Calculating FYM storage requirements
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2018, 04:26:45 pm »
Not sure if this helps Sally, but some cross over with what you are aiming for so may do:

We are in NVZ so to meet legal requirements I have 2 temporary sites which I use on alternate years. My preference would be 1 which is I used for 4 months then emptied so empty for 8 but that doesn't comply.....

My midden area is around 20 to 25sq m. It has a wood barrier to 1200cm or so on two sides, 4m length on one side and 8m on the other, so I start in the corner and run along doesn't usually get much beyond half way on the 8m side. I think 30 cubic m muck on a 20Sq m muck heap sounds about righ looking at mine.  With regular forking up of the straw to the back it rots enough to compact down pretty quickly.  We have been mucking out 3 horses on straw since November, and 15 goats and 15 sheep since early January. It will be a full container lorry to be emptied by the muck man come April.

So perhaps 1) allow 50% more ground area to drain to your midden than you feel you will need. 2) consider options to have some removed mid season.  3) use shavings for the ponies as takes up much less volume especially if you put as a small amount on rubber matting. 4) make sure the people mucking out share your interest in not over burdening the muck heap!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Calculating FYM storage requirements
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2018, 04:49:24 pm »
Very helpful, [member=30154]pharnorth[/member], thank you  :-*

Shavings and mats for the ponies is a really good idea  :idea:

And we will be able to remove some muck partway through the season, yes, if we need to.  Which I’m sure will be very happily commandeered by the veg growers if it happens :). Otherwise can get added to the temporary stores in the fields where we’ve heaped the pony poo picked during the year.

Thanks again
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Cocomartinez

  • Joined Jan 2013
Re: Calculating FYM storage requirements
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2018, 10:42:04 pm »
One of the blogs I follow have a farm in the PNW US.  They have a 40´x 20´ winter barn for their cattle herd where they deep bed.  I thought it was fascinating, since they´ve built it to raise various elements as the bedding gets deeper.  In one post she says they get about 150 cubic yards over a winter.  I believe they have about 20 cows/calves.  You might find some interesting things to consider under manure management.

https://matronofhusbandry.wordpress.com/2015/03/21/additional-deep-bedding-maintenance/

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS