Muck, slurry and fertiliser

Muck and slurry: can I spread today?

The Nitrate Vulnerable Zone closed periods for your soil and crop, how much slurry storage your farm needs, and whether you're under the 170 kg N/ha limit. Worked out from the official NVZ tables.

England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland dates are further down.

Can I spread on today?

Is the field in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone?

What are you spreading?

Soil

Land

Slurry storage and the 170 kg N/ha limit

Put in the average number of each kind of animal on the farm (for calves and lambs, the number reared in the year). In an NVZ you need room for 5 months of slurry from 1 October (6 months with pigs or poultry), plus the rain and wash water that goes into the store.

Farmed area (hectares)

Share of the slurry made in the buildings over winter (%)

Open store plus dirty yard area draining to it (m²)

Average monthly rainfall, October to March (mm)

Parlour and dairy wash water (m³ a month)

Storage you have now (m³)

Figures from Defra's NVZ standard values tables. This is a guide: the NVZ rules ask you to keep the calculation with your records, and a FACTS adviser or the AHDB slurry wizard can do the full version.

Short of storage? Grants have paid for slurry stores, covers and separators. See what's open for your farm. Building a new store? Tell the Environment Agency at least 14 days before work starts.

Closed periods in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Loading…

These dates also go into your Dates page once you tick "I spread manure, slurry or fertiliser" on the Paperwork page.