The rain didn’t stop until around 6pm but gallons of the smelly stuff have been applied today.
Despite heavy rain most of today, I couldn’t help but notice the strong acrid smell of slurry as it hit my nostrils as I left Failford on the way home this evening. It was still raining as it had been since mid morning and as I came to the brow of the hill, a freshly cut silage field had turned brown since I passed it this morning. Further along the road, there was acres of fresh spread slurry. By all accounts it rained in Machine from 10.00am.
Hmmmm, and I thought that there were rules about spreading this stuff in the rain or when heavy rain is forecast. We all knew today was going to be wet. Tomorrow is forecast to be dry…..Why on earth can’t people wait for the appropriate weather? It would just have meant delaying for a single day!
A lot of farmers share equipment to keep costs down. If your neighbour is down to use it tomorrow, then you got to use it today no matter the weather.
Of course that’s true but that doesn’t make it right. We understand some of the difficulties that farmers face when dealing with incredibly large volumes of slurry. But, when it’s pouring down with rain and the farm in question has their own umbilical system, why the couldn’t wait for one day until the weather was suitable beats me. They are out again today finishing off the remainder of their fields. We have one role and that’s to improve the rivers and burns of Ayrshire for fish and ecology wherever we can and that’s why we highlight these concerns. We are proactive in trying to assist where possible and have erected fencing to help improve buffers but unless there is a general understanding and acceptance of the issues, then bringing improvements will be impossible.