The Nitrates Directive

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The Nitrates Directive

• An Introduction.
• REPS Course 2007.

2
The Nitrates Directive

• Stocking Rate

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Stocking Rate Limit

• Stocking Rate Limit in the Regulations 170 kg
  Organic Nitrogen per hectare (0.8 cows per
  hectare)

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Stocking Rate (continued)

• Where a farm is mixed grassland and tillage
  and has at least 5 per cent of the farm in
  tillage, the farmer will be allowed to have a
  grassland stocking rate of up to 250 kg of
  Organic Nitrogen per hectare, once the overall
  stocking rate of the holding is below 170 kg of
  Organic Nitrogen per hectare.

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The Nitrates Directive

• Slurry Storage Requirements

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Slurry Storage Requirements

• Storage facilities are required for livestock
  manure, dairy washings, soiled water and effluent
  from dungsteads, farmyard manure pits and Silage
  Pits.
• Storage being put in place on or after 1st August
  2006 must be designed and constructed to prevent
  run off and seepage and must comply with
  construction specifications from the Department
  of Agriculture and Food.

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Slurry Storage Requirements

• Deadlines.
• All livestock farmers must have a minimum of two
  months storage in place for November and December
  2006 / 2007.
• All livestock farmers must have the remainder
  storage capacity required for their zone in place
  by December 31st 2008.
• Allowances will be made for farmers who straw bed
  their animals along the lines of REPS.
• Intensive Pig Farmers must have all storage
  capacity in place by December 31st 2006.

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Zones and Storage Requirements (Weeks)
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(No Transcript)
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Steps to calculate your slurry storage
requirement.
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Step to calculate your Slurry Storage Requirement
( continued)
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Step to calculate your Slurry Storage Requirement
( continued)

• Notes.
• If there is a flow of soiled water, dairy
  washings or effluents into the tank then this
  capacity must be provided for in 2006 for
  November and December. If tank is open then net
  rainfall must also be taken into account during
  the storage period.
• An additional 200mm freeboard must be provided in
  all covered tanks and 300mm freeboard in all
  uncovered tanks.
• Where there are pigs or poultry kept on the farm
  holding the slurry produced by these livestock
  will have to be taken into account when
  calculating slurry storage requirement.

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How to calculate slurry storage requirement.

• A farmer in Zone A, who intends to store the
  slurry in a covered tank and has 50 dairy cows,
  10 cattle 0 6 months, 10 cattle 6 12 months,
  10 cattle 12 18 months, 10 cattle 18 24
  months and 15 cattle gt 2 years would require the
  following slurry facilities.
• The farmer would therefore need 429m3 of slurry
  storage to satisfy the requirements of the
  Nitrates Regulations.
• ( In all cases an additional 200mm in depth must
  be provided as freeboard for agitation to
  prevent overflow.)

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Rules for reduced slurry storage requirement.

• A farmer may not have the full storage where he /
  she satisfies the following criteria
• Has a contract providing exclusive access to
  alternative storage outside the farm
• Has a contract for access to a treatment facility
  for livestock manure
• Has a contract for transfer of manure to a person
  authorised to collect, recover and dispose of
  and

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• 4. Where grassland stocking rate on a farm does
  not exceed 140 kg Organic Nitrogen per hectare
  per year ( 0.66 cows per hectare) farmers can
  reduce their storage capacity by taking into
  account outwintering of stock and therefore do
  not have to provide storage for the following
• Sheep, Goats, deer outwintered at a grassland
  stocking rate not exceeding 130 kg of Organic
  Nitrogen per hectare on any day during the closed
  period for spreading slurry, or
• Livestock ( other than dairy cows, deer, goats
  or sheep) which are outwintered at a grassland
  stocking rate not exceeding 85 kg of Organic
  Nitrogen per hectare on any day during the closed
  period.

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The Nitrates Directive

• Dairy Washings, effluents Soiled Water Capacity.

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Dairy Washings, effluents Soiled Water Capacity.

• If soiled water, i.e. run off from yards and
  dairy washings etc. is flowing into
• the slurry tank , it is classified as
• SLURRY!!!

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Dairy Washings, effluents Soiled Water Capacity
( continued)

• If soiled water is held in a separate holding
  tank then the following storage capacity must be
  provided
• Storage Capacity for soiled water should be
  sufficient to hold the amount produced in 10
  days.
• For Silage effluent, if the farmer has a vacuum
  tanker or an irrigation system, then 7 m3 storage
  space must be provided fro every 100 tonnes of
  silage. Otherwise 21 m3 must be provided for
  every 100 tonnes of silage.
• NOTE From 1st January 2007. farmers must take
  all reasonable steps to reduce the amount of
  soiled water, ensuring that rainfall from roofs,
  unsoiled paved areas and water flowing from
  higher ground onto yards are not contaminated and
  diverted to a clean water out fall.18

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• Fertiliser Application Restrictions.

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1. Nitrogen.

• The rates outlined below are for a farm that does
  not import and apply animal manure of any type.
• Farms, stocked below 170 kg Organic Nitrogen /
  ha, from here on referred to as non derogation
  farms, must comply with the maximum application
  rates set out in the following table.

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2. Phosphorous.

• The rate of phosphorous that a farmer can spread
  on land depends on
• Stocking Rate
• The Soil Index
• The Zone the farm is located in.
• The amount of concentrates fed to the livestock.

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Phosphorous Stocking Rate

• 2 bands have been set for non derogation farms
  with 2 maximum application rates of Phosphorous.
• These are farms stocked below 130 kg Norg / ha
  (0.61 cows per acre) and farms stocked between
  131kg N org / ha to 170 kg Norg / ha (0.8 cows
  per acre).

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Phosphorous Soil Index, Zones and Concentrates
feed.

• All Soil Index is assumed 3, unless it is shown
  by Soil Results to be otherwise.
• A different application rate applies to each zone
  because of the difference in the closed period.
• For every 100kg of concentrates fed to livestock
  (other than pigs and poultry) the amount of
  Phosphorous that can be applied must be reduced
  by 0.5 kg.

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Fertiliser, slurry and farmyard manure spreading
restrictions.
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Closed Periods for Spreading Slurry, Fertiliser
and FYM.
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Restrictions on spreading fertiliser adjacent to
watercourses.
Buffer zones
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Buffer Zones

• A. Chemical fertilisers should not be applied to
  land within 1.5 metres of any surface
  watercourse.
• B. Slurry and Soiled water should not be applied
  to land within
• 200 metres of a public water supply serving 500
  or more persons
• 100 metres of a public water supply serving
  between 50 and 500 persons
• 25 metres of a domestic well,
• 20 metres of a lake shoreline

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• 15m of exposed cavernous karstified limestone
  features
• 5m from any surface water course other than a
  lake
• Organic fertilisers cannot be spread within 10m
  of watercourse where average incline of land is
  greater than 10 towards the watercourse, which
  is a slope of one in ten.

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• C. FYM Where FYM is stored in a field prior to
  landspreading it shall be held in a compact heap
  and shall not be placed within
• 250 metres of a public water supply serving 50
  persons or more.
• 50 metres from a public water supply serving
  between 1 and 50 persons.
• 20 metres of a lake shore line
• 10 metres from a surface watercourse other than a
  lake and
• FYM shall not be held in a field at any time
  during the closed periods.

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Records that need to be maintained.

• Records Should include the following
• Total Area of the holding
• Net Area of the holding
• Cropping regimes and their individual areas
• Livestock Numbers and Type
• Nature and Capacity of Storage Facilities
• An Estimation of the Annual Fertiliser
  Requirement
• Opening Stocks, Closing Stocks and Purchases of
  Chemical Fertilisers
• Livestock Manures and other Organic Fertilisers
  moved onto or off the holding.
• Results of any soil analysis.
• Quantities and types of concentrate feed stuffs.
• Location of any water source on the farm.
• Where applicable, a certificate in relation to
  the nutrient content of the fertiliser.

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Inspections

• The Local Authorities will be the main inspecting
  body under the Nitrates Regulations.
• However, because the Nitrates Regulations is a
  part of Cross Compliance, the Department of
  Agriculture have the right to inspect farms also.