NZ Dairy Spring 2021

Best Practice Water Quality & Effluent/Fertiliser Management – by Bauer Austria. When considering water quality, there is often more weight given to compliance, than actual management of farm wastes. Farm waste are often thought about as something to get rid of, something that is dirty, rather than as a valuable resource, which cannot only add value to production on farm, but also, when managed correctly, reduce the risk of leaching, and of run o to waterways. Greenhouse gases are also a potential downside to liquid waste storage. After many years of working with Farmers across the European continent, Bauer developed products o ering a good long-term strategy to manage stored liquid wastes, extraction of solid wastes, while also reducing the greenhouse gas production associated with long-term storage. Bauer Separators offer the ability to remove fibrous solids from dairy effluent prior to long-term storage. In doing so, this creates a number of advantages, which were not available through historic methods of dairy waste management. These are as follows: • Significant odour reduction at storage facilities. • Significant reduction of greenhouse gases (up to 85%), • Lower nutrient losses overall. • Stable nutrient split between liquid & solid fraction. • Solids & liquid fractions easy to manage. • Significant solids reduction in liquid waste – multiple applicationmethods. • Smaller footprint, less productive land occupied. • Recapture of natural nutrient content, not only N, P, K • Better nutrient preservation over time. The Separation process produces liquid wastes in a format, which is readily irrigable by a variety of application methods, and adds a considerable saving in chemical fertilisers. Liquid waste in iltrates the soil more rapidly, and reaches the root zone quickly. With the above bene its on o er, this is only one part of the equation, regulation of course deals with land transfer of wastes. With this in mind, Bauer turned its focus to developing products to deal with liquid & solids waste management, producing Umbilical Systems, and array of tank- ers with dribble bar, split disc, trailing shoe, and injection application systems. This however, did not cover all farm management types, and Bauer has gone down the path of using di erent irrigation types for application of both fertilisers and farm e luent management. In response to the needs in developed countries where automated irrigation systems were the norm, Bauer introduced its own VRI and SmartRain remote operating system. Regulation more predominantly, now encourages application rates at a rate the crop can absorb (in liquid & nutrient content), where the crop consumes every application within the same day it was applied. The purpose of VRI devel- opment, was to o er farmers the ability to manage water, fertiliser, & e luent application in an environmental way, where soil type, crop type, soil moisture holding capacity and precipitation rates, could all be factored in. VRI allows for the most precise application of fertiliser/e luent, where each nozzle is individually controlled, to allow for precise applica- tion over the entire irrigated area, as well as shut o zones, such as laneways & troughs, where no application is required. In using diluted applications, e luent can be spread at a permissible rate, which meets crop requirement, and regulatory standards. Call Antony Willemse from Bauer on 021808993, or email at a.willemse@bauer-at.com for more information regarding custom solutions for your individual site.