Manure and nutrient management plans
Assessing and controlling the risks associated with storage, transport and use of any organic manure and slurry is essential to prevent harm to the environment.
Organic manure is defined in legislation as any fertiliser derived from animal, plant, or human sources. This definition includes livestock manure and slurry.
Not controlling the rate of application of livestock manure and slurry to land could result in a risk of environmental harm. When over-applied, it is classed as a waste and subject to waste regulations.
Manure management plans
Manure management plans are an important tool in controlling the risks associated with the collection, storage, treatment, and use of organic manure (including livestock manure) and slurry and should include details of volumes produced/imported, storage and use.
Each holder in the supply chain (producer, exporter, carrier, importer and user) must have a manure management plan that allows a safe chain of custody for the organic manure and slurry from production to end use. These requirements are likely to be greater than the requirements of the agricultural regulations as apply more widely than just to the exporter and importer.
How to produce a manure management plan
Understanding how much manure and slurry your livestock and farming system will produce will aid management, capacity calculations for storage and use
The amount of livestock manure and slurry produced can be calculated from livestock numbers while housed in yards or buildings and other areas producing slurry. This is a requirement under the Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations (CoAPR) and detailed guidance can be found: Control of agricultural pollution regulations: guidance | GOV.WALES
Check you have enough storage
When you plan for the amount of all the organic manure and slurry produced on your farm and account for any imported material you must ensure there is sufficient storage taking into account the regulatory requirements. Crop requirement and rotations, soil, and weather conditions and non spreading will affect storage times and volumes. Storage provision must also include capacity for all other substances collected and contained in that system, for example rainfall. Please read Control of agricultural pollution regulations: guidance | GOV.WALES for detailed guidance.
The volume in storage can be minimised by excluding clean rainfall as far as possible from your system.
Understand how and where you are going to use the organic manures and slurry
You must consider if all organic manures, and slurry can be lawfully used without causing environmental harm. If you are going to use it on your land, then you must develop a nutrient management plan (see below). This must include all nutrients applied to land and have a spreading risk map to identify land available for spreading taking into account non spreading areas, spreading and restrictions and soil and crop need.
This is important as upstream exporters etc may ask you for this if you are importing their livestock manure and slurry. They will need this to demonstrate that livestock manure and slurry they produce can be used for beneficial purposes.
As well as a nutrient management plan you must ensure that spreading your organic manure and slurry does not impact habitats and species especially those sensitive to ammonia emissions.
If you propose to send your organic manure and or slurry to another farm for land spreading, then you should ask for their nutrient management plan and be sure it can be used lawfully on their land and record details of all exports. This applies even if you sell your organic manure and slurry.
If you are sending your organic manure or slurry for further treatment (such as anaerobic digestion) you need to make sure the receiving site has the correct permissions. Manures and slurries are a waste, in most cases, if they are being treated. You will need to keep a record of this information which must be available for inspection. This is a requirement of the Duty of Care for waste and will also form part of
your export records which is a requirement of the Water Resources Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations 2021.
Read more about how to manage manures and slurries appropriately.
Nutrient Management Plans
The nutrient management plan forms part of the overarching manure management plan and includes additional information on the nutrient content of the land and the nutrient requirements of the crops you intend to grow.
There are 4 fundamental steps to producing a nutrient management plan.
Step 1 - Soil nutrient content
Before applying anything to land, you should analyse your soil for pH, phosphorous (P), potassium (K) and Magnesium (Mg) and assess the soil nitrogen supply (SNS). This will help you to understand whether any pH correction is needed and what the reserves of nutrients are in your soil and what additional nutrients may be required from organic and inorganic applications.
Step 2 - Crop requirements
Depending on the crop you propose to grow and the projected yields, you will need a specific combination of nutrients for optimum growth. This information combined with soil analysis will help you understand what nutrients your crop requires, what you may need to apply to maximise yield and how to minimise losses to the environment.
Step 3 - Understand what your organic manures and slurry can provide
Your organic manures and slurry are a valuable resource, and it is important to know the nutrient content of all organic manures and slurry applied to land. There are standard figures published in legislation and Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) | AHDB but the nutrient content of livestock manure and slurry is likely to vary significantly, depending on the source and management of the material so analysis is always recommended.
Knowing what nutrients are available can help calculate any deficit which can impact crop yield and prevent over-application that will cause losses to the environment.
Without a nutrient management plan and application records your organic manure and slurry are likely to be considered a waste material, as you do not hold evidence which demonstrates its use will not result in harm to the environment.
Step 4 - Understand if you require non-organic sources of fertiliser
Organic manures are a good source of fertiliser and where suitable are considered the best option if they can be used in a way which will not result in losses to the environment. Inorganic (manufactured) fertilisers have a role to fill the 'gap' identified in your nutrient management plan.
Minimum testing frequencies
Analyse your manure and slurry regularly so that you know what nutrients it contains. This will help when you plan your nutrient applications and make the most of your manures.
Regularly analyse your soil for pH, phosphorous (P), potassium (K) and Magnesium (Mg) and assess the soil nitrogen supply (SNS). This will help you to understand whether any pH correction is needed and what the reserves of nutrients are in your soil.
There is a wide variety of sources of information to help you assess the crop nitrogen requirement, including FACTS qualified advisers, PLANET software and the Nutrient Management Guide (RB209).
Evidence needs
Organic manure production and storage provision, nitrogen management plan, and records, for example, risk map, records of imports, exports and applications required under CoAPR must be available on request and during an inspection by Natural Resources Wales. For full details, see Control of agricultural pollution regulations: guidance | GOV.WALES
In order to demonstrate livestock manure and slurry has been stored and used for soil and crop need, you will need to be able to provide evidence such as full nutrient management planning and application, import and export records to demonstrate that the nutrients contained with the livestock manure and slurry were stored and applied without causing environmental harm.