LAMMA 2022 showcased Irish-made ranges of advanced slurry management technologies designed to improve efficiencies, reduce environmental concerns and increase productivity for farm businesses.

Considering an investment in new slurry management technology has never been so timely, as fertiliser prices soar, environmental demands grow and Government financial support for equipment investment increases.

Commenting on the advances made in slurry equipment technology, David O’Malley, UK sales manager for Abbey Machinery, said: “Abbey Machinery supports reduced emissions spreading with our new slurry applicator technology. We’ve added a collection of smart technology to our equipment, including multi-stage rapid filling arm, application flow control and NIR live sensing of the nutrient value in the slurry, helping the customer achieve the most nutrients and value out of their slurry.

"Two of our new low emission slurry spreading applicators include a 10.7m DM band spreader and a 7.7m trailing shoe Premium Plus version, which reduces the surface area of the slurry by placing it in narrow bands rather than a thin film on the grass.

"The band spreader will deliver up to 30% reduction and the trailing shoe up to 60% reduction in ammonia losses. These innovative machinery solutions make sustainable, data driven farming as efficient and easy as possible for the farmer.”

Also at LAMMA, Mastek is well known for its range of slurry solutions and this year paraded its two big sellers, the professional universal dribble bar and the tanker mounted micro trailing shoe. Also on show was its mounted 10m hybrid dribble bar and their market leading 12m twin macerator umbilical dribble bar will be on display.

“Recent years have seen a shift to low emissions slurry spreading equipment, and this interest has increased more so with nitrogen prices where they are," pointed out Ben Willcox, Mastek UK's technical sales.

"Farmers need technology that makes better use of slurry and new innovations have shown spreading with low emission spreading, such as dribble bars and trailing shoe applicators, can double the nitrogen recovery as well as reducing leaf contamination and smell.

Read more: Mzuri IPASS launched at LAMMA this year

“Users of our machines report increases of grass grown from their own organic manure and less dependence on bought in artificial fertilisers. Turn around on grazing and cutting is quicker so more cows can be grazed per acre and the uptake in nitrogen on grass leys means heavier cuts on a multi-cut system.”

Kerry Mechanical Engineering – at LAMMA for the first time – had an impressive range of machinery at the event, including 7.5m and 9.6m dribble bars – both of which can be retro fitted to almost any tanker.

These feature their own multi-cut easy-access macerator, which has six replaceable blades and a patent pending venting system. Con Daly, of KME, said: “We also have a static macerator, which is for use with umbilical slurry systems and is attracting a lot of interest this year.

“This development provides farmers and contractors with a consistent slurry supply to the slurry pump, eliminating lumps of silage and long fibrosis materials which traditionally increases wear and stress on the pump, reducing output and resulting in increased maintenance and fuel bills.

“It is also ideally suited to the biogas industry which we’ll also launch later this year as an electric version,” he said.