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Target 10 Communicator

April 2011 Edition

Empty Those Effluent Ponds Before Winter

Yes, it’s that time of year again. While you are busy with your autumn work, spare a moment to consider emptying your effluent ponds by shandying the effluent with fresh water when you irrigate your autumn pastures and crops.

It’s a good time now to empty your effluent ponds if you are irrigating, so you have plenty of storage capacity in your system to store the effluent that will be generated over the winter months. And in doing so you will not only be watering the growing plants, you will also be feeding them.

A significant proportion of the nutrients on a dairy farm can end up in the effluent system. These nutrients are a valuable resource and should, where possible, be used to replace the nutrients that are removed when pastures and crops are consumed or harvested. The nutrients contained in effluent can replace to a certain extent the nutrients supplied by traditional fertiliser products.

Dairy effluent contains significant amounts of nutrients and it is more beneficial and more environmentally sustainable to spread those nutrients over areas that require a boost of nutrients (based on soil analysis), rather than just apply the effluent over convenient paddocks adjacent to the effluent storage.

As dairy effluent is shandied with other water sources (such as irrigation or bore water), the quality of the water source, especially the salts and sodium content, needs to be considered along with the nutrients contained in the effluent.

With the wet summer we have experienced there is no doubt many effluent systems will be close to or at full storage capacity. Irrigation in autumn is a good time to draw down the liquid effluent or excavate solids from the pond to allow sufficient storage capacity for the effluent generated over the winter months. Emptying your effluent pond is an important measure to take to ensure your effluent management system continues to function properly. A failed effluent pond is a cost you can do without this season.