Slurry Tanker: Brian & Ollie have Effluent Management Down Pat

On the dairy side, effluent from the cow shed is collected in a large, oddly shaped effluent pond which is kept regularly stirred with a Nevada electric stirrer. Being such a unusual shape, they also use a Nevada PTO stirrer to give the areas around the edge a good mix prior to pumping.

The piggery also has its own effluent storage pond with Nevada electric stirrer to keep it well mixed. Effluent from the piggery is more fibrous and well…smellier than dairy effluent, so along with regular stirring Brian and Ollie have started to add PondBugs™ to the mix to help introduce more good bacteria and keep the smell down.

Brian bought his first Nevada slurry tanker around 7 years ago, and they haven’t looked back. In fact, with being so versatile they recently upgraded from a 14,700L to a 16,500L.

‘While it doesn’t sound like a big upgrade, every 7th load is a free load proving just how much further a slightly bigger tanker can go.’
Brian Tucker & Ollie Healey – Dairy Farmers, Wairarapa

Ollie is very precise with his spreading. They have Tracmap connected to the tractor, and the controlled spread of the RainWave applicator on the slurry tanker means he can input the width of the spread and the system shows him exactly where to spread.

‘It gives us proof of placement and means there’s no areas being missed.’

Watching Ollie whip the new 16,500L slurry tanker around the farm it hasn’t taken any time for him to get used to the increased size.

‘They’re great machines. Extremely well built.’