Lamma Show 2019: Latest muck and slurry equipment developments

While renowned for its large, high-spec slurry tankers for the contracting world, Joskin has seen sufficient demand to create a farmer-spec slurry tanker/trailing shoe package.

Called the Advantage package, it comprises the firm’s 11cu.m-capacity Modulo 2 slurry tanker mated to its Pendislide Basic trailing shoe applicator.

Applicators can be specified in six or 7.5m widths, which simply fit onto the tanker’s rear access hatch. As a result, no linkage system is required, and the applicator can also be retrofitted to any tanker make with a 600mm diameter access hatch.

The package comes complete with control box to control all tanker and trailing shoe functions.

Seen here as a preview, the full package will be available to order from July, says Joskin.

In addition to its Back Pack 1 umbilical slurry applicator, Vogelsang has added a new higher-spec version, the Back Pack 2.

Via IsoBus control, all functions of the applicator can be controlled, as well as the ability to monitor flow rate. Future developments will see the ability to also monitor cu.m/ha application rates.

Offered in sizes of 24 and 30m working widths, the applicator can be fitted with either a trailing shoe or dribble bar. When fitted with the former, a hydraulically raising mast allows the trailing shoe to be easily lifted over the umbilical pipe, or at headlands, for example.

A more compact folding design sees the distribution heads positioned closer to the tractor, reducing weight placed out the back for a more stable ride.

Section control offers 1.5m sections to be individually shut off. And the by not folding out the puter sections, the machine can be used at 18m.

Available now to order, a 24m Back Pack 2 retails at £80,000.

Also on the stand was a prototype 7.5m applicator designed specifically for the UK market. It can be fitted to either a slurry tanker or used with an umbilical system. And can be fitted with either a trailing shoe or dribble bar applicator.

Identifying the need to reduce agricultural pollutants, in particular gases associated with slurry and digestate, Fliegl was exhibiting its ammonia capture and treatment system.

The system extracts and converts ammonia given off by the slurry into concentrated ammonium sulphate that can be applied as liquid fertiliser.

The system uses a separator to extract liquids from solids, before heating the liquor. The company says the system will be of greatest benefit to AD units and farms with excess heat from biomass.

Water is evaporated and sulphuric acid is added to bind to the ammonia, before being put through filters to harness the ammonium sulphate. Fliegl says up to 95 per cent of ammonia is recovered, with eight units already installed across the UK.

With an eye on reducing farm inputs and increasing the amount of recyclables used on farm, Doda’s new green bedding system was being shown by importer SlurryKat.

Said to produce hygienic bedding with a dry matter between 25 and 50 per cent, the system uses a large screw press powered by a nine kilowatt motor. Two six kilowatt motors power fans to dry the material.

The company says the incidences of mastitis is reduced with the system, and cow comfort and cleanliness is increased.

Prices for the system start at £70,000.

Bauer’s popular SX2000 slurry pump is also now powered by a FPT unit, the engine contained within a silent canopy or safety cage.

A two-way control valve allows pumping to the field or back to the lagoon, and a belt drive primer or electric priming unit can be specified. There is a choice of key start or remote control with telemetry and full remote compressor start/stop.

The company suggests that a self-powered slurry pump is an increasingly sought-after alternative to a tractor-powered version. Prices are from £25,000.

Machinery importer AMIA used the event to showcase its new line of rear discharge muck spreaders, sourced from Canadian firm Tubline.

The Nitro range of spreaders spans models from 10 to 25 tonne capacity machines. Features include the ability to swap the machine’s rear spreading units, allowing the use of vertical or horizontal beaters.

In addition, the spreading unit can be completely removed, side extensions added, allowing the machine to be used as a walking floor trailer.

Various running gear options can be specified, as can variable rate control. You can also choose your own colour.

Available to order now, price for the 10 tonne capacity Nitro 275 RS as shown retails from £25,000.

Pichon Industries has been acquired by Danish muck and slurry specialist Samson and export manager Julien Paul confirms that it is very much business as usual for its UK customers, with both brands retaining their identities.

He points to a good fit between the two companies in slurry equipment, with Pichon’s five-30cu.m range appealing to small and medium farms alongside Samson’s 15-35cu.m contractor-focused offering.

Pichon customers will also get access Samson’s range of applicators, and Mr Paul says that the majority of tankers the company sells in Britain are fitted with dribble bars. There is more crossover in solid manure spreaders, so some rationalisation is possible; the acquisition also gives Samson Pichon’s range of slurry mixers.

Pichon production facilities in France and Poland – serving the company’s important Eastern Europe market – will be retained, and as Samson is almost at capacity in its plant in Viborg, Denmark, some production may be moved to Pichon’s Landivisiau, Brittany factory.

Harry West celebrates 40 years of producing the Dual Spreader, designed to spread wet muck and slurry using an auger to deliver material to the side mounted impeller.

The company claims 50 per cent of the side-spreader market and has made ongoing updates to the Dual Spreader design over the years, with the latest being LED lighting and Union Jack decals for 2019.

Best seller is the 2000 model, which holds 11 tonnes of muck and can distribute it in two and a half minutes, said to be the ideal size for a 300 cow herd. Retail price of this model is £25,000.

J Riley Beet Harvesters (UK), the sole UK importer for Vervaet kit, had the Dutch built Hydro Trike XL occupying its stand.

Powering the hydrostatic drive to three wheels is a 12.9l DAF engine producing 510hp. A 9,000l/min Börger pump is responsible for taking slurry onboard. John Deere GPS and NRI sensing is responsible for application accuracy.

We are told updates to the existing model will be coming into effect soon, which will see the extending middle axle given drive, courtesy of a 50hp hydraulic motor on each wheel.