Slurry dangers only to evident to Andrew McCrea
The slurry closed period is approaching faster than we would like and the weather this summer has definitely impacted on slurry spreading. To have enough storage in place is important and a lot of effort is being made right now to have tanks empty while the weather is favourable.
The deaths of three members of the Spence family has shocked the whole farming and sporting community alike. The dangers of slurry gas (hydrogen sulphide) awareness has been greatly raised. Many fitting tributes have been made of the Spence family. How they have conducted themselves, both before and after this tragedy, has shown their faith greatly and will have a lasting legacy for many years to come.
DAPP is still very sluggish to say the least. Hopefully, soon we can get the rises the rest of Europe has seen lately.
I donated two of my pigs to a charity barbecue where a local engineer has designed and made an amazing gas spit. The quality not to mention quantity of meat shocked me – 250 people fed and loads of tasty crackling and pork left for anyone to take home. It was like the “feeding of the five thousand”. I never understood how much meat pigs can deliver. It also reassured me that loads of people still love pork; surely we are selling ourselves short by not getting a price that reflects the recent rises in costs?
Andrew McCrea farms a 740-sow birth-to-bacon business and 150 beef cattle on 37ha. The pig business is a sow and weaner farm with four contract finishers. He produces 18,000 pigs a year to the British Quality-assured Red Tractor standard. Andrew is a DARD Focus Farmer and was 2010 Farmers Weekly Pig Farmer of the Year.
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