ICSA president Dermot Kelleher has called for a further extension to the slurry spreading deadline as the weather has provided no opportunity at all to responsibly spread slurry in the past few weeks.

“On 21 September the Minister announced a brief extension to 8 October but since then, frequent torrential rain has made slurry spreading impossible. Whatever about calendar dates, it is not sensible to spread slurry when ground is water-logged and heavy rain is forecast. It will take a week of dry weather now to allow ground conditions to even begin to stabilise so it is clear that 8 October is not a realistic extension.” 

“Some of our members are in an extremely stressful situation as they want to comply with best practice and at the same time, they urgently need to get tanks emptied as winter is almost upon us. It must be remembered that conditions for spreading slurry have been very poor for a lot of 2023. It has been especially difficult in March, April, early May and again in July, August, and September. When weather was suitable, many farmers and contractors were snowed under trying to get hay and silage done. Consequently, we are looking at a problem that has been getting worse all year and it is now time for a realistic decision that alleviates pressure on farmers. We need to take the worry out of slurry.” 

ENDS