October 20, 2021
A well-attended field day at Wooroolin recently introduced a new concept to local farmers … a tanker that can inject slurry into soil up to a depth of 30cm.
The Bossini slurry tanker, with its attached implements, has been put to work on the Young family’s 405ha mixed farming property.
The farm operates a 7000SPU piggery so produces a lot of slurry which is stored in a holding pond.
Owner Mark Young said the slurry can now be transferred into the tanker where it can be used to improve the soil in the family’s paddocks.
The farm grows a range of crops – peanuts, mung beans, wheat, barley, corn and hay – as well as raising cattle.
Mark told southburnett.com.au he expected the slurry tanker will cut his farming input costs.
He hopes to save up to $70,000 per annum by reducing his reliance on artificial fertilisers – a bill which has been getting larger and larger every year.
“Everything you buy in the bag is in the tank,” he said.
While slurry tankers by themselves are not new, the size of this one – 30,000 litres – is unusual. It’s believed to be the largest slurry tanker imported into Australia.
However, the real difference is at the rear of the vehicle where the linkage drives various implements.
A disc tiller can apply slurry up to 100mm in the soil, while a custom-made deep ripper – manufactured by Tilco Ag Systems in Toowoomba – can add it to a depth of between 100mm and 300mm.
The slurry can be added to fallow land, at pre-planting on in-crop.
Mark said the idea to investigate deep placement of slurry came after he attended a field day with Professor Mike Bell, from the University of Queensland, which discussed the declining fertility of soils and the deep placement of fertiliser.
Before COVID shut down borders, Mark accompanied Carl Rackemann, from OzValueAG Machinery, to the world’s largest ag trade show, Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany.
They spoke to various manufacturers but settled on the Bossini tanker as the company was willing to customise it to suit Mark’s requirements, including changing the wheel spacing to suit the conditions on Mark’s farm.
The tanker was imported by OzValueAG, which has now been appointed the Australian distributor for Bossini.
The attendees at the field day listened to presentations by various speakers, including Prof Bell, who said slurry – when used properly, and after testing to determine its properties – could have a lot of benefits in building the fertility bank in soils.
They also had the opportunity to watch an in-field demonstration of the slurry tanker in action.
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