Muck spreading: how foul

[sheridand]

This might be a bit off topic, but I am curious to know what people think. Where I live in the Fens the muck spreading is starting in earnest. It means no washing can be put out and it stinks , badly, for days. It is sludge cake, (human waste) they're spreading on the field at the end of my garden. I can always predict that 2 days later the entire family will have a foul cold and snots. I wondered if anyone else had the same, and knew anything about the practice? I have read of it causing nasties in the USA, but there doesn't seem to be much info on the practice in the UK. I would just like to know a little about it as my two kids are still small (and snotty at the mo!)

[chicken feed]

ahhhhhhhhhhh the smell of the country, its the lime spreading that makes me heave

[Millymollymandy]

Interesting - now I think of it we only smell muck spreading here in the spring, which means the farmers don't spread muck for sowing winter wheat but only for the maize..... I wonder why that is? It smells like a farmyard smell to me so I'm happy with ours and I'm right next to a field which is regularly mucked. I'm sure some of it is human waste even though that's illegal here but when have the French ever taken any notice of any rules? I'm surprised it's legal in England though!!!

[Mrs H]

DEFRA has mega rules on muck spreading!!! It is illegal to spread over the winter months, off the top of my head I want to say October till February. They can change it depending on weather conditions. It is also illegal to spread human waste however I do know it is still done when septic tanks require emptying. When this is the case it is spread on a far away field so no one. Is any the wiser.
I'm sorry to here that ur kiddies hav got poorly from it, maybe a call to ur local agricultural governing body would clarify things? Xx

[Odsox]

Interesting - now I think of it we only smell muck spreading here in the spring, which means the farmers don't spread muck for sowing winter wheat but only for the maize..... I wonder why that is?

That's because there is a French law that only allows surface slurry spreading from January to March, or there used to be anyway.
They can spread liquid slurry after that but it must be injected into the soil, which is basically a disc harrow with a pipe attached .. the disc makes a slot in the soil, slurry is dribbled into the slot, which then closes up again. No smell and no run off if it rains.
Sorry ..

[pelmetman]

Are you quite sure it's human waste. Last time we had our cess pit emptied the chap said how they no longer dump it out on the fields. I suspect it's animal waste. Can't say we have felt ill after muck spraying but I have certainly been ill after they have sprayed their pesticides. Whenever we see or hear the machines coming down the field I shut all our windows and doors and stay inside for a few hours especially if the wind is in our direction.

We live in a small village with two farms, one beef cattle, one dairy - so we know all about country smells

Sue

[Big Al]

There's not wrong with a bit of shit flicking as they say up here...... ok as I say up here

[Millymollymandy]

Interesting - now I think of it we only smell muck spreading here in the spring, which means the farmers don't spread muck for sowing winter wheat but only for the maize..... I wonder why that is?

That's because there is a French law that only allows surface slurry spreading from January to March, or there used to be anyway.
They can spread liquid slurry after that but it must be injected into the soil, which is basically a disc harrow with a pipe attached .. the disc makes a slot in the soil, slurry is dribbled into the slot, which then closes up again. No smell and no run off if it rains.
Sorry ..

I didn't know that! You see great big muck heap piles sitting in the fields all winter that the farmers are just now starting to dump at the edge of their fields.

I do wonder sometimes if I could nick in with a wheelbarrow in the dead of night......don't think they'd miss a few barrow fulls!

[sheridand]

According to the local smallholder next door it is sludgecake they spread, which I think is from human sewage plants? I am going to check DEFRA now, it really does honk! If you leave your washing out it takes 3 washes to get the stink off. I am in Fenland, so no animal manure in sight, it's all crops, crops, crops here. What I would give to see a cow.

[sheridand]

Ah ha! It's Agrivert. Human sludge cake. A quick web search will reveal that lots of people are worried about human pathogens remaining in the soil and there have been links to embryo deformity in animals. it's definately that, it's the same greyish sludge/soil. It HONKS! You seriously cannot even open the doors or windows. And apparently they can spread it more or less anytime as long as they consider pollution and run off issues. Yuk! I think the human poo issue needs to be addressed, we do all produce too much, but I am going to research a bit more now, as the idea of it being put onto largescale crops is a little alarming, given the pathogen issue.

[Odsox]

as the idea of it being put onto largescale crops is a little alarming, given the pathogen issue

Quite so, and I can't think of a better reason to grow your own.

[Mrs H]

There's not wrong with a bit of shit flicking as they say up here...... ok as I say up here

Love it!!

[Ellendra]

Maybe write to whoever is doing it, telling them that you and your family get sick every time it's spread, thus you believe that perhaps their sterilization process isn't quite getting rid of all the pathogens, and you just wanted them to know because you'd REALLY hate for them to be the cause of an outbreak of some sort.

With lawyers these days, anybody should be scared spitless getting a letter like that.

[Stonehead]

I fully appreciate the smell issues, having cleaned out septic tanks a few times and dealing with pig/poultry muck of varying degrees of fragrancy on a daily basis, but if sewage sludge isn't converted into fertiliser what's going to happen to it? It has to go somewhere or be turned into something—we can't just flush and forget, sending it all out to sea. And it can't just be left in storage facilities as we'd soon run out of room for it.

Sludge is full of useful nutrients, so it makes sense to put it to good use and reduce dependence on other fertilisers at the same time.

As for pathogens, properly treated sewage sludge (and liquids) should be safe. In fact, it's almost certainly lower in pathogens than cow, pig and poultry muck that hasn't been treated and is used to fertilise many food crops. Sewage is filtered several times, broken down by bacteria and then cooked at high temperatures. It's also checked many times.

On the other hand, a lot of food crops grown in the developing world and imported into Britain are fertilised with untreated sewage.

And if people think its disgusting to eat crops grown in sewage sludge, I remember doing a story a few years ago about the London water supply. The water coming out of London's taps is used at least five times between entering the system and exiting it again. Yes, that lovely tap water has been drunk and excreted (or used for other things) several times before you fill a glass and gulp it down.

[oldjerry]

I reckon its a great idea to use any sort of manure,what else are you going to do with it,it's just a question of scale (yet again).I wouldn't want to be surrounded by several hundred acres of sewage sludge,(though it sometimes feels like I'm up to the neck in it).Hey it could be worse,you could be living in London,surrounded by the smell of traffic,and drinking what you passed the previous week!