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Crops make better use of the valuable nutrients in liquid manure, if it is applied to the crops in the growing season. Slurry handling equipment from Danish company Agrometer offers that possibility, and even in an eco-friendly way with fewer nuisances for the neighbors, and less fuel consumption. The unique system has been used in Europe for more than 20 years and is now for the first time coming to Wisconsin and the US.

The increasing number of livestock produces an equivalently rising amount of liquid manure. The way of dealing with this foul-smelling, yet valuable resource hasn't changed for years. However, it is about to do so. The Danish company Agrometer, which has been manufacturing liquid manure equipment for more than 25 years, are now introducing their technology to the American market.

So far most American farmers apply liquid manure on open ground only, during a limited time slot each year. Now this time slot can be significantly extended, and the liquid manure can now be applied to crops in the growing season. This will increase the yield, as the crops have the best absorption at this time. Even if the time slot for applying the manure is extended, the surrounding neighbors will feel less hassled today because of the Danish machines handle the slurry in a different way.

SDS 8000 self-propelled liquid manure spreader with 118 ft dribble bar

The Agrometer system offers two main types of manure application: A self-propelled dribble hose spreader (SDS 8000) with a spray bar up to 118 ft wide or B an umbilical injector system (SRS 1200) with trailing shoe injectors up to 39 ft wide. Neither of the machines have on board tanks. Instead they hold up to 2,130 ft of feeding hoses. This means they continuously operate in the field, while the liquid manure is being pumped directly to the machines from lagoons or nurse tanks via laid-out hoses. The pump units have a range of up 13,000 ft which can be further extended using intermediate booster pumps.

The SDS 8000 dribble hose system applies the liquid manure gently on the ground surface, while the SRS 1200 incorporates it directly into the soil. No slurry is spread up in the air, which will reduce odors to an absolute minimum.

SRS 1200 umbilical liquid manure injection system equipped with a 39 ft injector tool

Since there are no on-board tanks the weight of the machine is considerably lower than conventional slurry tankers. This helps to reduce soil compaction significantly and makes it possible to commence liquid manure spreading at an earlier stage, as the machines are less likely to get stuck in wet or soft fields.

This quite different application system has been developed over 20 years, and particularly within the last 10 years it has become an increasingly popular solution throughout Europe, as farmers have discovered its numerous advantages. The first set of machines have now been brought to the US by Agrometer. Agrometer products will be sold and serviced by Vanderloop Equipment. Agrometer products will be shown at the WPS Farm Show in Oshkosh WI, located in Hangar D.