England and Wales

Livestock manure loadings shall not exceed 170 kg/ha of total nitrogen each calendar year averaged over the farm

This limit applies to:

• All livestock manures, including those deposited by grazing animals

• All the agricultural land on the farm, located within the NVZ boundaries

• All farms using livestock manures, whether producing them or importing them

It should be noted that

• Areas or woodlands, roads and hardstanding must be excluded from the calculation of land available for spreading

• Imports and exports of manure must be taken into account

• Standard manure N production figures must be used

The field limit for organic manures is 250 kg/ha total Nitrogen (not including grazing deposits)

Farms that produce livestock manures with high available N (>30%) content must provide the following storage capacity requirements:

• Cattle Slurry: 22 weeks

• Pig Slurry: 26 weeks

Dirty water (rainwater or wash water) is not regarded as slurry and should be collected separately to reduce slurry quantities

Poultry litter and solid manures with low readily available N content (<30%) must be stored in an appropriate manner:

• In the livestock house

• On concrete constructed to the appropriate standard

• At a suitable temporary field site

- Not within 50m of a spring / well / borehole

- Not within 10m of a watercourse / field drain

- Not located in a single position for greater than 12 months

- There must be a 2 year gap before returning to the same field site

• Do not apply fertilizer or organic manures when the soil is:

- Waterlogged, frozen, flooded or snow covered

• Do not apply nitrogen fertilizer or organic manures to steeply sloping fields (an incline >12o / 20% / 1 in 5)

• Do not apply nitrogen fertilizer within 2m of a watercourses

• Do not apply organic manures within 10 metres of a watercourse

• Do not apply organic manures within 50 metres of a spring / well / borehole

• Do spread fertilizers and organic manures evenly and accurately

• Do keep records for at least five years covering all necessary aspects