It helps farmers comply with council water regulations, eliminates operational costs such as emptying or cleaning ponds or tanks and enables paddocks to stay in rotation for grazing. It’s tested and approved by Farm Source and is easy to apply each month.

After farmer feedback, where grass growth had resulted from Effluex treatment, MicroBio started Nitrogen trials. A trial farm in Karaka (190 cows) was selected by a Farm Source SDA and MicroBio Solutions. Nitrogen (N) levels in the farm’s pond were tested before and during treatment. They also tested for the type of N in the pond to establish the quality of the water leaving the pond for irrigation. Additional trials are now underway on the grass that was irrigated from the pond and improvement in soil quality compared to non-irrigated areas.

“We wanted to demonstrate that, as the Effluex bacteria break down the crust on the surface of the pond and the sludge at the bottom of the pond, a considerable amount of nitrogen is released into the water in a dissolved state and is available as excellent fertiliser when water from the pond is drawn off for irrigation,” MicroBio national sales manager Murray McCallum says. The trial also aimed to prove the percentage of N that is organic increases, while ammoniacal N decreases and the presence of nitrites and nitrates is minimal. It found that over a two-month period, total N increased by 99%, and organic N increased from 25% of the available N to 61%. Nitrates and nitrites remained at negligible levels, while ammoniacal N dropped from 75% to 39%. “This is a good result for the (trial) farmer to justify using Effluex,” Murray says. “As a bonus, he now has enough dissolved nitrogen in his pond to irrigate 21ha of land at the same rate of N he would get from applying NPK, at no additional cost. We’ll be looking to replicate these results across multiple farms in different regions and with varying herd numbers.

Too thick to drop test

Matt Clarke of Waharoa, an existing client, was in a position where a drop test for the regional council wasn’t possible due to the thickness of the crust on the effluent pond. Yet he needed to provide test results. Enter Effluex, which Matt’s Farm Source technical sales representative (TSR), Jane Stokes, suggested he try. “Jane had heard that it has been very effective,” Matt says.

“The results after just a month and a half have been amazing, and we are now in a position to do the drop test. We’ve also noticed other benefits from using Effluex. We’ve had no blockages on our irrigation pumps since introducing it. We also have more days of storage as the crust has gone and the sludge is on its way out as well. We couldn’t be happier.”

Murray says these findings show Effluex is an extremely effective and economical way to remove the problems of solids and sludge in dairy effluent ponds and a simple way to maximise the availability of N in those ponds for hassle-free irrigation and fertilisation.

The data will be publicly available on the MicroBio website at the end of the trials.

Effluex is a monthly subscription service and is delivered to your farm For more information visit microbio.co.nz or talk to your Farm Source TSR.