Too few rainy days for liquid manure application

Created: 09/10/2022, 18:00

By: Bettina Stuhlweißenburg

BBV district chairman Josef Huber is also feeling the effects of climate change.

Like other farmers, he sometimes had poor grass cuttings this year due to the drought.

© TP

The dry summer is a problem for farmers: Because the lack of rainy days means that the time window for oddling is shrinking, some farmers have problems spreading their liquid manure.

Holzkirchen - Throughout Bavaria, agriculture is suffering from the consequences of the drought - the district of Miesbach, on the other hand, got off lightly.

According to Christian Webert, head of the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry (AELF) in Holzkirchen, this is mainly due to the Alpine congestion, which gives the farmers a comparatively large amount of rain.

By the end of August, 650 millimeters of precipitation had been measured in Miesbach and 930 millimeters in Kreuth.

"That's no comparison to Franconia, where only 320 millimeters were measured up to the end of August," says Webert.

At around eight percent, arable farming only plays a very minor role in the Miesbach district.

"More than 90 percent of agricultural land is grassland." Crop farmers are expected to lose yield, but to a much lesser extent than in other regions.

This does not mean, however, that climate change is leaving the district of Miesbach untouched.

"We already had dry summers in 2018, 2019 and 2020," says Webert, "there are also extreme events such as heavy rain." This leads to erosion damage, forest roads would be washed away.

In addition, the pastures were grazed earlier - the cattle may be returning to the valley earlier this year.

"But basically this year was a reasonable alpine summer," says Webert.

A food shortage is very unlikely.

The district chairman of the Bavarian Farmers' Association, Josef Huber from Valley, confirms this. However, the last cuts were bad ones because the sun burned out the areas.

"The grass is then less rich in protein, and that has consequences for the milk yield of the cows," explains Huber, who runs a dairy farm himself.

The grass is therefore not useless.

"It's still suitable for feeding young cattle or for mixing in."

Against this background, the State Institute for Agriculture is currently researching grasses that are less sensitive to drought.

"One tries to react to the increasing drought with adapted grass varieties," says Webert.

The AELF also advises farmers on how they can improve water management on their alpine pastures: "Investments will be necessary in the drinking systems," says Webert.

Farmers could apply for subsidies for this.

Climate change is also an issue in the training at the agricultural college: "Farmers need to know how to make their business processes fit for the challenges posed by climate change."

Against the background of increasing drought, district chairman Huber calls for more understanding for agriculture: “People scold when they see a farmer who spreads the liquid manure when the weather is nice.

However, when there are hardly any rainy days, the time window for liquid manure spreading becomes narrower and narrower,” he says.

In principle, farmers oed before or on rainy days to prevent ammonia from evaporating from the sun's rays.

"This year we had some problems spreading the liquid manure," says Huber.  

Holzkirchen-Newsletter: Everything from your region!

Our Holzkirchen newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the Holzkirchen region - including all the news about the Corona crisis in your community.

Sign up here.