WIN/WIN AS BALLINDERRY RIVERS TRUST PROJECT PROVES FARM WATER FILTRATION INNOVATION DELIVERS PROFITS WHILE ALSO PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT The Water Innovation Network (WIN) is in the concluding stage of an ambitious project aimed at revolutionising farming practices and improving farm productivity while safeguarding water quality in the Ballinderry catchment area of Northern Ireland. […]
Comfrey can be found growing wild around the countryside. It’s a brilliant absorber of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium so a very useful plant in situations where we need to mop up nutrients before they get into waterways – for example where dirty water is running off a farm yard towards a river. It’s a
Comfrey – the secret weapon in cleaning up our waterways Read More »
This shrimp is the Rambo of the waterways. It’s a hardy wee thing that can withstand a reasonable amount of most forms of pollution and enrichment. You can expect to find them in all but the most polluted of waterways. They’ll be hanging out under the stones. If there is some nutrient pollution they’ll actually
The ultimate indicator of water quality Read More »
We took a tour of the new swale systems on a dairy farm outside Cookstown today. The system is a way of capturing and recycling nutrients and minerals that would otherwise be lost. The system is based on simple principles but a lot of thought has gone into the design. First of all clean spring
work has finally begun The problem Site work has begun! Digger work for the first of our Nature Based Water management areas began on Monday the 1st November at the Henrys dairy farm! Digger work starts 1/11/21 Our site works contractor Arnie Harkness has made excellent progress and can be seen digging the final swale
Site work has begun Read More »
WIN releases feasibility study The problem Stage one of the project involved identifying water problems on various farms, making a list of the problems and brainstorming potential innovative solutions. This stage was very much about thinking big and not limiting our options. The initial phase of stage two involved a feasibility study. The feasibility study
WIN releases feasibility study Read More »
pig farm James is a prominent pig and beef farmer in the Ballinderry river catchment. The main problem on the farm is that yard water is caught in a slurry reception tank which has limited capacity. Caption to go here. The problem The main problem on the farm is that yard water is caught in
Poultry farm Robert is our part time free-range poultry farmer. The farm has cereal growing land which has high levels of nutrients, especially Phosphate. This is assumed to be a result of historically annual applications of nutrient rich hen manure. Caption to go here. The problem The farm has cereal growing land which has high
BEEF farm Kenny is a part time suckler beef farmer. The farm is situated above land leading down to the Ballinderry river. He runs a split calving system, with some cows calving in the spring and some in the autumn. Caption to go here. The problem The majority of Kennys farm is free draining as
dairy farm Farmer profile- Bill and Adrian are a typical NI dairy farm found in the Ballinderry river catchment. They milk approximately 150 cows which calve year round. They run a grass based system, with cows grazing during the day and housed at night for supplement feeding. The problem The farmland is mainly heavy clay
