Never underestimate the importance of giving your effluent pond a good stir! Along with choosing the right sized pond, with a good, reliable pump, stirring is an important factor that shouldn't be overlooked.
Why? Stirring is a vital part of the process of creating nutrient-rich effluent that will help you save money and increase pasture yield. Here's the 4 main benefits of effluent pond stirring:
1. Maintain maximum storage capacity
Mixing the effluent together helps agitate the solids so that they’re broken down and kept in the solution, rather than settling at the bottom of the pond.
If you allow the solids to settle, they build up over time using up the pond’s storage capacity. It's important to maximise capacity as much as possible, especially during winter when there's increased water volume.
2. Increased pump service life
Some of the solids in your effluent – such as sand – are very abrasive. Over time, these get into the mechanisms of your pump and wear it down, costing you time and money in pump maintenance.
Stirring the effluent pond creates an even spread of these abrasive materials through the liquid. This cuts back on the amount of abrasive material that will enter your pump and helps to lengthen the pump’s operating life.
3. Keep it tidy
There’s no argument that effluent ponds aren’t exactly a picturesque feature of any farm, but keeping your pond tidy will help make it pleasant for workers and livestock nearby. Stirring stops sludge or crust building up on the surface, and also helps to keep insect populations and odours at bay.
4. Create a more even nutrient spread
Nutrients won’t naturally distribute evenly through your effluent pond. This means when it comes to applying effluent, you’ll end up giving some paddocks a high loading of nutrients, while others get next to nothing.
Stirring distributes the nutrients evenly throughout the effluent, so you’ll have an even application across your whole farm, creating greater returns for your efforts.
What's the best way to stir?
Stirring is easy with the right pond stirrer for your farm. Nevada has a range of PTO and Electric stirrers to suit different requirements. Designed for safety and reliability, Nevada stirrers give you the most efficient stirring action possible. With the well proven Typhoon™ propeller, you’ll be able to achieve a well maintained effluent pond.