Breakdowns are bad enough, but when the offending object is plastered in slurry the task of repairing is even less appealing. With time to kill while sitting on an umbilical, Phil Blake developed a slurry injector with simplicity very much at its core.
With muck now viewed as valuable fertiliser rather than a waste product, slurry application is becoming something of a science. But getting high volumes of liquid onto fields can be tricky if surface run-off is to be avoided. Disc injectors offer a lot of potential in improving soil penetration and in placing nutrients right in the rooting zone. However they do restrict output when compared to conventional splash-plates and dribble-bars.
To answer that conundrum, in recent years a number of UK firms have adapted grassland spike aerators to apply slurry either off the back of a tanker or as part of an umbilical system. As with any dribble-bar or trailing shoe set-up, a macerator and distribution head are required. Such kit is expensive and has a high maintenance requirement. Also the narrow-bore pipework that tends to be used to deliver liquid to the outlets can be prone to blockage.
