Estimates of animal manure (solid material) and slurry (liquid material) stored on farms are needed by
the Ministry of Agriculture , Fisheries & Food (MAFF) for compiling national inventories of gaseous
emissions . Data needed for this purpose include the total volume and surface area of stored manures and slurries from dif ferent livestock species . Existing sources of data were reviewed but have limitations in the context of an emissions inventory . Suppliers of prefabricated stores were approached for numbers and sizes of stores sold since 1970 . ADAS pollution control consultants made informed estimates of the geographic distribution of methods of storage in use in England & Wales for manure and slurry from dairy cows , other cattle and pigs . This information was combined with June 1992 census figures to provide estimates of volumes (raw and diluted) and exposed surface areas of stored manures and slurries . ADAS livestock consultants were used to interpret census data and provide estimates of the distribution of poultry manure handling methods . A computer spreadsheet was used to store and process this data and is available to allow future adjustments or sensitivity analyses . In this paper , these estimates are reported on a national basis but they were originally gathered separately for each of 15 areas and appended to a report produced for MAFF . These detailed figures are available on request . The majority of diluted livestock slurry is stored in earth-banked lagoons , with an estimated total volume of 15.5 Mm 3 and an estimated surface area of 7.0 Mm 2 . The total volume of stored solid manure is 14.9 Mm 3 with an estimated surface area of 11.9 Mm 2 .
The estimates were compared with data from other sources and show an acceptable level of agreement