Observations provided information on the impact of a range of factors on the potential for crust
formation. The most important factors were slurry solids content (crusting increasing with
dry matter (DM) content), volume:surface area ratio of the storage (influencing nature of
the crust and rate of formation), livestock diet (crusting more likely with grass silage),
slurry management (agitation). Of particular importance, were weather conditions with
evaporation increasing crusts and rainfall having the opposite effect.