The short version
- The window is shutting. In an NVZ, 1 October closes tillage land and 15 October closes grassland on ordinary soils. Sandy and shallow soils shut weeks ago.
- Hard ground is not safe ground. Cracks and field drains move slurry to a watercourse as fast as a wet field runs it off the top.
- "The store was full" is not a defence. In England the rule is spread to crop and soil need. Running out of room is treated as a storage failure, not a reason.
- Nothing has been relaxed for the drought. The dry weather guidance gives some latitude on scheme agreements and none at all on manure spreading.
- If you are going to be short, say so early. The options that exist all take a few weeks to arrange, and they shrink to nothing once you are over the top of the tank.
When the window shuts, by nation
Closed periods for slurry and other high readily-available-nitrogen organic manures. England and Scotland: NVZ land only. Wales and Northern Ireland: everywhere.
| Nation | Grassland | Tillage land |
|---|---|---|
| England NVZ only |
15 Oct – 31 Jan Sandy or shallow: 1 Sep – 31 Dec |
1 Oct – 31 Jan Sandy or shallow: 1 Aug – 31 Dec |
| Wales whole country |
15 Oct – 15 Jan Sandy or shallow: 1 Sep – 31 Dec |
1 Oct – 31 Jan Sandy or shallow: 1 Aug – 31 Dec |
| Northern Ireland whole country |
15 Oct – 31 Jan, all soils and all crops Farmyard manure has its own period: 31 Oct – 31 Jan |
|
| Scotland NVZ only |
15 Oct – 31 Jan Sandy or shallow: 1 Sep – 31 Jan |
1 Oct – 31 Jan Sandy or shallow: 1 Aug – 31 Jan |
England, Wales and Northern Ireland dates were checked against the regulations in August 2026. Scotland's are indicative and still being verified — check with SEPA before you plan around them. In particular, SEPA's own NetRegs guidance gives the sandy and shallow soil closed periods as ending 31 December, not 31 January as shown here; we have not yet been able to confirm which is right against the Action Programme regulations, so treat both Scottish sandy/shallow end dates as unconfirmed. Outside an NVZ in England and Scotland there is no fixed closed period, but the Farming Rules for Water and the general binding rules still govern when you can go.
Two dates in the diary, not one
Plenty of farms have both. If a field is on sandy or shallow soil it shut in August or September; the next field along on heavier ground is open until October. It is the soil that decides, not the farm.
Dry ground is not automatically good ground
Cracked soil is a pipe, not a sponge
A baked, cracked field looks like the best travelling you will get all year. The problem is what happens underneath. Slurry put onto deep cracks can bypass the soil entirely and reach a field drain, and from there a ditch, within minutes. Every serious pollution case is a surprise to somebody.
In its report for the week to 10 September 2026 the Environment Agency had ten areas in drought and four more in prolonged dry weather, with England on about a third of average rainfall for the month so far. Its line to farmers was unchanged: assess ground and weather conditions before spreading organic manures, slurries included.
The conditions that apply whatever the date
Even with the window open, you must not spread on waterlogged, flooded or snow-covered soil, or where the soil has been frozen for more than 12 hours in the past 24. You must take the weather forecast and the conditions at the time into account before you go. Keep 10 m off inland freshwaters and coastal waters — 6 m if you are using precision equipment such as a trailing hose, dribble bar or shallow injector — and 50 m off a spring, well or borehole.
There is no fixed 48-hour rule in the English rules, whatever you may have been told; what there is, is a duty to look at the forecast and judge the risk. This year that duty does most of its work: the first proper rain onto baked ground moves more than anyone expects.
The numbers, in one place
England, NVZ land: from the end of the closed period until the end of February, a single application is capped at 30 m³/ha of slurry (8 t/ha poultry manure), with at least three weeks between applications. That figure was reduced from 50 m³/ha — if you are working to 50, you are working to the old rule. Field limit 250 kg/ha of total nitrogen from all organic manures in any 12 months. Farm limit 170 kg/ha of nitrogen from livestock manure a year. Outside that February window there is no fixed volume cap, but the rate still has to match what the crop and soil actually need.
Rules of thumb for withholding: about three weeks before grazing and six weeks before silage.
Wales caps a single application at 30 m³/ha until 28 February with three weeks between applications. Northern Ireland applies a 30 m³/ha ceiling through February and widens buffers to 30 m from lakes and 15 m from other waterways.
If the store will not see the winter out
The honest options, in the order they are worth trying. None of them is spreading your way out of it.
Start here: a full store is not a legal reason to spread
The Farming Rules for Water require you to apply organic manure to meet the crop and soil's need. The Environment Agency's position is that spreading because the store has run out of room is a breach in itself — the fullness of the tank is evidence of a storage problem, not a justification for the load. Nobody has ever talked their way out of that one.
Being straight about it early is worth a great deal more than being caught late. If you are going to be short, the regulator would far rather hear it from you in October than find it in January.
Find out what you actually have
Measure the store properly and work out how many weeks it holds at your real rate of filling, not the rate you assume. The storage calculator will do the arithmetic; a dipstick and a fortnight's honest recording will do the rest.
Get the clean water out
The cheapest capacity anyone ever finds is the roof water and clean yard water that should never have been in the tank. Gutters, downpipes and a diverted yard channel buy weeks, cost little, and keep buying them every year after.
Use the window you still have, properly
Where the window is open and the crop has a genuine need, go on the fields that need it, at a rate the crop can use, in the conditions the rules require — not the nearest field to the tank. A nutrient analysis pays for itself if it lets you justify the rate you applied.
Separate, if you have the kit or can hire it
Taking the solids out reduces the volume you have to store as liquid and makes what is left easier to handle. It is not free and it is not instant, but it is available to hire in most areas.
Export it, or find temporary capacity
Neighbouring land with a genuine crop need, an AD plant, or temporary storage. All of these need arranging, and all of them need the paperwork to be right — a movement off farm is a nutrient going somewhere, and it has to be recorded.
Talk to the regulator before they talk to you
The Environment Agency, SEPA, NRW or NIEA. There is no easement to hand out, and none of them can make the closed period go away. What a conversation in October can do is change how a shortfall is dealt with in January.
Not sure whether today is a spreading day? The spreading checker takes a postcode, the forecast and what you are putting on, and gives you a best estimate against the closed period, the ground conditions and the nutrient loading. It is a steer, not a green light — and the Scotland dates and the pig and digestate nutrient figures in it are still being verified.
What else is landing this autumn
Capital Grants is shut, and so is SFI window 2
Capital Grants 2026 closed on 1 September 2026 after around 17,000 applications, and no 2027 opening date has been announced. If storage is your problem, there is currently no open England scheme paying for a store or a cover. The reformed SFI's second window, open to everyone, opened on 22 September 2026 and closed the same day at 15:48, once applications covered the full budget. Defra says the next chance to apply will be in 2027. See the grants guide.
Last winter on a splash plate
High-trajectory splash plates, swivel plates and rain guns have been banned outright in Scotland since January 2023. The transitional permission for smaller farms to use an inverted, downward-facing splash plate ends on 1 January 2027. If that is you, this is the last closed period before you need a dribble bar or band spreader, trailing hose, trailing shoe or direct injection. An umbilical system on its own does not count — it is a way of getting slurry to the field, and it still has to end in one of those applicators. The trade will be busy in the spring.
Wales: the closed period is going, but not this year
Welsh ministers have committed to removing the fixed closed period in favour of a risk-based approach, and a task and finish group is working through it. Nothing changes for 2026–27 — NFU Cymru has said so plainly, and no amending regulations have been laid. Grassland still shuts on 15 October.
NI: the NAP consultation has closed
DAERA's consultation on the Nutrients Action Programme for 2027–2030 closed on 7 September 2026 and responses are being analysed, with the programme intended for the start of 2027. Among the proposals: low-emission spreading equipment phased in by farm size from 2028, and a cut from 30 to 25 m³/ha on a single application in February and between 30 September and 15 October. Proposals, not law — this winter runs on the 2019 NAP.
Quick answers
Can I get an extension because of the drought?
No. The dry weather and drought guidance offers some flexibility on land management scheme agreements. It contains no easement on slurry spreading, manure rules or the Farming Rules for Water.
My ground is bone dry — surely that's the safest time?
Not necessarily. Deep cracks and field drains can take slurry to a watercourse quickly, and the first heavy rain after a dry spell moves whatever is sitting on top. Assess the ground each time, and take the forecast into account before you go.
What if I genuinely run out of storage in January?
Spreading is still not lawful inside the closed period. Talk to your regulator early, and get temporary capacity or an export arranged before the tank makes the decision for you.
Does any of this apply outside an NVZ?
The closed period does not apply outside an NVZ in England or Scotland, but everything else does — crop need, ground conditions, buffers and the rain forecast. Wales and Northern Ireland have no outside: the whole country is covered.
Spotted something out of date?
These rules move quickly. If you think anything here has changed, tell us and we'll check and fix it.
Sources: GOV.UK guidance on nitrate vulnerable zones and on storing silage, slurry and agricultural fuel oil; the Farming Rules for Water statutory guidance of 18 June 2025; the Environment Agency's dry weather and drought in England summary report for 4 to 10 September 2026 and Defra's dry weather guidance of 12 August 2026; The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021, regulation 18; the Nutrients Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019, regulation 7, and DAERA's consultation on the Nutrients Action Programme 2027–2030, which closed on 7 September 2026; SEPA and the Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations; the Defra Farming blog notice that Capital Grants 2026 closed on 1 September 2026; and GOV.UK SFI26 scheme guidance. England, Wales and Northern Ireland closed-period dates were checked against the regulations in August 2026; Scotland's are indicative and flagged in italics above. This is a plain-English summary, not the regulations themselves — always check the official source before acting. Last reviewed 13 September 2026.