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The intricacies of a routine farm job have been explored on BBC Radio by a Harper Adams expert.

Throughout this week, Radio Four’s Farming Today have been looking at some of the winter chores farmers are undertaking up and down the country – and in today’s episode, examined everything to do with muckspreading.

The team first spoke with Scottish farmer Hugh Fraser, from near Inverness in the Highlands, and heard about how January is a traditional time for mucking out, and spreading, dung.

They also heard about some of the rules and restrictions which affect Hugh’s muckspreading as a Scottish farmer.

The programme makers then spoke with Senior Lecturer in Soil and Environmental Science Paul Lewis – who gave listeners an overview of how the regulations affect farmers in various parts of the UK, and why they exist.

He said: “Historically it's mainly been linked into nutrient overload – together with some other soil contaminants - but an increasing area now would be air quality as well, particularly with some of the areas of concern with ammonia emissions.

“I think a good maxim to have is trying to think of appropriateness, consider the right crop in the rotation, the right time of year for spreading - that may be controlled by regulation - in a targeted way.

“So decent equipment and kit, we're thinking about that as well. And then quantity - is the quantity appropriate to maximize soil and crop need?

“There may then be particular restrictions linked into watercourse buffers.

“And, in some administrations, there are some specific requirements over using low emission spread equipment.”

Paul explained that, since devolution, different parts of the UK have different rules – but emphasised that this was because incorrectly applied muck can cause ‘quite considerable’ damage to watercourses in some cases.

He added: “I would say that it's perhaps less of a concern for more solid mucks than it would be for slurry. Part of that is because they're solid, they're less easily flow-able.

“There would be certain soil conditions where it would not be considered appropriate. For example, particularly at this time of year when we're considering the issue of waterlogged soils, snow and frost and flooded areas, just really that would limit soil acceptance, and then be more of a concern as a loss to the wider environment.”

Finally, Paul was asked about a perennial problem linked to farm muck and slurry spreading – the smell – and how this can be tackled.

He said: “I suppose the simplest thing there would be to think about incorporating it where appropriate. That's always going to be the best situation, getting it into the soil as opposed to just leaving it on the surface.

“We can think about equipment which is targeted to reduce gaseous emissions together with some of that smell - so what we call the low emission slurry spreaders such as dribble bars, injection systems or trailing shoes that would aid with that.

“There's a variety, for example, of biological amendments that can also assist – with interest now in composting muck in a variety of ways, again to reduce some of those issues of odour.

“So overall, just good awareness, good practice and using appropriate kit and timing is a really good policy.”