May 30, 2013
With the gap steadily closing between the cost of producing a kilogram of milk solids and the amount of money received the arrival of the clover root weevil this season is unwelcome. Healthy clover in a permanent clover rye grass pasture is capable of fixing more than...
May 30, 2013
Jon Morgan in an article in The Dominion late last year claimed that nitrate nitrogen was the “elephant in the room” with regard to water quality. It is and will remain so until it is recognised and accepted that excessive use of nitrogen fertiliser brings about a...
Apr 30, 2013
There is a widespread misconception that improving the quality of what we grow and produce from the land will result in lower volumes. This argument is used by supporters and users of conventional growing systems to justify a regime that increasingly struggles with...
Mar 30, 2013
We have spent the last twenty years focused on soil fertility particularly fertility under grazed pastures and there are still times when parts of the picture are cloudy, sometimes even decidedly murky. For an individual farmer or general farm consultant to be able to...
Mar 30, 2013
One of the functions of a healthy soil is the recycling of nutrient for plant uptake, and as soil becomes more efficient at holding onto nutrients the requirement for costly fertiliser input reduces. The ability of soils to retain applied nutrient is based on a number...
Mar 30, 2013
I was approached recently by a dairy farming family passionate about their farm and dedicated to the dairy industry. Their concern was the steadily escalating cost of producing milksolids and the rapidly declining amount paid for them. Specifically they were...
