Human nature being what it is, a degree of nervousness about the amount of growth over the coming summer is to be expected, however past growth records combined with the digging of a few holes will help with feed budgeting. Here in the Rotorua district the...

Dairy cows are amazingly tough and resilient animals with the majority remaining outdoors all year.  Diets vary widely; most survive through harsh winter and early spring conditions, give birth, and produce remarkably well. Some years ago a farmer in the...

A dairy farmer entering his fourth season on a large dairy conversion phoned to ask whether an application of dolomite would help relieve the growing number of calcium/magnesium related problems on his property. As that question could not be adequately...

It was about twenty years ago at the start of my work in the fertiliser industry that Golden Bay dolomite for me became an essential resource. I came across a small group of dairy farmers in the Matamata region that claimed to have minimal animal health...

Digging holes in pasture near Takaka recently provided a wealth of information.  The site visited was an area close to the coast that had been regularly cropped for a number of years with the soil applied nutrients being conventional high analysis water...

The ability of Golden Bay dolomite to flocculate heavy soils is well known.  Flocculation is the technical term for the grouping together of small soil particles that provide space large enough for water to percolate through and air to enter as the soil...

Since the purchase of the Dolomite mine at Golden Bay by the Solly family in 2007, sales of agricultural dolomite have steadily increased and a quantum lift in sales appears imminent as it becomes increasingly apparent that magnesium is a ongoing...

Dolomite because it typically contains 24% calcium and 11.5% magnesium, both in the carbonate form, has a liming (pH modifying) effect when applied to soil. As a result beneficial soil life is stimulated.  It is very difficult to measure beneficial soil...

The rule is simple, feed magnesium to cows prior to calving and calcium after, or is it?  We grew up with the knowledge that feeding magnesium prior to calving helped with the release of calcium from the animals own reserves. As cows got older and bones...

There is increasing evidence that the present pastoral soil fertility system is in for a radical overhaul.  Perhaps the only reason for the conventional phosphorus and nitrogen driven system to have remained entrenched for so long is the conservatism of...