Oct 30, 2013
We grew up believing that clover caused bloat, and there was no substitute for horsepower when it came to Bathurst, with the way to increased horsepower being a bigger engine and more fuel down its throat. I remember an experienced farmer telling me that adding potash...
Aug 30, 2013
The wealth of this country is determined by the amount of humus contained in the top 25cm of the soil. It’s often been said that weight for weight, humus is more valuable than gold. By increasing the amount of humus in the soil significantly increased amounts of both...
Jul 30, 2013
If soil fertiliser requirements was just about putting soil test numbers into a spread sheet that spat out a nutrient recommendation which was both effective and efficient, life would be very much simpler. There would be little if any discussion on the merits of...
Jun 30, 2013
There are a number of certainties we all live by and right now the two that spring to mind are: future weather patterns cannot accurately be predicted, and dry spells are eventually followed by significant rain. A philosophy that we adopted years ago and is the basis...
May 30, 2013
Based on a payment of $6.00 per kg of Milk Solids, a 114ha dairy property producing close to 1,000kgMS/ha will receive a total of $668,040 income from milk alone. Unfortunately even at this payout a significant percentage of dairy farmers have expenses that exceed...
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...
