Farm Tech

PasturePlan

‘Minda Hills’, Mark and Lorraine Illston

Location: Mataroa, near Taihape.

Farm size & type: 320 ha. Sheep breeding and finishing, and cattle finishing.

Topography: Medium hill country.

Rainfall: n/a.

Climate: n/a.

Soil type: n/a.

Fertiliser regime: 300 kg of super equivalent on undeveloped pasture and 500 kg on new grass areas. Nitrogen is applied to fill the deficit between the grass budget and actual production.

Stock numbers: Kelso composite flock of 1,900 ewes and 1,000 hoggets that all go to the ram. 300 mainly 2-yr cattle wintered on crops.

Carrying capacity: n/a.

Plot descriptions: (a) 1-yr ryegrass. (b) Old, southwest-facing hill.

Detailed description:

Farmer's comments: "We've been monitoring our pasture growth six years for the Market Update publication. The opportunity to do pasture monitoring for WoolPro and PasturePlan has been a huge bonus for the farm. We recognise grass as one of our main resources, it's fascinating stuff and there have been some major advances with our understanding of the inter-reaction between quality and quantity. As a result of our involvement in PasturePlan, we expect to be able to predict grass growth on our farm with more accuracy." (Mark Illston)

Results published: Central Districts Farmer.