Farm Tech

PasturePlan

‘Pyramid Farm’, Chris and Julia Dawkins

Location: Confluence of Avon and Waihopai Rivers, near Blenheim.

Farm size & type: 450 ha. Traditional sheep breeding and cattle finishing.

Topography: Easy hill country and river flats.

Rainfall: 780 mm/yr.

Climate: Summer dry.

Soil type: n/a.

Fertiliser regime: 250 kg/ha/year of super phosphate, plus nitrogen and lime applied if necessary.

Stock numbers: 2,000 su sheep and 1,000 su cattle. Numbers fluctuate depending on available feed.

Carrying capacity: n/a.

Plot descriptions: (a) 3-yr lucerce, river flats. (b) New ryegrass/white clover

Detailed description: n/a.

Farmer's comments: "To be successful when feed budgeting, you need to have accurate input data. Usually the only unknown is daily pasture growth rates. Pasture growth is seasonal and variable in Marlborough, with approximately two-thirds of total annual DM production occurring in a 10–12 week period in the spring. By predicting growth rate trends before they actually occur, you can take advantage of opportunities during our limited growing season. Knowing the daily pasture growth rates either side of the massive spike will allow me to take action. It will give me the confidence to make decisions based on predicted growth rates determined by current production and, hopefully, confirm that what I am doing is correct."

"It will also be good to benchmark one year against another and act accordingly. Once you slip behind in growth rates and subsequent pasture production it's hard to catch up. We haven't had access to local measurements in the past. They have always been on predicted models so this monitoring has the advantage of being based on real-farm results." (Chris Dawkins)

Results published: Nelson/Marlborough Farming