Can grass production be maintained with more lime use, and utilisation of the retained phophorous in the soil?
Fertiliser is one of the biggest costs in a farmers expenditure and some farmers are questioning whether continual large inputs of chemical fertiliser are creating good profits.
To survive in todays tough financial climate farmers need to be profit driven, rather than production focused.
The working "smarter not harder" philosophy, has many farmers re-evaluating their stocking rate and stock class mix, to get the best combination that allows the best net profit.
How important are your "phosphate levels" to drive grass production, or can you survive with lower fertilser costs and still generate sustainable profits?
Forced to survive on a $2 payout caused by the receivership of the NZ Organic Dairy Farmer Co-operative of which he was a member, King Country dairy farmer David Miller re-evaluated his farming business. Listening to advice from American sustainable agriculture consultant Dr Ardern Andersen, who has visited the Waikato many times, Mr Miller cut fertiliser application by about six sevenths, reduced his stocking rate from 3.1 stock units per hectare to 2.6 and began using his herd, in the spring, to "prune" his pastures.
Dr Andersen, who is also a GP and doctor in the US Air Force, believes soil is being damaged by the overuse of fertiliser chemicals and the answer is reducing them to nurture the microbiology of the soil reports The Waikato Times. Dr Andersen's principles are embraced by Bill Quinn, of Organic Promotions in Paeroa, who Mr Miller also consulted. "My fertiliser budget went from $75,000 to $10,000, and I grew just as much grass," Mr Miller, who farms with his wife Ailsa at Honikiwi near Otorohanga, said.
The teachings of Dr Andersen, and other consultants like him, had changed the way he farms and produced plenty of grass during drought when neighbours were struggling to feed their stock. "Learning to make our budget work at $2 per kg of milk solids, I have learned to utilise water well," Mr Miller said. "My ryegrass clover pasture plants have a root system going down one metre, and are all still growing. I am 63 and I have only just learned that."
Mr Miller said he couldn't believe the difference between Dr Andersen's low input system and the conventional system, where roots grew to a tenth of the length.He'd also seen earthworm population increase from half a dozen small worms, per spadeful, to two dozen large worms after switching systems."Getting away from the N, P and K system we are able to feed our animals."
5 Comments
Great stuff at long last there is a positive article on this topic. Arden Anderson has done a lot of work in NZ and many farmers are getting a good response.
I wonder where your Dr Edmeades sits on this! It is not long ago that interest.co had an article slamming SNAKE OIL which Outgrow were applying. This was not any old concoction but a mix based on Dr Anderson research.
I cannot say SCIENCE as Dr Eadmeades is the scientist that slates any thig that is not produced by the NPK lobby
To hell with Science as it is usually 10 years behind progressive farmers anyway. one day the science will get up to date
Dave, A couple of points.
We are not told how many years into this system the farmer is. He has cut his stocking rate by 17% so of course he has more grass in the short term. With this reduction in S.R he will be exporting less nutrients off farm therefore will be able to apply less fertiliser but not the 85 % he is stating. Also we are not told what his starting fertility is he may have olsen P levels in the 50's therfore a shorterm 'mining' of fertility may achieve satisfatory results.
I would love to see proper evidence of ryegrass and clover rooting down to 1 metre, if you could provide this for me I would be stoked. White clover only has a deep rooting tap root for the first year of its life (it can almost behave as an annual if there is a large seed bank) after this the tap root dies and the plant relies on its advantious rooting system (small roots from the stolons coming from the axel of each leaf or petiole). It simply just doesn't have the hardware to root down to 1 m. Or course scientists have been advocating the use of caucasion clover which does have a deep rooting ability and massive ability to store P and S in its root system and hence grow at lower fertility. This plant has a very high thermal time requirement for establishment though and farmer uptake due to this difficulty (along with seed complany resistance as there is no profit it a true perennial clover) has been very low.
And as for the science catching up with the farmers - so it was a farmer that discovered the endophyte dilemma ? And a farmer that has utilised that knowledge to develop novel endophytes that are the biggest advance in pastoral farming in the last 50 years ? Your attitute to proper peer reviewed science that sorts the facts from the bullshit for farmers tells me that you let emotion get in the way of facts.
thanks simfarmer,
Yes one does get emotive when he has spent $100s of thousands on the NPK system and not marvelous results. I understand the climate I farm is not average NZ but to change to a non acid based system with huge results lets me farm for greater profit by a country mile.
i understand nutrient replacement, this article talks about using the nutrients locked up and being released by lime, i.e balancing the nutrients The debate is more the HEALTH of the Soil and how to nurture it. .I need not comment any further because one can only make their decisions on information they decide to seek. ie To take up shares in Wool Partners or not!
The reason for replying is to talk about my comment on SCIENCE. The endophyte issue was identified by farmers years ago, the management of stock on endophyte pasture was a major part of my fathers management in the 1960's era. Eventually scientists came up with nil endophyte grasses, great but we have lost the durability of our ryegrasses, now the Scientists are trying to solve the new problem.
The problems with endophyte did they emerged with acid fertiliser? We have only been using Acid fertiliser for 60 tears!! This may only be an assumption but I am looking forward to more durable grasses without the acid and nurturing the microbs.
I wonder in ten years time will the scientist tell us that part of the droughts in the north are more soil related than climate! Only throwing a farmer comment, but seek information and see if the Arden Anderson followers had more grass? i would be very interested in the results.
My point of them being slow to prove the science is often the farmer identifies the situation but it takes a long time to get the results, in the meantime if farmers do not go with their gut feeling and move it is too late.
The most glaring example we had was our first case of TB in 1973. Dad said it would be the bloody FERRETS. we started an eradication programme but it was not until an Otago University student by the name of Justine Ragg did a Phd on the ferrets in 1990/2 then the animal health Board decided on an eradication programme for ferrets. In the meantime we were ahead of the problem.
Google Dr Justine Ragg Ferrets.
Fair enough, there are horses for courses I just get annoyed when people somehow expect to get brilliant results by 'conditioning' the soil when there is nothing in the tank to start with. Of course 'unlocking' what you have in your soil and improving its health through liming and increasing microbial activity can only be a good thing and should be encouraged - however some people get the impression that you can make honey out of dogshit ie grow grass with an olsen P of 5.
In high rainfall areas like the west coast of the south Island I tend to advocate towards RPR elemental sulphur based fertilisers because they are ideal for that environment. However everything we do when growing grass is acidifying: elemental sulphur is broken down by a bacteria called thiobascillus (off the top of my head i think that it !) to sulphuric acid which dissociates through to so4 2- and H+ therefore acidyfying -this however helps to break down the RPR (along with rainfall) which the P helps grows clover and the nitrogen fixation again by bacterial symbiosis is another acidfying process ! We can't win so we have to lime to bring the pH up again. But somewhere along the line if we are exporting lots of nutrients off the property we need to replace that somehow at some stage.
No going to disagree with you at all on the TB issue. I think there is probably a lot more the whole scenario than we really know. Unfortunately it has become a profitable industry for many so the vested interests make it difficult to work out what is really going on.
Hi Simfarmer,
You along with a developing trend in farmers would create great discussion as you are well informed and look outside the "circle"for information.
I think a great time is developing in NZ pastoral farming as we can all use the internet and do our own research and from that question and ask our advisors off a well informed level. Gone are the days when the Fert Rep turns up and recommends 250kg DAP 300 kg Sulphur Super per hectare.
Cheers
Dave
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