Business Management & Agronomy
AGRONOMY
Independence, evidence based science and experience underpin our service. Detailed agronomic planning and an in-depth knowledge of what drives farm profit means improved profitability for our clients.
Our services is delivered with a big picture view. Care is taken to understand clients goals to ensure that advice and training are correctly targeted. Select the categories below for further details.
AN AGRONOMY SERVICE FOR YOUR FARM COULD BE AS FOLLOWS:
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Initial inspection – Discuss goals, DSEs and KPIs, inspect soils, crops, pastures and weeds
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Mapping – Paddocks (Ha & arable Ha), roads, weeds, water, etc
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Soil testing: Preparation of lime / fertiliser programs
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Develop annual programs for weed / pest control, cropping, pasture improvement
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Arrange contractors and liaise with farm owner / manager
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Ongoing supervision and reporting on annual program, feed budgeting and grazing management
INDEPENDENCE & INTEGRITY
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Soil testing is done to allow deficiencies of micro and macro nutrients to be identified so that fertilizer / soil ameliorant plans to be prepared. For the macro nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur, nutrient levels should be raised into target ranges through strategic fertilizer application. Other nutrient imbalances can result in increased acidity (low calcium) or in some situations may show as salinity (high salt levels) or sodicity (high sodium). Plant tissue testing can also be done to confirm actual plant nutrient uptake.
We offer a wide range of soil, water and plant tissue testing services. Soil test results must guide decisions on products, rates, timing, etc, to get the best possible results. Plant tissue tests can be used to allow fine tuning of fertilizer decisions as they ultimately show what nutrients plants are taking up.
Pasture improvement:
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The re-sowing of degraded perennial grass / clover based pastures is necessary to ensure productive and profitable pastures are grown. Best practice pasture sowing involves one or consecutive two crops (Yr 1 & Yr 2), to allow weed seed banks to be depleted before pasture sowing in Yr2 or 3. Pasture re-sowing can easily quadruple carrying capacity and double pasture quality, with the benefits lasting for decades. Success requires good planning and execution and no step should be missed. Pasture establishment failures can be very costly and can cause significant delays in achieving optimum carrying capacity.
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Perennial grass / sub-clover based pastures often need to be re-sown on a 10 - 15 year cycle on the less productive soils found on most farms on the Tablelands of southern NSW. Some better quality soils such as alluvial or deep basalt soils on can retain pastures for 50 years or more, but this type of country is scarce.
The number of livestock run on the farm (DSEs / Ha) is usually a key profit driver. Re-sowing pastures however can be a significant annual overhead cost. Buying more land is the another option but pasture re-sowing costs much less than buying land. It makes better sense for farmers to re-sow their degraded pastures first and then stock them appropriately to generate the extra funds needed to purchase extra land. It is the carrying capacity of the productive farm area that creates wealth over the long term, if well managed.
Cropping:
Generally on the NSW Tablelands up to 10 - 25% of a typical grazing farm could be cropped. If planned and managed well those crops can dramatically improve whole farm carrying capacity and profitability. They also reduce drought risks. Dual purpose winter cereals and canola are ideal to fill the winter feed gap. The best crops can be grazed and harvested for grain or baled for hay or silage.
Forage brassica crops can provide outstanding summer/autumn feed for sheep. Italian ryegrass may be grown for either high quality grazing or fodder conservation. Cleaning problem weeds out of paddocks before sowing perennial grass based pastures is an additional benefit of a well managed cropping phase.
The ability to fatten young stock on crops through autumn, winter and spring can lift whole farm profitability. In dry seasons, financial returns from well managed dual purpose crops on productive land can be many times what would be possible from pastures. However poorly planned and executed cropping programs will generally lose money. Getting it right results in profitable crops as well as clean paddocks for pasture sowing.
Weed and pest control:
Perennial weeds such as serrated tussock, fireweed, blackberry, St Johns' wort, Chilean needle grass or African lovegrass can all lead to reduced carrying capacity and land values. Annual weeds such as thistles, Paterson’s curse, barley grass and silvergrass make the problem worse. Pests such as slugs, Red Legged Earth Mites ( RLEM) and aphids can decimate crops or pastures if not controlled in a timely manner. If weeds and pests can’t be eradicated, they need to be managed so that their impact is minimized.
In many cases however the basic principles of weed and pest control are not well understood. A critical success factor in weed & pest control is starting early to prevent large numbers accumulating. Other success factors include ensuring strong pasture competition, as well as correct timing of controls. It is important to fertilize adequately and prevent overgrazing to keep pastures healthy and vigorous, so that they resist infestations of pests and weeds.
Grazing management:
Green leaves of plants intercept sunlight allowing energy to be produced to allow the plant to grow. However, plants that have been overgrazed intercept less sunlight due to reduced leaf area. Constant heavy grazing pressure forces animals to continually defoliate the most nutritious plants and literally graze them to death. When plants are grazed hard they respond by shedding roots, a survival tactic to reduce energy use; so continually overgrazed plants will develop small root systems and grow fewer leaves. Therefore, poor grazing management reduces farm carrying capacity, pasture persistence and farm financial returns.
Planned rotational grazing can prevent overgrazing by allowing feed to accumulate adequately before grazing. Feed budgeting is the process of measuring feed supply against feed demand and is key to optimizing livestock and pasture performance.
