Agronomy & Farm Business planning
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 service is delivered with a big picture view. Care is taken to understand clients goals to ensure that advice is relevant. 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
Soil testing is necessary to ensure that deficiencies of nutrients are identified and can be corrected, allowing pasture and crop potential growth and yeild to be achieved. Major nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S), should be raised to industry targets.
Deficiencies in minor nutrients such as Boron (B), molybdenum (Mo), and zinc (Zn) can be more difficult to detect. Common causes of poor pasture and crop growth such as soil acidity (low calcium) or salinity (high salt levels) or sodicity (high sodium (Na)) generally require major investment to effectively correct. In some cases plant tissue testing may need to be done to confirm actual plant nutrient uptake.
We offer a wide range of soil, water and plant tissue testing services. Soil test results should guide remediation and choice of 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 which nutrients plants are taking up from the soil.
Pasture improvement:
Why is it such a major cost on livestock farms? The re-sowing of degraded pastures is necessary to ensure that high stocking rates can be carried. Successful pasture re-sowing generally involves one or two crops, to ensure weed seed-banks are depleted before pasture sowing in the third year. Pasture re-sowing can in some cases triple or quadruple carrying capacity, with the benefits often lasting for one of more decades. Success requires good planning and no step should be missed. Pasture establishment failures can be very costly and can cause significant delays in achieving optimum farm carrying capacity.
On the NSW Tablelands, perennial grass / sub-clover based pastures often need to be re-sown on a 10 - 20 year cycle, with longevity depending on soil quality and rainfall reliability. Better quality soils such as some alluvial or basalt derived soils can sometimes retain pastures for 40 years or more, but such high quality soils are scarce.
The average stocking rate (DSEs / Ha) is always a key profit driver on a grazing farm, so pasture re-sowing as required is essential to keep the farms productive and earning capacity high. Re-sowing pastures can be a significant annual overhead cost, so buying more land is always another option. With high land prices relative to earning capacity, it makes better sense for farmers to re-sow their degraded pastures first to lift stocking rates to generate the extra funds needed to purchase that additional land.
It is the farm's carrying capacity that creates wealth over the long term, depending on management of course. The rate of wealth creation should be greatest when pastures are kept productive (appropriate fertiliser, lime, grazing management, weed control, etc), and the least amount of additional land needs to be purchased during a livestock farmers productive working life.
Cropping:
Generally, on the NSW Tablelands up to 10 - 25% of a typical grazing farm could be cropped. These crops are normally just for grazing, although they can be harvested for grain or used for fodder conservation. If planned and managed well those crops can dramatically improve whole farm carrying capacity and profitability. These crops also reduce drought risks. Dual purpose winter cereals and canola are ideal for filling the 'winter feed gap' experienced in the cooler parts of the NSW Tablelands.
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 (weaner cattle or prime lambs) on crops through autumn, winter and spring can lift whole farm profitability in the years that cropping is carried out. 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 including 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 should 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 to 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.
