It's an occupation that earns him a living and helps enhance the incomes of the farmers whose paddocks he drives over every fortnight. Peter Burke reports on Eketahuna's measuring man.
It's windy and wet just out of Eketahuna as Craig Bowyer arrives at the dairy farm run by Rickie Morrison. On Bowyer's ute is a C-Dax pasture meter and on the trailer his quad. He's there to measure the pasture on Morrison's farm.
After bowing out as both a sheep and beef and dairy farmer, Bowyer's taken on a task seemingly too time consuming for many farmers. Between August and December he will measure some 7000ha of pasture for his 22 clients, mostly, but not exclusively, on dairy farms in Wairarapa and Manawatu. From January until the following July he'll measure about 4000ha. He'll measure each farm every fortnight, which provides the best cost benefit.
"People know they need to be measuring grass and they get quite excited about doing this in the first couple of years, but then it becomes another job and a chore so that's when I come in. They get all the results they need in the form of a computer printout within 15 minutes -- that's a feed wedge and kilograms of dry matter per hectare," he explains. "Then it's up to them if they want to discuss further what's happening on the farm. Some, like Rickie, use this data with a Farmax feed programme to try to optimise things."
Bowyer can measure about 50ha per hour, depending on the nature of the farm and in particular the number of gates.
"I charge by the hectare and it varies as to the size of the farm. Larger farms get charged less and smaller ones more. That's just a time thing because on smaller farms you are opening and shutting a lot of gates, whereas on bigger farms you are just able to go for it," he says.
While much of the work is on dairy farms, Bowyer is building up a solid base of sheep and beef farmers, especially finishers keen to get maximum utilisation of their pasture.
The C-Dax pasture meter is not new technology, but it's good and farmers continue to buy it. However, as Bowyer points out, it's not used as frequently as it might be by some farmers. He says the equipment has to be handled properly.
"It's still delicate gear and you can't just take off and think you are going to measure 100ha in an hour because you will break it," he says.
Bowyer says by closely monitoring pasture growth farmers are able to set more appropriate stocking rates and plan ahead better.
And there are other benefits.
"I am in the farmer's paddocks more often than they are. If the farm is big and the manager is not physically getting in the cows he may not go into parts of the farm for two or three months," he explains. "I often see things on a farm which may need attention. I also spend quite a bit of time talking about various things such as fertiliser application. It's a good combination of data and observation."
Bowyer says farmers who measure their farms and back that up with growing good grass will get an increase in production. Knowing exactly what feed is on hand helps a farmer more wisely manage stock and he will not get caught with feed gaps. Bowyer believes the key is commitment to the process.
"It takes time. The farmer has to be into it and use the information properly. You are not going to see the benefits in the first or second visit, but over time your pastures improve. If you want to get the true benefit out if it, you have to be into it."
