Nutrient losses wash away profits

He and wife Megan run 905 crossbred cows on their 425ha farm near Riverton in western Southland. Just over 100 years ago his grandfather was using the land to grow flax to make ropes and twine but the flax mill closed in 1972 and it became an extensive sheep and beef property. The Templeton's moved onto the property in 1988 and converted to dairying in 2002.

Having got the farm up and running, Vaughan has made a strategic decision to focus on nutrient management best practice. As he sees it, nutrients are worth dollars. "I've got to keep those nutrients in the rooting zone to grow the grass to feed my cows and hopefully put most of them back on the paddocks to make a profit. It's nothing radical, it's just good farm management," he says.

For Vaughan the reason he's gone down this track is purely but surprisingly, the environmental gains on the farm have been significant. He's does an annual soil test and each week monitors his pasture growth.

"You've got to know how much grass you're growing. That's your number one driver of profit," he says.

He also points to the cost of fertiliser and says it's too expensive to waste and predicts over time it'll become very expensive. Vaughan has also expanded his effluent area to 100ha using a low rate application system. He says a lot of farmers are very open to the ideas that he's developed and says some are doing even smarter things. But there are reasons why other farmers are not following suit.

Templeton says this includes not understanding the potential gains from nutrient management and the lack of understanding of the tool Overseer and the variability between the Overseer and soil testing results.

He also says there is a lack of tools to show farmers the movement of nutrients around the farm. "The other gap is around the knowledge relating to nutrient loss on winter crops in Southland," he says.

Another benefit of his strategy is that he's keeping ahead of the regulators, such as the regional council.

"I think a smart person tries to keep ahead of the regulations. I also try to work with the regulators to ensure that what they are proposing doesn't have an unintended consequence, which is a massive challenge.

"I have no doubt what they want to achieve and I share their goals because I don't want to see nutrients in the waterways – it's just losing money," he says.

Templeton says often councils come up with solutions that simply wouldn't work and could have a huge negative effect on farm profitably or productivity – hence the need to work with them.

Another challenge Templeton is facing on his farm is the banks of steams that he's fenced off are collapsing. He says there's long grass with a very weak root system under it and when floods come through they tend to erode the banks badly and lots of sediment gets into the waterways.

"Banks slump and I lose some of my paddocks. It's very frustrating You've got to fence the streams off for cattle, there's no question about that.

"I've been told that closely cropped grass under sheep management will create a bank that is very resistant to getting eroded by water so we've got to figure out new ways of managing that pasture inside the fenced off areas," he says.

One way might be to shape the banks better to avoid the problem.

As for the future Templeton intends to refine his nutrient management plan. He's looking to 'micro manage' nutrient movement around the farm and even within paddocks.

He's also hoping that the new version of Overseer will provide more detail and solutions to his particular farm.