BRIX AND Pasture Energy Scale is a Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF) and farmer project exploring the relationship between grass Brix and pasture metabolisable energy (ME). 

With cashflows tight on dairy farms, pasture comes out on top as the cheapest feed source, says fertiliser co-op Ballance Agri-Nutrients.

DARE I say it? If you are aged 29 or over you can stop reading this message (about effluent) right now, because you’ll either know it all, or have made up your mind about it and be inflexible in your thinking. Younger minds when reading this will get an inkling of the underlying message and start to see the light. 

Dairy farmers searching for efficiencies in their operation know that homegrown, fully utilised pasture has always been the most cost-effective feed. Even before the current downturn, many farmers were not only looking at output ratios such as milk solids per cow, but also at feed efficiency ratios such as the cost of producing a megajoule of metabolisable energy per kg of dry matter. 

IGNORING A new and unknown species in your pasture could cost you thousands of dollars later, so scout your paddocks and get help with anything untoward, says a leading weed scientist.

The problems caused by droughts in the far north have been well documented but a sometimes forgotten pasture species can help mitigate the impact. Gareth Gillatt reports.

A SPECIAL two-day bird hunting season is being held in Taranaki and Whanganui to help farmers disperse paradise shelducks.

WHILE HOT humid weather across the country has provided the perfect conditions for lush pasture cover this spring, farmers need to stay alert for an increased risk of facial eczema through summer.

IN THE 2007/08 drought Wayne Reynolds’ cows chewed covers down to four clicks and average cover across his 154ha effective farm was just 1190kgDM/ha.

ROBOTS TRAVERSING dairy paddocks, patch spraying a treatment here, applying some fertiliser or effluent there: sounds far-fetched but the reality is the technology’s already available and a commercial product is just around the corner.