All too often we come across farms where the dairy herd numbers are simply too large for the size of the property. The justification for the high stocking rates is production, production, production. Often this is at the expense of other key components of the business. Animal health suffers, higher levels of stock feeds are needed to maintain the production, much of which has to be purchased from off farm. Body condition scores are harder to maintain or improve too. There is a simple formula, reduce the cow numbers to a more realistic level that enables you to feed them properly and you will get better production per cow. This doesn’t happen however if the farm itself is not functioning as a harmonious unit. I am talking about rejuvenating your soil, expanding the varieties of plants in your pastures (the “magic” number is no less than seven species) and applying compound fertilisers that aim to act synergistically with the microbiology of your soil such as one of the Plasma Biotec Liquid Fertilisers. Talk to us about an on farm evaluation of your soil and what can be done to revitalise this most important aspect of improving your business while protecting the environment. Often described as Regenerative Agriculture it is simply viewing all components of your farming operation as being fully integrated cogs that together result in less stress for you, more robust animals from a health, fertility and production point of view with pastures that are less affected by drought because the soil is able to cope with dry periods. Nitrogen on its own is not always the answer either. Urea for example is well known to have a short lived action and it is easily leached. Compound foliar fertilisers such as Plasma P3000 are directly absorbed into the foliage but any run off remains in the soil and is readily available to the plants in your pasture.
