A reader is questioning the way a farmer grows his pasture.
I read with interest the article "Herd health rises, costs are reduced" in the Northern Advocate on Thursday February 5, of the Kaipara Biological Farming Group (KBFG). It sounds like Hal Harding of Dargaville is in a "dream world". It seems he has neglected the use of superphosphate, potash, for
years, and I surmise when a soil test was done levels were horribly low.
Science has proven that the lower the levels of these elements in the soil will over time grow less volume of grasses like clovers, rye. Less clover means more artificial nitrogen has to be used.
Alternative food supply is gained by purchasing tonnes of palm kernel to buy production. In Northland, with kikuyu invading our pastures, one way of getting rye and clover through this tropical grass is to lift the olson p levels higher to 40-50.
Higher levels of phosphate enable quicker recovery from droughts. One example is a local dairy farmer with an olsen p level of 50 plus, who had grass 200mm high in two weeks after the last drought - low phosphate farms probably would take up to two months for the same effect.
Ruawai flats which have naturally high levels of phosphate in the soil contribute to high quality pasture growth through out the year leading to consistent production.
