TESTS REVEAL: What is the most productive fertiliser you can use on your farm?

Our independent soil scientist at Shannon Agricultural Consulting has recently been conducting experiments to establish which fertilisers produce the greatest pasture growth in a range of different soil types. Conducted by independent soil scientist Paddy Shannon, these trials have come up with some interesting and sometimes surprising results. A superphosphate fertiliser, TerraCare Replenish and TerraCare DP 65 were all trialled alongside each other to establish which fertiliser produced the greatest rate of pasture growth. Following normal scientific testing procedures, a control tray was also tested to provide an indication of completely unfertilised pasture growth rate. The final photographed results are displayed below.

TerraCare Replenish comes out on top!

In the trials conducted by Shannon Agricultural Consulting, RePlenish consistently produced the greatest pasture growth in the soils tested. On pallic soils, RePlenish produced 20% more pasture growth than Superphosphate. In all cases each type of soil (Pallic, Volcanic and Raw Slip Face), grew more (>10%) drymatter when topdressed with TerraCare RePlenish and DP 65 Dicalcic phosphate than Superphosphate. These trials were conducted for a six month period from April to October 2009. To add to the excellent results achieved by RePlenish, another TerraCare product, DP 65, also outperformed the Superphosphate alternative, showing that Dicalcic Phosphate fertilisers are a better option than Superphosphates on the soils tested.

These trial results are consistent with our long term field trial held at Pirongia, Te Awamutu which is also showing that using RePlenish fertiliser consistently produces higher pasture growth rates (>10%) than the other phosphate products tested. It must be noted that in the growth on the pallic and volcanic soils there was some wilting. However, Paddy Shannon stated that once the watering regime was increased the wilting no longer occurred and "the RePlenish trays gave the highest yield on all soil types." If this higher pasture growth were to be efficiently translated into an increase in productivity in the animals, it is not hard to envisage a subsequent increase in the profitability of your farm.

To view the full report on the latest field trials from Paddy Shannon please click here

SCIENTIFIC TRIALS -

The results speak for themselves

TerraCare has had scientific trials conducted which show that their Dicalcic phosphate fertiliser can increase pasture growth and dry matter over other forms of phosphate fertilisers. If you can increase your farms pasture growth you can lift production levels and most importantly improve your overall PROFIT.

"During the phosphate response trials I conducted for Terracare Fertilisers Ltd, Replenish increased pasture growth more than ordinary Superphosphate. If the measured increases in pasture growth were to be efficiently converted into animal production, the overall result would show that using Replenish instead of Superphosphate will increase profits." 

 

Farmers, what is 10% more pasture growth worth to you?

At todays prices, for the average Dairy farmer this could mean $350 - $800 additional income per hectare/year and for the average Sheep and Beef farmer this could mean an additional $75 - $200 per hectare/year.