Testimonials

Kevin Morgan easily mixes EASY N fertiliser with a growth regulator, ProGibb SG,on-farm at Ridgley.

In only six weeks, Ridgley dairy farmer Kevin Morgan could already see the difference using liquid fertilisers made to his business.

Kevin operates a 320-head dairy farm on a 125 hectare milk platform east of Ridgley in Tasmania’s north-west.

After purchasing his original 80 hectare farm four years ago, Kevin bought a second 56 hectare farm in September 2007, as well as leasing a neighbouring 40 hectares.

Kevin said he chose to purchase and lease more property to maximise the use of pasture in his feeding program, rather than rely on supplementary feeding.

“With the right grass mix, correct feeding program and fertiliser applications, we can maximise our pasture utilisation all year round, which means we can hold a higher stocking rate and reduce the need for supplementary feed,” he said.

Choosing an EASY option

In the past Kevin used granular blends on his pastures, but he switched to EASY N fertiliser with added growth regulator, ProGibb® SG, in June after speaking with Central North Area Sales Manager, Ian Townsend.

“Using a NPKS granular blend has allowed us to vary our nutrient rates depending on the stage the herd was at, such as lowering the potassium rates from March to April and September to October when we were calving,” Kevin said.

“However, one of the main problems we experienced with granular fertiliser is that, as we use a fertiliser spreading contractor, we had difficulty with timing the applications, as everyone else was busy doing the same, particularly when rain fronts were coming.

“Using a liquid fertiliser meant we can apply it easily on our own and we are able to put it out when we need to.”

Kevin applied EASY N and ProGibb® SG at rates of 100 L/ha and 20 g/ha respectively via a boomspray to his predominantly ryegrass pastures in late June and July.

He said he was very impressed with the growth and vigour of the pastures, particularly after the second cut.

“We had an excellent reaction after the initial application, as well as on the second cut,” Kevin said.

“The pastures seemed to respond faster and with more vigour than you would normally see from using granular fertilisers at this time of the year.”

As well as providing a general growth advantage over granular fertiliser, Kevin said applying and mixing EASY N and ProGibb SG was also very easy to do on-farm.

“We had to do very little to our equipment when switching to EASY N, other than making sure our boomspray had a recent service,” he said.

After seeing the results he could achieve with EASY N, Kevin said he would be using liquid fertilisers as much as possible.

Already, he has looked at using centre pivots in the summer months to apply the fertiliser, as well as using the K-line irrigation systems on his original block.

“It’s early days, but already we are finding that we can achieve a better response from using liquid fertilisers,” he said.

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