Hi Frank,
I get the feeling you are purposefully being a little provocative?
Personally I think it is somewhat dangerous to make blanket recommendations
about fertiliser applications over the farm.
Some paddocks can be very high in particular nutrients whilst others can be
very low and the nutrient mixes required on each paddock can be quite
different.
Phosphorus for Dairy Farms research and farmer experience shows that big
sums of money can be saved (and made!) by soil testing different sections
of the farm and tailoring fertiliser applications to each section.
An interesting observation from the soils and fertiliser courses over the
years is that largely farm fertiliser requirements have declined in the
last 10 - 20 years due to the large amounts of nutrients being imported in
hay and grain. (Despite increased milk production levels over the same
period of time.)
Farmers are usually pleasantly suprised when they do their nutrient budgets
and see that their farm nutrient requirements are substantially lower than
what they thought they were.
As Steve indicated in his email, generally soils in the Northern Irrigation
Region usually have zero potassium requirement. Quite often sulphur levels
are high (usually depending on fertiliser history and soil texture).
Individual farm nutrient budgets often indicate that maintenance phosporus
requirements are in the vicinity of 20 - 30kg P /ha (but there is a big
variation depending on individual farm situations). And nitrogen is
nearly always deficient in irrigated perennial pasture with input amounts
depending on how much feed you want to grow. Frequently a product like DAP
(18%N and 20% P) will better meet nutrient requirements and provide more
bang for buck than superphosphate (9% P, 11%S) where sulphur levels are
adequate.
Cheers,
Roc.
Rob O'Connor
Dairy Extension Officer
DPI
PO 441
ECHUCA 3564
Phone: (03) 54821922
Mobile: (0408) 515652
Fax: 54825405
Email: robert.oconnor@dpi.vic.gov.au
|---------+---------------------------->
| | ftyndall@ozemail.|
| | com.au |
| | |
| | 11/08/06 05:54 AM|
| | Please respond to|
| | vicdairy-l |
| | |
|---------+---------------------------->
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| To: vicdairy-l@unimelb.edu.au |
| cc: |
| Subject: How much fert? |
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Dear all,
Can I do a little survey please?
How much N P K S element per year are people applying?
Or for the experts, how much should people be applying (assuming an
average sort of soil fertility currently, and wanting to do, say, 12 plus
tonne grass)?
Like, I reckon: 300:60:120:40. Am I anywhere near the mark?
Regards
Frank Tyndall
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 24 2006 - 02:38:12 EST