The Benefit of using the Automatic Pasture Reader

If a rain fed pasture system could grow 10 tonne DM/ha and 60 to 70 per cent was consumed, then a 1 tonne increase in consumption would raise pasture utilisation to between 70 to 80 per cent.

On that equation, it meant for a 220 cow, 100 hectare dairy farm, this 1 tonne DM/ha increase at 20 cents\kg\DM could equate to $20,000 in savings per year in supplements.

However, it became apparent that the original goal of a $20,000 saving ($200/ha) for an average dairy farm was in fact underestimated.

During the development stages to ensure the components of the Ellinbank APR would last in ‘real’ agricultural situations, APR Prototype One units were road tested by two farmers on a continuous basis, and it soon became evident that they could in fact provide more benefits than originally anticipated.

Only point 1 and 2 (below) were required for a $200/ha saving, but the other benefits came as an extra bonus:


1. Less supplements required for the same production;
2. More production with similar supplements;
3. Increased pasture quality on offer;
4. More silage being conserved (and at a higher ME - up to 11.4 ME);
5. The better quality silage meant cheaper cereal type hay could be supplemented with it when the silage was fed back. This was also at the higher milk price time of the season, so extra profit was gained from that as well.
6. Feeding by “numbers” became the norm – this meant it did not matter who was roistered on to work because pasture and feeding management was consistent.

Milk solids and daily milk amounts also became predictable (or levelled out), which one milk factory picked up on, and it would appear that there are also many efficiencies to be gained by milk processors.

See some of the results of our field testing.

Find out more about Naroaka Enterprises.

Get the price and place an order for the Pasture Reader