Pastures
Pasture production and profits can be increased dramatically where extra fertilizer is used to lift the productivity of run-down pastures.
This includes dry land pastures, cereal and pasture hay, irrigated pastures and high rainfall dairy pastures.
Table 1: Nutrient taken up by 1.0 tonnes of clover based pasture.
| N | P | K | S | Cu | Zn | Mn | Ca | Mg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clover Pasture | 25-30 | 3.5 | 16-20 | 2-3 | 0.005 | 0.02 | 0.40 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
Some of these nutrients are recycled through livestock and via the dry material that is left behind. Nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium are very mobile and available, however phosphorus is not readily recycled once it is in the organic form For more details, please refer to our nutrient removal table.
Soil pH
We recommend conducting regular soil tests to monitor soil pH levels. Imbalanced soil can severely impact pasture and crops, by affecting the release of nutrients, and can allow fungus and bacteria to survive.
An acidic soil can result in poor growth, low nodulation and hence nitrogen fixation. It will also reduce the response that can be expected from applied nutrients. Good pastures will survive in a wide range of soil pH levels, however soil testing (top and sub soil) is essential to discovering the soil pH and predicting the response to applied lime. If the soil pH is below 4.6 in CaCl2, then apply lime from a registered pit, at up to 2.5t/ha.
Raising the pH too far, too quickly may adversely affect the uptake of copper, zinc, manganese or iron as well as displacing potassium. If applying lime without cultivation, consider using lower rates and spreading the full application over two or three seasons.
Phosphorus
Western Australian soils are very low in natural phosphorus, which is particularly vital to the growth and root development of legume-based pastures. If a plant is low in phosphorus early in the season, it can often never recover, leading to a false break to the season, dry stress, water logging, disease, insect attack and more. Find out more about the role of phosphorus in plants here.