Monitoring Pasture Performance

For many farmers a drive around the farm and an eye appraisal of stock and pasture is enough monitoring to stay on top of things, but to really get the most from your pasture and herd you need a more advanced monitoring system.

To make substantial productivity gains, collecting and monitoring quality information go hand in hand with good planning. Farmax helps you communicate clearly to other people where you are and where you would like to be.

Farmax farming software is designed to keep your plan up to date, showing you the impact of your efforts and allowing you to see trends as they emerge.

Why is using Farmax a better way of monitoring?

Monitoring can take many forms; for example, you may measure pasture cover three times a year and compare it with pasture cover at similar times in previous years. This adds to your gut feeling that you may or may not have enough grass.

Farmax is a system which uses this monitored data to calculate both past and future performance. Putting your pasture cover measurements into Farmax will show you:

• How much grass you have been growing.
   
• How much pasture cover you may have in coming months.
   
• Whether you will have enough pasture to meet animal performance targets.

Farmax makes it easy for you to assess what needs to be done. It is also more efficient if you seek advice from other people, such as an accredited farm consultant, to determine the most profitable way forward.

How much monitoring is involved?

Each month you enter key information including pasture cover, livestock transactions, areas removed for crops, areas with nitrogen applied and supplements made or fed. Key stock classes are also weighed 3-4 times each year.

Monitoring example

In the example below, May is highlighted as the current month. For the ‘Mixed Lambs 09’ mob on May 5th, 600 lambs are bought, weighing 29kg and costing $60 each.

You have seen how Farmax can help you collect data and monitor changes, now see how this powerful farm management software can help you maximise performance.

Farmax in action

See case studies showing how Farmax is boosting productivity on farms throughout New Zealand.