Farm Nutrient Advisory Ltd.

27/01/2026

Yesterday driving home I took photos of a couple of maize paddocks along the roadside I provided recommendations for which defies the industry standard fertiliser regime of 150-250Kg N/Ha, 30-60Kg P, 200-300Kg K. For these paddocks in particular (the photos don’t do justice from where I was standing on the outskirts), NO nitrogen or phosphorus was applied at planting.

Total inputs included aglime, 40Kg potassium plus sulphur & magnesium worked into the soil pre-drilling, followed up with 35Kg nitrogen & 75Kg additional K as a side dress.

To recap, this is a total of 35Kg N & 115Kg K, no P yet a big, healthy-looking crop.

Volcanic soils depending on origin are often very high in phosphorus & potassium but low in magnesium. This part of the farm is very high in P, low-end K with low Mg. The key with many volcanic soils is identifying low magnesium availability; without addressing the root of the problem (the low capacity for photosynthesis), fertiliser efficiency would be significantly less with significantly more N & K required to ‘cover up’ the bigger issue & profits reduced.

Magnesium (as with calcium) is generally incorrectly judged solely on its quantity with no interpretation or understanding to its availability – these are two different measures, when only one is focused on, crop/pasture/animal performance will continue to be limited.

The other misconception is maize needs copious amounts of potassium however this is incorrect. Maize will take up as much potassium as you throw at it however it has been very well proven over & over that increasing potassium above that of its growth requirement does NOT increase yield. It does however reduce crop profitability as well as animal health, assuming the end outcome is for feed.

In instances where the soil potassium reserves are not high, crop K input should only be that to ensure it is not a limiting factor & distributed to match growth (less than 5% of K requirement is taken up within the first month of planting). If soil K needs replenishing to maintain levels for future performance, post-harvest application is recommended to avoid luxury (unnecessary) uptake.

For pastoral systems, there is absolutely no benefit to maintain soil potassium above that of the plant minimum as this is already over double the requirement to meet animal dietary needs with excess K detrimentally impacting calcium, magnesium & sodium balance along with causing digestive irritability/scouring & leaky gut (the latter will be the topic of my posts in coming days).

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24/01/2026

The point where I question my choices to head to the other side of the island to work on a Sunday. The Gentle Annie not looking to be very gentle 😂⛈️

04/01/2026

Happy Year of the Horse to all my Facebook followers🥂

I’m already feeling like time is going too fast with each month near fully booked for the upcoming year! My first trip South will be in February after school has gone back✈️ For anyone wanting a farm visit just flick me a message ASAP.

24/12/2025

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas 🎄 Who doesn’t love an excuse for a bit of Shaun the 🐑, their chaos always quite fitting for both my line of work/life in general & the typical panic that December brings (& the full denial I have each year that Christmas is approaching).

I’m not sure if I’m the sheep hanging on the back of the sleigh for dear life as time passes by so quickly or Gromit trying to keep up in the background ⛷️ although the last time I tried my hand at skiing not once did the legs point in the same direction at the same time 😆

🙏 Thank you for the support over the last year from my clients who invite me onto their beautiful farms all around the country, entrusting me with their businesses & to those rural professionals I work closely with in various regions who like-mindededly appreciate the purpose of collaboration, conjoining each others strengths & specialities for us to provide a synergy to what we can achieve on farm for each client.

With nearly the full year booked already, I look forward to seeing everyone again & no doubt some new faces in 2026.

09/12/2025

Day one in the Land of the Long White Cloud. The cloud was indeed very long & very white as we crossed the Cook Straight ☁️

The MetService forecast of 25 degrees was somewhat ambitious, barely reaching the 20s which I am no longer acclimatised to after several weeks of >28 degree in Hawke’s Bay & regretted my summer attire! What I hear has been a very mediocre (absent) spring in South Canterbury has kept the pasture from really firing (unless you cheat & just pour endless amounts of N on ignoring the underlying cause).

Grass needs 6-8 hours a day of sunlight with good intensity to grow at maximum rates (combined with moisture) however this season has fallen short of those required hours of active photosynthesis making pasture growth slower than usual. Daily dry matter growth rates have shown positive correlation with the sunlight hours varying between 60-80Kg DM/Ha/day when overcast to 110Kg DM on days with good light intensity.

Clover is coping much better thanks to its large leaf area to capture what sun there is ☘️ The fodder beet crop is establishing well also - only 27Kg N at sowing & no phosphorus due to high soil P levels but plenty of salt, the often forgotten nutrient.

The girls 🐮 are all looking good, shiny & ‘round’. This herd have exceeded every previous year’s production consistently this season. The highest producing girls unsurprisingly have the higher rumination rates. We’ll explore possible reasons for those lower-end girls not ruminating quite as well.

Straw is offered adlib (something I nag all my clients to offer) which goes a long way in stimulating rumination, providing a conducive environment for the rumen microbes to work in, increasing feed conversion efficiency.

08/12/2025

A beautiful morning to fly. Heading to Canterbury, North to South (or rather South to North) for the week. Forecast isn’t looking quite as ridiculously hot as here in Hawke’s Bay but should be pretty nice nonetheless ☀️

03/12/2025

A good explanation here. Many often only think sulphur is the culprit when in fact it’s more likely a lack of fibre in many instances. In order to synthesise B vitamins such as B1 & B12 plus vitamin K, the rumen needs to ruminate & for that to happen effective fibre must be present. Lush growing pasture is NOT effective, ‘ruminating’ fibre.

Wobbly calves? It could be vitamin B1 deficiency – act fast! 🏃‍♀️

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) deficiency can cause polioencephalomalacia – which is a very fancy word, but essentially means swelling of the brain. This can show up about this time every season, and it’s something to watch out for.

This condition occurs when thiaminase enzymes in the rumen destroy vitamin B1, which is essential for normal brain and nerve function. Without enough B1, calves develop brain swelling and severe neurological symptoms. The problem is often triggered by sudden changes in feed quality or high sulphur levels in water or feed.

Early signs include calves looking wobbly, ‘stargazing’ with their heads up, isolating themselves, stopping eating and drinking, or hanging around water troughs. You might also notice ‘donut eyes’ which indicates brain swelling and dehydration. If untreated, symptoms progress to blindness, head pressing, circling, trembling, stiff legs, seizures, and eventually collapse or death. These signs can look a bit like pulpy kidney, listeria, or ryegrass staggers. Quick action is critical to turn the issue around!

The problem often appears in weaned calves during early summer, especially after moving from rougher pasture to lush, low-fibre paddocks. Fast weaning off milk and pellets, relocation stress or brassicas in the diet can also trigger it.

Prevention and early intervention is key! Take 10 minutes each day to observe calves for unusual behaviour. If you suspect B1 deficiency, act fast. Contact your vet for vitamin B1 injections and anti-inflammatory treatment—vitamin B12 will not fix the problem.

Vit B1 Prevention Checklist 📝

✅Transition calves slowly when changing feeds or weaning. You need to transition weaners if going onto very lush fresh pastures or any summer brassica crops.

✅Keep calf feed in the diet for 6+ weeks after weaning

✅Use a calf feed with good levels of B vitamins (Reliance, NRM and SealesWinslow Calf Max range have a good range of B group vitamins added)

✅Check water for high sulphur levels

✅Offer some dry long fibre alongside short, lush pastures

✅Observe calves daily for unusual behaviour

✅Monitor weight gains 2 weeks after weaning and every 4–6 weeks thereafter

✅If symptoms appear use electrolytes immediately - then call your vet for B1 injections and further help

26/11/2025

Busy start to this week, headed north to attend the NZ Association of Ruminant Nutritionists’ (NZARN) last conference for the year. Once again the NZARN organises had a stellar guest speaker with Dr Brian Sloan presenting on balancing (high) protein & amino acid profile in pasture based systems. Emphasis was put on the energy sources required for efficient protein utilisation, that is, carbohydrates i.e. starch, sugar & (effective) fibre.

As I’ve commented many, many times before, protein balance is an area that is poorly practiced in NZ with most diets/consultants concentrating on total ‘energy’ rather than the actual components that make up that energy.

The energy sources & proportion of each dictate how efficient that ‘energy’ is. Pushing ME up with more & more protein (high protein grass plus more protein in the shed 🤦‍♀️) is not going to meet rumen microbial energy requirements for maximum protein utilisation.

The higher the portion of ingested nitrogen & protein that is unable to be captured by rumen microbes, the higher the amount of dietary energy is wasted to detoxify & remove surplus N/protein.

Heading back home via Taihape for Molly the lab's 🐶 annual pats plus some soil & ☘️ samples while there. Clover was prolific including the steep faces which was great to see. Assessing its nutrient uptake & comparing to previous year's levels helps ensure liming (frequent is the key for both soil & animal health) & fertiliser regimes are achieving their objectives. Monitoring soil, plant & animal health is essential in developing effective & sustainable farm nutrient plans.

Molly found being my lab assistant for the day rather exhausting 💤

21/11/2025

A belated post from the other week’s trip to Waikato exploring works of art as much as the farms themselves & making friends with every doggo as I went.
Heading for a brief trip that way for a conference next week, hopefully it’s a bit drier!

21/11/2025

It’s interesting to hear being presented at this week’s Grassland’s conference is the fact there appears to be little correlation between Olsen P & lucerne yield.

The research back in the 90s showed very poor correlation between Olsen P & pasture yields so why on earth would we expect lucerne to be any different ⁉️
I find it astonishing how such a topic is presented as ‘new’ science in 2025, it serves as a prime example of NZ making little real progress in the realm of agricultural science.

The biggest failings in soil phosphorus interpretation that continue to this day:

👩‍🔬 Not recognising the actual methodology of the Olsen P (tested at pH 8.5) majorly impacts interpretation for our acidic soils.
Chemistry in basic solution behaves the complete opposite to acidic solution;

🧪 At a pH of 8.5, the Olsen P does not account for any phosphorus locked up by iron, manganese or iron due to these elements being less soluble in basic solution & therefore overestimates true plant availability at field pH;

🧪 With a pH of 8.5, the Olsen P does not account for the need for calcium to ‘unlock’ fixed phosphorus in acidic soils. In fact, at pH 8.5, calcium binds P (as opposed to ‘unbinding’ it) rendering it unavailable & thereby underestimates true plant availability at field pH;

🤯 No understanding that the Olsen P only measures a very small amount of actual plant-availability (1.4-6%);

👎 Not accounting for the larger portion of soil P or understanding it’s equilibrium with plant availability i.e. Total P – this removes the uncertainty behind some of the ‘seasonal’ fluctuations when based on plant-available tests only;

🌿 No herbage assessments to correlate with soil analysis, only ever yield driven ‘research’ with no recognition of other limiting variables, nutrient balance or interactions e.g. Ca, Mn, Fe.

So much of the ‘science’ is just a rework of previous studies with no true growth in knowledge or applied science approach. Frustrating when all the facts & science is already there, simply ignored.

12/11/2025

Out & about in Waipukurau & Porangahau this week for biannual testing. Very little soil moisture for this time of year so here’s hoping for a good bit of rain to set up the season.

Nice to see so many trees & native bush on each of these beautiful properties 🌳

29/10/2025

The last couple of week's farm visits have been in Wairoa, leaving at dawn 🌅 finishing on farm at dusk 🌄 doing our usual spring ☘️ clover testing to complement what changes we see in the soil & help devise sustainable fertiliser & lime plans. The latter makes up the backbone of how we get farm & stock health performing to their full potential.

📈 It’s also a good time to discuss liver results (I encourage farmers to get an understanding of where their average herd’s pre & post winter levels are, both vital for production efficiency) to determine an effective animal health strategy for optimal production.

Too many incorrectly assume (largely driven by poor advice) that giving a shot of Multimin once a year corrects deficiencies & is all that’s needed when actual fact, injectable forms are very short acting even for copper 📉

💉 The likes of selenium & zinc have to be provided either in the diet or a slow-release form due to no significant storage in the body (injectable effectiveness is gone by approximately two weeks for Se & Zn, 6-8 weeks for Cu).

Iodine, while the thyroid stores to convert to thyroid hormones, is still essential to have circulating through the blood for thyroid maintenance, embryo & foetal development & milk for the lambs & calves so they can make their own thyroid hormones. Oral iodine drenches have very limited effect on the foetus or lamb/calf due to it being largely taken up by the dam's thyroid thus removing it from circulation.

👩‍💻 These are all part of the regular conversations I have with farmers ensuring we are linking soil, plant & animal health as opposed to only focusing on one area with a 'silo', 'blinkers on' approach that is far too common amongst industry professionals & does not do our farmers or long term farming economy justice.