TOWARDS 2000: STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE MORE EFFICIENT FERTILISER USE IN INLAND SOUTH ISLAND HILL AND HIGH COUNTRY

Abstract

The future approach to efficient fertiliser use on hill and high country pastures must increasingly recognise that most farms are a complex mosaic of widely different environments - with an associated range in production potential, carrying capacity and fertiliser requirement. Although the importance of broad regional soil patterns has been recognised in the past, little allowance has been made for significant local landscape and soil variations. The plant nutrient needs of component parts of the landscape mosaic can be assessed by soil testing and met by fertiliser materials whose quantity and composition match those nutrient requirements in most situations. Strategies should be developed to ensure that fertiliser regimes, pasture plants and management practices are selected and orchestrated to make the most effective use of each mosaic component on each individual farm. In effect this involves selective fertiliser use, geared to the limitations, characteristics and growth patterns of individual landscape units, which are managed to meet the seasonal feed requirements of stock in the most cost effective way. A case study of Tara Hills is presented, showing how selective use of fertiliser on individually fenced landscape units can be matched to the use of these units (paddocks or blocks) in a management system designed to fit the seasonal Stock feed requirements for a high country pastoral run. Finally the importance of plant requirements, soil properties, grazing management, fertiliser form and composition, and spreading methods are reviewed with respect to fertiliser efficiency in the hill and high country.