FINDING FERT IN ONE, EASY-TO-USE PLACE www.fertfinda.co.nz For more information call 027 203 9771 or visit Your Fertiliser Marketplace. For all the nutrient products you need on the farm. At FertFinda.co.nz you can search for and find just about any fertiliser product you need with a clear indication of its compatibility for application and nutrient make-up. Infact, you can shop until the cows come home. PROUD TO SUPPORT Hayden & Alecia Lawrence Proudly Supporting Hayden & Alicia Lawrence Taranaki’s Trusted Ground & Aerial Application Specialists Drone Roof Treatments • Gorse & Weed Spraying • Crop Spraying & Spreading 027 639 5011 | elitefoliar@gmail.com | www.elitefoliar.co.nz On a 151-hectare Taranaki dairy farm Hayden and Alecia Lawrence are achieving winter grass growth rates that are more than double the regional average. The results are the product of a precisely engineered fertiliser programme built on advanced soil science, artificial intelligence and drone technology delivered personally by two New Zealand agricultural companies - FertFinda and Elite Foliar Solutions - operating at the cutting edge of what modern farming can achieve. Hayden and Alecia are second-generation farmers milking 400 predominantly Friesian cows and split calving to capture Fonterra's winter milk premium. Getting grass to grow consistently through the colder months is central to their system. FertFinda's Mike Smith, brings more than 25 years of agricultural experience, worked with Hayden to develop a targeted liquid fertiliser programme from the ground up. The starting point was understanding the soil in far greater depth than a conventional programme would require. FertFinda uses advanced testing that measures not just nutrient levels but bacteria, fungi and wider soil biology building a complete picture of what the soil is actually doing. “We use this advanced testing and our own knowledge alongside AI to get the bacteria and fungi in the soil working for the farmer so their fertiliser delivers maximum bang for buck,” explains Mike. That AI component is central to how FertFinda operates. It has developed its own programme, in built with AI assistance, into which test results are entered to generate the optimal solution for that farm including what is financially most viable. Speed of response has also improved dramatically. Where a herbage test once meant waiting a minimum of seven days for laboratory results, FertFinda’s on-farm equipment and utilising AI now delivers a full nutrient analysis within ten minutes allowing the right fertiliser recipe to be applied almost immediately. On Hayden's farm this has translated into a full-year recommendation in which every paddock has been soil tested to determine its specific needs. The Lawrences have now completely replaced solid nitrogen with liquid fertilisers, though they continue using solid capital fertiliser where required. Product arrives on farm already premixed. Some of Hayden's mixes contain 14 or 15 different products, something that would be exceptionally difficult and time-consuming for a contractor to load manually. By handling the mixing before delivery, FertFinda removes that burden entirely, saving both farmer and contractor significant time and cost. Applying those liquid fertilisers with precision falls to Elite Foliar Solutions. Taranaki-based and operating across Taranaki, Waikato, Whanganui and Manawatu, it is the region's largest liquid fertiliser contractor. Mike’s son Jayde works personally with each farmer to plan and deliver their programme, and it is also his recommendation that guides what goes on and when. On the Lawrence farm, Elite Foliar uses autonomous drone flights to spray paddocks, with GPS-guided technology delivering centimetre-level accuracy across every hectare. For Hayden this has unlocked a part of his farm that was previously unproductive. “Around 30% of our farm is hill country that we can't get vehicles on,” he explains. “Elite Foliar has Tow and Ferts on land cruisers and can use drones as well, so that has really opened up our hill country for us.” The two key products that have underpinned the Lawrence programme - UAN, which combines three different forms of nitrogen for both immediate and slow release, and Gibberellic Acid, which stimulates growth by mobilising plant energy reserves and speeding photosynthesis - have produced results Hayden describes as remarkable. “Already on the paddocks we've used these products we've achieved remarkable winter growth rates,” he says Hayden. “Traditional grass growth in Taranaki is 15 to 20 kilograms of dry matter per hectare per day and we are producing 30 to 40 when conditions allow.” FertFinda operates nationwide. Elite Foliar Solutions is based in Taranaki. Impressive winter grass growth rates
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