Bill Hunt, Ratanui Farm, Otaki, has been back on the family farm for over 40 years. Bill has always been a ‘low chemical input’ farmer preferring to follow nature rather than read labels on bottles and bags to find answers to profitable dairying.  Ratanui Farm, Otaki
Bill’s hay contractor commented “There’s a hell of a lot more grass in the paddocks”. This response is repeated frequently by BioAg clients who say that visually they don’t see much difference but bulk is evidenced by higher yields when cut for hay or baleage or longer grazing cycles and cows grazing for shorter intervals and lying down in apparent content. Other observations include a ‘healthy’ green colour in the pasture, excellent worm numbers and activity and plenty of pink nodules on the clover roots – a sure sign that nitrogen fixing bacteria are hard at work supplying free nitrogen in a form that plants utilize fully. Perhaps that puts a whole new perspective on the term ‘tickled pink’! |
