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Grass factory New Zealand: weekly
pasture dry matter measurement
FITT FINAL REPORT 13FT11
FITT
FARMER-INITIATED
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Years of trial: December 2013–December 2014
Group that proposed the trial:
Steering Committee Farm IQ
(Barry and Julie Crawford, Gore)
Region: Southland
Contacts: Donald Martin, GrassCo (Project Leader),
Graham Butcher, Rural Solutions Ltd.
INTRODUCTION
Measuring pasture dry matter on New Zealand sheep
farms is generally not done routinely or regularly.
Occasional measurements are done at critical
times such as establishing winter rotations or if
information is required to confirm a management
decision. The dairy industry, in contrast, places high
value on regular and routine measurements and
uses information to plan management and enhance
productivity.
Sheep farmers have to manage what is a quite
consistent feed demand from year to year in
an environment where feed supply is relatively
inconsistent. Figure 1 demonstrates the inconsistency
in pasture growth rates that need to be managed
on farms in the Southland district. It is interesting to
note that Southland has what is considered a more
reliable climate.
Graphs showing this degree of variation could be
produced in all areas of New Zealand.
Figure 1: The previous 15 years’
pasture growth curves from
AgResearch Woodland Station.
kgDM/ha/day

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This project was established to investigate the
feasibility of intensive weekly whole farm pasture
cover measures to assist with management decisions
on one of Barry and Julie Crawford’s farms near
Gore (Rosebank), a Farm IQ farm. There is a second
property, also near Gore, which is effectively leased,
and a third farm adjacent to Rosebank, purchased
(165ha effective) with possession 30 May 2014, but
grazed from 1 April 2014. This has upset the “normal”
program and introduced complicating factors with
regards to the benefits from weekly measuring.
This FITT program is a little different as we are
measuring the effects of using weekly grass measures,
over the entire farm, without a control as such. The
measures, in themselves, do nothing. The critical
element is how you interpret and use the data.
BASIC DETAILS OF ROSEBANK
The effective area is 300ha, carrying 2770
commercial Highlander ewes, 750 Primera recorded
ewes and 330 Primera ewe hoggets. Stock
replacement policy is to purchase Highlander ewe
lambs to allow all commercial ewes to be mated with
Primera rams. Recorded ram lambs are sold off the
farm in March.
The Te Tipua farm has 1200 commercial Highlander
ewes and 950 bought in Highlander ewe lambs.
Ewe numbers have increased to 4,000 at Rosebank
(including the new block) and 1,550 at Te Tipua.
Lambing percentage at Rosebank is consistently
above 150% with 18.5kg CW in lambs. Normally 800
to 1000 store lambs are bought in for finishing.
Spreading date for lambing is 1st September for a
planned 7 September start
Conventional stocking rate at Rosebank is 12su/ha.
There are 66 paddocks averaging 4.6ha, all troughed.
Rainfall is 960mm. Cold, wet winters are a limitation.
Up to 15ha brassica is grown, but in 2014 only 4.5ha
was grown. Pastures are predominently ryegrass/
white clover. Investigation into ryegrass varieties and
alternative varieties (plantain and red clover) are
being carried out as part of the Farm IQ program.
This is an intensive sheep operation with an overall
objective of producing 450kg lamb carcass weight/
ha (they have achieved 373kg/ha and 370kg/ha lamb
carcass weight for the previous two years).
TECHNOLOGY USED
TO MEASURE GRASS
GrassCo has developed a highly modified “sledge”
towed behind a quad. Whole farm measurement
takes 1.3 hours with a person opening and closing
gates. Consistent paddock tracks are taken, guided
by GPS, and information is immediately available
with details summarised as a pasture wedge graph.
Paddocks that have had no grazing since the
previous measurement are labelled as such. These
“no graze” periods are being investigated as a means
to identify non performing paddocks.
Cost per whole farm measurement is $130.00 plus
GST (46 weeks, $5,980 plus GST per annum). The six
weeks over lambing were not measured. Also, a gate
opener was provided, reducing the rate.
While a lot of work went into the sledge design, no
calibration was available initially. A decision was
made by GrassCo to fund the calibration. AGMARDT
was asked to help fund this calibration which they
did. Public release of the calibration was not required.
AgResearch was contracted to develop the
calibration and this was completed as the weekly
measuring began.
Figure 2: Summary of of pasture covers recorded weekly.

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Figure 3: Weekly feed wedge for mid winter, spring, mid summer and autumn.
KEY DECISIONS TAKEN WITH AID OF WEEKLY
GRASS MEASUREMENT
• Decision was made not to purchase any store
lambs in January 2014. Normally, 800 to 1000
lambs have been purchased.
• In mid February 2014, MA ewes averaged
63.7kg with 50% under their assigned weight
and hence condition. The “Assigned Weight”
progam is under investigation at Rosebank to
improve summer management of ewes. Half
of the MA ewes were below target mating
condition. Priority feeding of low condition
ewes was instigated at Rosebank.
• Decision made mid February to accelerate
lambs to slaughter.
31/4/14 102hd 18.2kg $104.75
24/2/14 294hd 18.9kgCW $103.61
25/2/14 565hd 18.3kgCW $103.09
Overall season performance
5,098hd 18.7kg $103.33
These three sheets were estimated to have a reduced CW
of 1kg at $5.48/kg over 961hd. Value of reduction $5,266
plus GST.

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• Mid March 2014, estimated required 1 May
covers for successful winter program. Start May
cover needed to be 2,300kgDM/ha to set up a
spreading cover, early September, of just under
1,400kgDM.
As at mid March, covers were tracking along at
about 1,700kgDM.
The 5 May cover was 1,902kg, followed by a
recovery the next week to 2,026kg. The 28
May actual cover was 2,068kg. The low 5 May
measurement showed a sharp decline from the
previous measurement and a subsequent sharp
increase in the following week. Smoothing out
the line could indicate a cover of 2,050kgDM.
The 4.5ha brassica had an additional 2tDM/ha
yield over budget, adding the equivalent of
30kg/ha to the feed cover.
The purchase of the third adjacent farm, and
being able to short term graze the farm before
possession helped overcome the issue. The cost
of this two month short term lease (April and
May), prior to possession was $15,000 plus GST.
• Nitrogen applied: 18.7ha at 35kgN/ha. Urea
applied: 1.4t at $800/t. Total cost $1,120 plus GST.
• Freezer ewes away start of December.
• 10/12/14: ewes to grazing at Te Tipua property.
• From mid October 2014, all ewes and lambs
rotated until weaning (weaning began beginning
of December and was finalised 15 January).
• Weaning draft 180—normally 500.
• Winter allocation of feed to ewes improved with
access to accurate paddock covers every week.
Grazing days for each paddock were determined
with the use of a Landcorp program. The aim is
to feed ewes accurately and consistently during
pregnancy to maintain condition and avoid sharp
changes in level of ME intake.
• Ewe and lamb rotations began mid October 2014
and continued to weaning.
• Lamb drenching began mid November.
• Feed covers improved by late November, no
store lambs purchased as wanted to improve
pastures with grass to grass direct drilling.
ANALYSIS­
A YEARS’ WEEKLY RECORDING
A confounding issue with the timing of this FITT
program is that the 12 month period was spread over
two production cycles, the last half of the 2013 cycle
and the first half of the 2014 cycle. However, five key
periods were chosen:
Ewes Weaning 2013 to mating 2014
Mating 2014 to tailing 2014
Tailing 2014 to weaning 2014
Lambs Weaning 2013 to slaughter
Lambs born 2014 to weaning
These periods cover the December to December
period of the program.
COSTS
46 weekly measurements reported for 66 individual
paddocks. Pasture growth rate reported for ungrazed
paddocks, feed wedge graph provided each week
together with graph recording average farm cover
changes.
= $5,980 + GST
BENEFITS
Period 1: Ewes, weaning 2013 (start of the
program) to mating 2014
The primary objective on this farm is to present all
ewes to the ram as CS 3.5. Average live weight and
average condition score targets are irrelevant in the
context of wanting every ewe to achieve a score of
3.5. Each ewe is assigned a target weight for her to
achieve 3.5 CS. Electronic tags and auto drafting on
the basis of proximity to assigned weight were used
for this period.
Ewes were drafted on the basis of those needed
to increase CS, those close to target CS and those
over target CS. Note that all this was done with auto
drafting on live weight. Mobs were fed according to
requirements.
Key objectives for this period: All ewes going to the
ram at 3.5CS. 1 May pasture average pasture cover
2,300kgDM/ha
Results: Table 1 details results for ewe condition
and live weight. Average pasture cover on 28 April
was 2,068kgDM/ha. A week later it had dropped
to 1,902kg and a week after that it recovered to
2,026kg. There is no immediate explanation of these
large short term shifts other than 5 May may have
been compromised­­—probable cover was 2,050kg.
CS/LW at mating
2012 3.19/64.1kg
2013 3.44/66.2
2014 3.63*/67.7kg
Table 1: Condition score
data at mating 2014.
*CS estimated from assigned
weight algorithm.

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Period 2: Ewe mating 2014 to tailing 2014
This is the period where the results of ewe summer
and winter management is put under the test with
scanning and tailing results. The feeding objective
over this period was to maintain ewes at mating
condition by providing a correct and consistent level
of feeding for ewes. For triplet ewes post scanning,
the Landcorp feed calculator was used and to use
this it is essential to have paddock covers.
Year Scan% Dry
Deaths
mate
to scan
Deaths
mate
to lamb Bearings
Loss of
lambs scan
to tail Tail % Wet/dry
Lamb
tailing
weight
2012 205% 1.9% 10 4.7% 48 25.4% 155%* 150 11.9kg
2013 194% 2.2% N/A 78hd 17.5% 160%* 41 11.0kg
2014 203% 2.2% 8 150hd 19.8%* 160.0%* 90 10.98kg
2014** 300% 20.6% 238% 17
*Includes all ewes and lambs over all farms. 2012 and 2013 include Rosebank only. Mobs were shifted between farms
**Triplets only from scanning
Lamb
weaning LW
Average
kill date Av. lamb CW
Kg Lamb CW
for season Kg CW/ha
2012 19 Feb 19.4kg 103,325kg 373kg
2013 33.3kg 23 Feb 19.5kg 111,856kg 370kg
2014 29.4kg
This, together with mob and paddock sizes, was used
to determine grazing days per paddock. Results are
shown in Table 2. The 2014 results were achieved with
the additional data from weekly grass measures.
The 2014 mating to tailing period showed a recovery
in scanning percentage but a higher ewe deaths
resulted in 160% lambing, the same as the previous
year. Lamb tailing weights were on par.
Table 2: Production data mating to tailing
Period 3: Ewes, tailing 2014 to weaning 2014
Weekly grass measuring was suspended over
lambing for six weeks. Weaning results in terms of
lamb weaning weight and lamb numbers is the final
test of ewe management from the previous weaning.
The most important aspect of this management is
the nutrition management of the flock.
This period saw soil moisture at saturation for long
periods (Figure 4).
From an average cover of 1,751kg at set stocking on
1 September, cover fell to 1,430kg on 17 October,
when measurements began again, and did not begin
to recover until mid November.
This has raised a question about target covers at set
stocking and lambing dates. Given the soil moisture
conditions over the period, careful interpretation is
needed. But, important questions are highlighted.
Figure 4: Soil moisture for FITT period
Period 4: Lambs weaned 2013 to slaughter
This period was characterised by a sharp decline in
pasture cover in mid January. No store lambs were
purchased and some nitrogen was used. Table 3
details results and comparisons to 2012.
The 2013 lambs shown in Table 3 were included in the
FITT program from weaning to slaughter. Clover root
weevil was a significant factor over this period with
minimal clover present.
Table 3: 2013 born lambs, data from weaning to slaughter

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Period 5: Lambs born 2014 to weaning
Lamb performance during this period is governed by
ewe lactation (governed by ewe condition at lambing
and pasture cover during early lactation), pasture
cover to weaning and pasture cover and pasture
quality. Table 4 shows details of 2014 born lambs.
Lamb
weaning LW
Average
kill date
Av. lamb
CW
Kg Lamb CW
for season
Kg
CW/ha
2014 29.4kg
to date
* * * *
*Not yet available
Table 4: 2014 born lambs, data to weaning.
PADDOCK ASSESSSMENT
As part of the weekly measurement, all paddocks
that were not grazed during the previous week are
noted. The year’s information on paddocks 63 and
14 are shown in Tables 5 and 6.
Table 5: Paddock 63
Table 6: Paddock 14

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This information allows us to rank paddocks with the
development of two indices. The growth index tells
us how the paddock performed over the no grazing
periods using average results from all the non grazed
paddocks.
The speed of grass growth depends on how much
grass there is to begin with. The opening cover index
allows us to judge the impact of any differences in
opening cover at the start of the non grazing periods.
For example, paddock 14 grew 14% more over the
measurement periods. This paddock had slightly
higher opening covers.
Paddock 63, on the other hand, grew 19% less and had
14% less cover at the start of each grazing period.
Poorly performing paddocks are easily identified.
Taking “snapshots” of paddocks during the year
provides a reasonable paddock assessment with the
only cost being programming a computer to analyse
the data and marking paddocks during the weekly
measure as not grazed.
By the end of 52 weeks we should be able to rank all
paddocks at Rosebank for productivity.
The current data handling to do this comparison
is quite cumbersome, being manual. GrassCo
is investigating adding a module into their own
program system that will provide this information.
This has been an unexpected outcome from the
weekly measurement. Of course, as the period
between measurements increases, the chances of
getting “graze free periods” reduces.
KEY FINDINGS
The cost of the one-year program was $5,980 plus GST.
A large amount of data was recorded for individual
paddocks and the key summary was average
pasture cover. The trends in pasture covers and
actual paddock covers drove management decisions
relating to:
• Target liveweights for works’ lambs.
• Decisions on store lamb purchases.
• Priority summer management of ewes to target
mating all ewes at CS 3.5.
• The achievement of calculated 1 May covers to
ensure a viable winter feed budget.
• Use of nitrogen.
• Decisions to graze ewes off the Rosebank
block.
• Ensuring consistent and accurate feeding of
ewes mating to lambing.
• Developing a paddock assessment program.
This FITT program covered one year. The year
included the last half of a production period and the
first half of the next production period. Clover root
weevil was a significant factor not seen before and
the last six months of the period saw saturated soils
for long periods (Figure 4).
The ewes showed improved scanning (203%)
following decisions being made in the first half of the
program. Lamb losses from scanning were higher at
19.8% with tailing at 160%, the same as the previous
year. Lamb tailing weights were on par at 11kg, but
weaning weights were down about 3kg as result of
a very wet spring in 2014.
VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS/OBSERVATIONS
Lambing dates and planned spreading cover needs
to be reviewed.
The spreading cover in the spring of 2014 was
1,750kg and quickly fell to 1,400kg with a recovery
beginning about mid November. In this high
performing flock, the result was a 3kg reduced
weaning weight in lambs. Is the current commonly
used target of 1,400kg spreading cover sufficient for
high performing flocks? Is it sufficient for average
flocks? While this is highlighted, is this likely to be a
consistent feature of future growth patterns?
One year’s data is probably insufficient to justify
changes in dates and planned covers. The power
of this information will increase as more years are
collected.
The winter feeding for triplet ewes’ program using
Landcorp’s feed calculator resulted in higher feeding
levels than have been used in the past. The keys to this
calculator are accurate feeding and consistent feeding
i.e. avoiding large swings in levels of energy intake.
Knowing pasture covers are critical to achieving this.
Lamb loss in the triplet mob from scanning to tailing
was 20.6%. There are many flocks where this would be
considered an average result across the whole flock.
Differences in paddock performance are highlighted.
The two paddocks selected out of only four manually
analysed show a difference of 33% in production.
It will be instructive to see the full list relative to
paddock performance when they become available.
This represents a large opportunity.

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Figure 3 shows a high performance sheep farm
pasture wedges for autumn, winter, spring and
summer. They are surprisingly consistent.
Weekly measurement, in itself, does not lift
productivity. It is how you use the data that counts.
As well, the more production data is collected on
sheep performance, then the more useful the weekly
pasture cover data will become. Patterns will develop
and issues will be highlighted.
Each year’s growth pattern is different and regular
measures will provide an early warning of problems
and opportunities.
Weekly measures represent the ultimate system.
Reduced frequency of measurement, but at critical
times, for example pre winter for feed budgeting, will
be useful. There are other measurement systems in
use that could provide this information, but these can
be time consuming for the farmer and calibration is
an issue that you need to be confident about.
ECONOMICS OF WEEKLY MEASURES
Because there were no controls as such within
this FITT program and because we are looking at
the whole farm management system, we cannot
definitely calculate gains made. We are not
comparing one system against another to define a
clear result.
However, justification of the annual $5,980 + GST
cost could be made because of improved post
scan triplet management of 759 ewes resulting in
a triplet lambing of 238%. Industry averages for
triplet lambings vary between 170% (extensive
farms) and 220% (intensive farms). If we attribute
an 18% increase in lambs over 759 ewes at $90/
lamb, this generates 136 lambs with a total gross
value of $12,240. To achieve this result, we need a
significant proportion of triplet ewes which means
good genetics and good summer ewe management
to mate ewes in the right condition.
The achievement of this result with the triplet mob is a
year round management issue. While this is simplistic,
this item alone generates $2 for every $1 spent.
“Measuring our grass weekly has given us an accurate
measurement of the grass covers available over our
Rosebank property. This has been particularly useful when
setting up our winter feed budget and also over the winter
and pre lamb period where we were wanting to feed our
triplet bearing ewes at a consistent, correct level.
During the summer we were looking for trend lines—too
many downward measures gave us the indication to off-
load lambs slightly earlier than we would have normally. It is
all about being pro-active, not re-active”
Barry and Julie Crawford
CONTACTS
Barry and Julie Crawford
(03) 207 1818, bjcrawf@ispnz.co.nz
Graham Butcher
(03) 208 9956. gbutcher@esi.co.nz
Donald Martin, GrassCo
(03) 206 4668, info@grassco.co.nz
A modified sledge used to measure pasture cover
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