FARMER SPECIAL: Andrew Grant - From Compacted Soils to Thriving Pastures

In this episode of Where Inches Matter, Allan takes you straight to the paddock for a hands-on discussion about soil health, pasture growth, and the direct impact on farm profitability with South Canterbury farmer, Andrew Grant .

We visit a farm near Geraldine that once struggled with highly compacted soils, heavy nitrogen use, and poor-quality pasture that the cows didn’t want to eat. But through strategic soil management and reducing synthetic fertiliser inputs, this farm has undergone a remarkable transformation.

Our guest farmer shares his experience of moving away from high nitrogen and phosphorus applications, which were leading to compacted soils, poor plant nutrition, and animal health issues. Since cutting back on synthetic inputs and improving soil structure with products like Envirocare and Comcat, he has seen incredible changes:

✔ Healthier Soil Structure – The once rock-hard, compacted ground is now loose, well-aerated, and teeming with worms.
✔ Better Pasture Growth – Grass is thriving, and cows are more willing to eat it, leading to higher intakes and better milk production.
✔ Improved Animal Health – Reduced metabolic issues and lameness, with healthier cows performing at their best.
✔ More Efficient Water Use – With better soil structure, water retention has improved, meaning less irrigation is needed.

We also dive into grass growth measurement techniques, including the use of plant meters and AgriNet for tracking pasture performance, forecasting, and planning silage cuts. The farmer explains how independent fertiliser advice has been a game-changer, helping him make more informed decisions without over-reliance on synthetic inputs.

This episode is a must-listen for any farmer looking to improve pasture quality, cut input costs, and boost farm productivity through better soil management.

🔎 Want to learn more? Visit www.agraforum.co.nz for details on soil testing, fertiliser strategies, and proven methods to improve soil structure and animal health.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
G'day and welcome to our new podcast that we're calling
Where Inches Matter. And it's probably not what you're thinking.
The inches I'm talking about is the depth. The oxygen
goes down into your soil where it's nice and loose
and holds on to water. So the inches I'm talking about.
We're in a paddock just out of Geraldine that was

(00:20):
in Fodder Beet. It's been putting new grass was planted
in early August as all fodder beet paddocks are usually
munted after being grazed. It's all compacted and sometimes it's
a slurry and dries out hard as a rock generally.
So it obviously gets worked.

S2 (00:36):
Yeah. So when we converted back in 2012, we were
putting on about 300 units of in. So it was
very compacted growing grass that the cows didn't want to eat,
had animal health issues. And since then we've cut both
N and P back a lot and finding it's definitely
helped with animal health. We've cut our feed inputs back
by about half and going to more of a lower

(00:59):
stocking rate pasture based system, largely driven by rising costs.

S1 (01:06):
Different farms have different problems, whether it's lameness or metabolics
or what have you, But it's all due to the
soil not being able to be accessed by the plants,
and so therefore the plant hasn't got much nutrition in it.
This is weed sprayed about ten days ago. You can
put concat with it, which is a product that drives
the roots down. And that's what you want to drive
the roots right down to the bottom there. And then

(01:27):
the paddocks going to hang on. If it gets dry
it stays flocculated like that. You're going to have a
lot more water holding capacity in the soil. So your
irrigation is going to last longer. You get away with
using less water. That's what Envirocare will do for you.
So what do you do as far as measuring your
grass growth on this place?

S2 (01:46):
So either myself or a farm manager will be out
sort of every 5 to 7 days doing a full
farm walk with the plant meter, and we punch it
into an app we use called Agri Net, which allows
us to do forecasting, and we can take our paddocks
for silage and things like that, and work out our
pasture intakes based on how many cows we've got grazing

(02:07):
at the time.

S1 (02:11):
Yeah. So those monitor paddocks that we've got, we test
them every year and then we do pasture and clover
only sampling. So we just take a sample with this
so you don't want to get any dirt. And then
we test that for all of the, the minerals phosphorus potassium,
magnesium everything. So this is what counts. This is what's
going down the cows throat. So make sure you check.

S2 (02:32):
We really appreciate is basically getting independent fertiliser advice. We're
not buying all of our pen. It's been a real
breath of fresh air actually knowing we didn't really need
all that stuff we were tipping on before.

S1 (02:46):
What have you found visually? You know, on the farm?
Do you think it looks better or you know, you've
seen more worms or.

S2 (02:52):
Yeah, it's been a massive difference. Before. You could barely
even get a spade into the ground. And now I
can dig a square spade like that. And there's at
least 25 worms in every spade. It's before it was
hard for us to get residuals. The cows love eating
the grass now, so we find we can get higher
intakes into the cows. And the highest drive of profit
for us is pasture down the throat of the cow

(03:12):
turning into milk.

S1 (03:15):
He spent all the money working the soil to get
a seed bed or keep it like that, and then
the roots will drive down with the concat and you'll
see new grass paddock up to be successful for hopefully
ten years.