Rapid Pasture Meter

Author: SPAA

Accurately measuring pasture can significantly improve pasture utilisation and milk production. But manually measuring pasture is time consuming and tedious. Technology has come to the rescue with the development of the Rapid Pasture Meter that can measure pasture while moving stock or travelling across paddocks. The innovation was developed by the New Zealand Centre for Precision Agriculture at Massey University and commercially launched by C-DAX in New Zealand in June 2006. Trials conducted by the FutureDairy team at Camden, NSW have provided advice on adaptation to Australian conditions and have determined the calibrations for Lucerne, short rotation ryegrass, prairie grass and Kikuyu. Calibrations for ryegrass/ paspalum pastures are currently being determined at Kyabram, Victoria. Fitted on a stainless steel sledge, the pasture meter is attached to the back of a quad bike and uses light receptors to measure pasture as the meter crosses the paddock. With the bike travelling at 20km/hr, the maximum operating speed, the device measures pasture cover every 27mm, building up a very accurate picture of grass cover. With that frequency of readings measurements taken over dung pats or weeds should not distort the pasture data. Download the article to read more

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