Targeting soil nutrition to drive forage yields and quality

Like many farmers, Oliver Middleton, who farms in partnership with his father Phillip and brother James, is keen to increase productivity of the 200 ha family dairy farm near Masham on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, which aims to be as self-sufficient as possible in its feed requirements for the 250-cow herd and home-reared replacements.

Renting or buying additional land is often regarded as a way of increasing output, but as that becomes harder and more expensive to do, so his focus is on maximising the productivity of the existing area first.

To help achieve this, in 2023 Mr Middleton began using the Omnia precision farming platform and commissioned TerraMap high definition mapping of the farm’s predominantly sandy loam soils to facilitate more targeted nutrient applications. Around three-quarters of the farm was mapped last harvest, and the remainder will be done this year, with results providing the foundations for changes in the nutrition strategy.

“I’ve never really been a ‘figures man’, but I am trying to get into it more now. When starting out on anything like this, it can seem a bit overwhelming given the amount of data available, so it’s important not to lose sight of why you’re doing it and what you want to achieve.”

Mr Middleton says Omnia has been an excellent, user-friendly tool in this respect, making it easy to analyse new data and plan management strategies. “It’s a good way of keeping all of your records in one place too. Whether it’s for an audit or anything else, it is so easy to get the information you need at the click of a button, rather than having to scratch around looking for different bits of information.”

Until 2012, the farm was in organic production, and Mr Middleton observed that soils became quite low in nutrients over that time. After reverting back to conventional production, the approach to rectify this used to mainly involve applying blanket fertiliser treatments across all fields, based on basic soil testing before ploughing.

However, he knew that such an approach was not the most efficient or cost-effective use of resources, and this really came to the fore in 2022, when fertiliser hit record highs.

“Our aim now is to only treat fields with exactly what they require, which is what Omnia and TerraMap allow us to do.”

It is still early days, but Mr Middleton is working with Omnia specialist Chris Blashill and Hutchinsons agronomist Tim Arden to implement a much more targeted nutrition strategy across the farm, which they hope will improve yields, quality, and consistency of forage crops, and ultimately benefit cows through improved milk yields and animal health.

“Up until now we’ve never really looked at the quality of forage then applied something differently to the land to influence it, but if we can better understand the connections between the two, then hopefully it makes a difference.

“We don’t do badly at the moment; our P, K, and organic matter levels are all good given the use of slurry and manures, but it would be nice to get more consistency from the crops we grow and the feed that produces.”

Typically, winter wheat averages 8.6-10 t/ha (3.5-4 t/acre), maize 37-50 t/ha (15-20 t/acre) and grass usually around 20 t/ha (8 t/acre) for first and second cuts, although this can be very variable depending on the season.

Mr Middleton is using the results to be more selective about where manure and slurry is applied to meet P and K requirements. Additionally, he has just purchased a new fertiliser spreader with variable rate capability, which will be used to variably apply granular fertiliser next spring.

The initial focus will be on variably applying nitrogen, using NDVI satellite imagery available within Omnia to create application plans that can be seamlessly exported to the tractor via the cloud-based JDLink system. The fertiliser spreader is ISOBUS connected to the tractor.

Another change is the drive to utilise slurry more effectively. Traditionally this is applied to grassland in between silage cuts, of which there are usually four per season, typically every six weeks from mid-May onwards.

This is usually topped-up with an aftercut compound fertiliser, rates of which can now be more accurately tailored to soil requirements based on TerraMap analysis and will be applied variably in the future.

As well as being more selective about which grassland fields need slurry, Mr Middleton has also started applying slurry to arable land via an umbilical system to reduce artificial fertiliser requirements on cereals.

Arable land currently receives farmyard manure and slurry pre-ploughing in the autumn, then two nitrogen applications in the spring. In total, around 430 kg/ha of ammonium nitrate (AN) and 40 m3/ha cow slurry is normally applied to wheat crops.

Additionally, he hopes to install a slurry separator system – subject to grant funding being successful – that will allow him to apply an extra late foliar application to winter wheat to help build yield and grain protein.

Maize ground also receives farmyard manure and slurry before ploughing in the spring, with DAP fertiliser applied with seed at drilling. Where needed, nitrogen requirements are topped up after drilling.

“It’s all about optimising the land we’ve got to get the most from it, and Omnia is helping us to do that,” he concludes.