Meter made for profits

A PASTURE meter invented in Victoria is proving an export success, last month making its debut into the important Irish dairy marketplace.
The bike-mounted meter developed by researchers at the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in Ellinbank is saving farmers thousands of dollars in fertiliser bills – often paying for itself in a year.
While helping Victorian dairy farmers to avoid over-fertilising pastures, it also shows when the time is right to open individual paddocks for grazing or hay/silage cuts.
The computerised reader has also spawned a fledgling manufacturing business in Gippsland.
The units, each costing between $3600 and $4800, are assembled in the small township of Narracan, near Moe, by a business that employs two people.
DPI Technical Officer Ivor Awty is the man behind the technology and its commercialisation.
“The meter emits a series of short sharp ‘pings’, with each echo separately analysed,” he said.
“The results from the echoes then determine the average pasture height.”
The data is used to calculate the kilograms of dry matter (DM) and, when uploaded into a feed allocation program, calculates pasture available and feed deficit.
“Studies have shown that a 10 per cent increase in daily milk production can be obtained by accurately allocating pasture and feed, even when pasture is very well-managed,” Mr Awty said.
“In the past there have been time-consuming pasture measuring devices, but none of them can be left permanently vehicle-mounted.
“Farmers using the DPI-invented Ellinbank meter have told us they are astonished by its accuracy.”