Every farmer knows that fertiliser is often the biggest capital expense on a farm every year. It is a necessary part of growing more grass and producing more milk. But with the pandemic in full swing (still) and perfect storms of shuttered gas plants, supply chain disruptions etc leading to a shortage of urea prices have skyrocketed with Ballance putting its prices of Nrich Urea up to $1440.00/tonne excl. gst in late January.
The high price of urea, as a staple input on many farms, presents a real problem for farmers’ bottom lines and makes the high payout in milksolids much less attractive. One way dairy farmers can reduce their fert cost is through maximising the efficiency of how they use their urea.
Urea dissolves in water (or effluent) creating an easy-to-apply product, straight to the leaf of the plant that produces more drymatter. With a Tow and Fert machine the major benefit is that you can use the raw solid product from Ballance and others, putting the urea into the tank filled with water, dissolving it in minutes on the way to the paddock and spraying on to the pasture. Doing this is saving Tow and Fert users up to 40% of their urea cost; that’s a significant amount of money at today’s prices.
The other obvious benefit is that the reduction of up to 40% of urea use is allowing farmers to go under the 190 units/ha limitations. Further to that we see on our clients’ farms that there is often an increase in dry matter yield, or at the very least, no loss of dry matter yield. All in all a Tow and Fert machine offers farmers a way to apply nitrogen for less, drop their usage inline with restrictions and still grow the same amount, if not more, grass.
For more information give Michael Smith, Tow and Fert Sales Manager a call on 027 203 9774 or visit www.towandfert.co.nz for more information.
