Precision approach to soils and nutrition is a win-win
A concerted focus on forage quality and herd nutrition is helping improve resilience and efficiency on one Northumberland Farm ...
For John and Helen Renner, along with son Charlie, everything they do on their North Bellshill and Amerside Hill farms just outside Berwick on Tweed is focussed on improving the sustainability and profitability of their herd of suckler herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle.
For the Renner family this means producing the highest standards of food, alongside excellent animal welfare, whilst working with and protecting the environment. Balancing all these objectives within an integrated farm management approach means paying close attention to detail to every part of their farming operation from soil nutrition to forage quality and herd health.
To do this, they have embraced digital farming technology in the form of Omnia to provide them not only with the most accurate information on soils and forage quality, but to scrutinise all costs of production with an overall aim to improve efficiency, and long term sustainability, based on true figures for all farm operations.
This is an approach that is obviously working well for the Northumberland farming business as their herd of Aberdeen Angus is in the top 5% for performance in terms of gross margins in the UK, achieving 100% of cows in calf each year, a 98% calving index and 100% non-assisted calving.
Fifteen years ago, the Renner’s, who were arable farmers, bought their first 2 cows and slowly began the process of breeding their own replacements. They continued with the herd and today have 100 cows, the genetics of which go back to the original cows. Today it is estimated that the closed herd could be in the top 4% of disease free herds in the UK.
Looking at soils
The farm grows around 200 hectares of grass, mostly on predominantly sandy clay soils, with some arable cropping as a rotational break.
John Renner believes soil health is at the heart of improving sustainability and profitability, through improved grass quality and therefore herd performance. He works closely with Hutchinsons agronomist, George Robson, and wanting a more detailed understanding of his soils, three years ago had several of his fields TerraMapped.
TerraMap high definition scanning provides a comprehensive picture of all common nutrient and physical soil properties in far greater detail than conventional grid sampling, mapping over 800 data reference points per hectare.
The results from TerraMap are used to create maps within the Omnia digital farming system which can then be overlaid with additional field information such as weeds, yields and so on, to create the most accurate, consistent, and detailed variable rate plans.
“Historically we have based our plans on a limited amount of data based on more traditional methods of soil sampling which then created ‘zones’ across fields, and we had started to use some precision application into the process, but TerraMap offered us so much more,” he says.
John has been very impressed by the level of detail and accuracy from TerraMap, having shown up clear variations in the soils that had not been seen before.
Results confirmed soils were generally in good condition, with high organic matter content averaging 7 % and high fertility (N, P and K) given the use of organic manures and slurry over many years.
“However, there were some fields where buffer pH was very varied ranging from 5.4 to 7.2,” explains George.
“Using the results from TerraMap allowed us to create much more accurate variable application maps, with a view to standardizing the pH across the field to somewhere around 6.3, as the correct pH between 6-7 maximises nutrient uptake.”
Lime is important because it reduces acidity, helping to unlock nutrients such as phosphate and potash. “By applying the lime variably, it is possible to target areas with low pH levels more precisely, bringing the entire field to an optimal pH range, whilst hopefully making cost savings,“ adds George.
However once the Renner’s started using Omnia, they realised there was so much more to Omnia than just a precision farming tool, which led them to where they are today, utilising the full suite of tools on offer with a view to further improving management and financial decisions on a day to day basis.
With the help of son Charlie, all of the farm data from manure management plans, grass quality and yield results are now uploaded into Omnia.
“Good record keeping is central to the success of our business. Now we monitor and control everything we do through Omnia, and the more we use it, the more we get out of it,” says John.
“In our opinion it is the best farm management tool out there.”
Farm Facts:
- LEAF farm since 2003, LEAF demo farm in 2005
- 85 number of calves, sold to store at 12 months
- Countryside stewardship:
- Mid Tier- low input whole crop spring barley (15ha)
- Higher Tier Stewardship (3.01 ha)
- High tier species rich grassland (90has)
- Cropping includes:
- Grass (94.27 ha)
- Woodland (34.11 ha)
- Perennial Ryegrass (17.56 ha)
- Spring Barley (14.23 ha)
- Herbs (Others) (8.44 ha)
- Fodder Rape (8.15 ha)
- Winter Wheat (6.64 ha)
- Grass Margin (4.65 ha)
- Uncropped (2.19 ha)
- Soil type is mainly light loams with some heavy clay
- Using Terramap to tailor management and input use
- Using Cost of Production analysis for all farm operations
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