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FIELD NOTE:
A bit of Kiwi ingenuity
Canterbury-based CP Lime Solutions is a specialist fertiliser and animal nutrition company. The company’s client farmers are reaping direct benefits from using their advanced fert and nutrition technologies, and one member of the team who is passionate about her work is Sarah Morgan. Sarah is one of two fertiliser staff in the field, visiting farmers throughout the region.
“I love getting out there visiting farmers, talking to them about their soil needs, conducting soil tests and advising them as to the best blends we can specifically make for their farm. It’s wonderful to see them realising a little more knowledge about the soil and how they can achieve greater results and achieve the gains they’re striving for,” says Sarah.
Educating farmers on how to interpret
their soil tests is something she especially enjoys.
CP Lime’s fine-lime fertiliser, OptimiseTM, was created out of a need by a Kiwi farming family to solve a problem that many other farming operations were troubled with. Aglime and other nutrients applied on high-country windy areas weren’t staying where they were supposed to, instead drifting to neighbouring properties - an expensive exercise and what was landing on the ground was taking a long time to break down and a long time to achieve the economic returns. As a result, effort and money were quite literally blowing away in the breeze.
The answer was to put a bit of Kiwi ingenuity into action, think outside the square and create a new fertiliser technology in the form of a pelletised lime-based product delivering quick, effective and measurable results.
Lime is ground to a very fine 70microns, increasing its surface area so more gets used. Then a secret process creates uniform pellets that can be easily transported and applied evenly by truck or air. The compressed pellets spread and fall like most other granulated fertilisers, and once they hit the ground, the pellets get to work straight away. And it's not just Lime that can be delivered to pasture through the pellets. We can add other nutrients, such as Sulphur and Magnesium, at specific ratios to deliver farmers precisely what their soil requires for optimal performance.
"It's just an efficient technology in terms of delivery; typically, ten times less volume of Lime is needed, making it much better for cash flow. One truckload, compared to ten. The cost-savings for hill-country farmers can be as much as two-thirds as it significantly reduces flying time."
Sarah says the recommendation she gives farmers is to use OptimiseTM every 12 to 18 months or so to maintain pasture at peak condition, eliminating the need to dig deep into the pocket every five years or so to blast the field with large doses to regain fertility.
And if it's clover production that hill country farmers are driving, then using Optimise Lime combined with elemental Sulphur is a perfect combination.
"Calcium should be front of mind when considering an annual fertiliser ingredient, and Lime is made up of Calcium. All other minerals are piggy-backed by Calcium to be taken up by the plant."
Sarah also recommends using OptimiseTM on an annual or bi-annual basis as a vehicle for Sulphur applications and for maintaining soil pH. Getting the plane booked for an Optimise Lime and Sulphur application over the drier summer months is a great time saver thanks to flyinghours and a great cost saver too!
