Pasture legume trials increase pasture and livestock productivity

The use of pasture legume as high protein and energy feed for cattle is also increasing paddock performance and profitability from grazing animals in Northern Australia

Pasture legumes offer a highly palatable natural source of protein and high energy food source, which ultimately converts to higher weight gains in cattle livestock.

The benefit of this is that when cattle reach target weights sooner, the producer can increase the rate of stock turnover, resulting in more beef per hectare.

In addition to growing across pastures naturally, legume seeds are also added to cattle feed stock. This, in turn, is then distributed by the cattle during defecation – a process known as faecal seeding.

This process provides even more high-quality forage and reduces the need for additional supplementation.

Measuring resourcefulness and profitability

As part of ongoing trials in resourcefulness and profitability, one of Northern Australia’s most innovative beef producers approached Pacific Data Systems with a requirement to monitor rainfall, wind speed/direction, temperature, relative humidity and soil moisture. This was done in order to closely monitor and optimise the productivity and growth performance of pastoral legume.

Factors that the client needed to monitor during the trials were:

• soil moisture available during the planting process and at what levels

• at what soil moisture levels will legume plants start to wilt/stop vegetative growth

• what soil moisture levels are needed for germination for different planting methods

• how deep is the penetration of rain and the amount of rain in the different soil types – sandy/loam/clay

• the effect of low/high temperature on vegetative growth

Technology that delivers remotely

At the heart of the monitoring system is the SatVUE Smart Remote Monitoring Solution.

The SatVUE was chosen due to its satellite communications which provide reliable, up-to-date reporting where 3G / 4G infrastructure is otherwise unstable or non-existent.

Weather and soil moisture data is sent on an hourly basis, which provides up-to-date visibility both ‘back at base’ and offsite via a remote web portal.

Alert capabilities ensure timely response

Alarms have also been programmed into the SatVUE system enabling email alerts to be sent to site staff should any pre-determined should any thresholds be breached.

The result

The client reports that the SatVUE solution has provided them with significant improvements to operational procedure, thanks to improved data visibility.

They are confident that upon conclusion of the trials, they will be looking to implement the SatVUE system across multiple sites that they operate from.

The benefits

• provides greater visibility during the trials conducted

• custody of data and minimisation of data transposition errors

• remote access from any web-enabled device

• ease of installation

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