Case Studies
Soil and fertiliser management practices are constantly evolving and improving. Often farmers are the innovators of new practices or technology. Case studies are a good way of farmers sharing their experiences with other farmers. The following case studies and fact sheets have been prepared for South Australian farms:
- Comprehensive soil testing reaps benefits – Mundulla
- Improve nutrient management, Improve your bottom line – Mt Jagged
- Increase fertiliser efficiency with whole farm soil sampling – Wandillo
- More soil tests, more often to boost fertiliser efficiency
- Balancing phosphorous levels results in efficient use of fertiliser dollars – Kongorong
- Soil tests aid dairy expansion – Lucindale
- Fleurieu dairy farmers reap rewards from soil nutrient testing
- Soil testing worthwhile on Fleurieu dairy farms
- Industry, agronomists and farmers working together to improve fertiliser use
- Monitoring soil fertility on Fleurieu dairy farms
- Lower Murray Case Studies
- Australia-wide case studies
Soil Fertility Guidelines
The soil fertility guidelines are used to interpret your soil test results, and to calculate fertiliser requirements for a dairy pasture. The soil fertility guidelines help to identify if soil nutrient levels are low, adequate or high in relation to the levels required for optimum pasture production. The optimum soil fertility level for a dairy pasture system is reached when the yield is between 95% and 98% of the maximum potential yield. Beyond this point further application of fertilisers is generally uneconomical. Numerous trials and research results have been used to calibrate soil test values against yield responses and to produce the soil fertility guidelines.
For detailed information on interpreting soil and tissue tests refer to the Dairy Soils and Fertiliser Manual, Chapter 9.
Research & Trials
There are many research projects, trials and demonstrations currently underway throughout Australia to investigate better ways to manage soils, nutrients and fertilisers on dairy farms. The following projects are specific to South Australian dairy farms:
Regional Soils Information
It is essential to know the locations and characteristics of specific soil types on a dairy farm in order to make sound soil and fertiliser management decisions. Soil properties such as soil structure, depth, texture, salinity, acidity, waterlogging or compaction can limit crop and pasture growth even when the soil has adequate nutrients. South Australia has a wide variety of soil types that reflect differences in soil forming processes dictated by factors such as geology, landform, stream activity, vegetation, climate and age (i.e. degree of weathering). Follow these links to find out more about the properties of your soils:
South Australian Resources Online presents a wide range of soil information which is continually being expanded:
Australian Soil Resource Information System (ASRIS) provides online access to the best publicly available information on soil and land resources in a consistent format across Australia:
SoilMapp taps into the best available soil information from Australia’s national soil databases and allows you to find out about the likely soil types in your area:
For more information about soil properties refer to the Dairy Soils and Fertiliser Manual, Chapter 4.