Indicator 1 – dark green patches
Meat & Livestock Australia April 2, 2020
What do you see and when?
- Dark green patches with greater growth of grass or clover, paler green in other areas.
- Best time to look is late winter and early spring
- Increased or fast pasture growth surrounding manure pats, shorter paler green growth elsewhere.
What could this indicate?
- Pale green areas deficient in nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus or sulphur
- Dark green areas are urine patches or manure pats. Urine contains high amounts of nitrogen and potassium and some sulphur. Dung affected areas also contain phosphorus
- Selective grazing may be occurring. Stock avoid pasture near dung while odour remains (up to 3 months).
What test can I do to confirm?
- Soil testing with reference to potassium, nitrogen and sulphur. Avoid sampling the dark green areas.
- Test strips of potassium, nitrogen and sulphur fertiliser.
Pictured: Nitrogen response (left) with 25kg/ha applied in May.
Photo Lisa Warn Ag Consulting
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