Description
PatureBase Ireland (www.pbi.ie) is a grass measuring software to allow farmers to quantify the amount of grass on the farm, to monitor growth rate on the farm and to assess total tonnage of dry matter being produced per hectare on the farm.
A new PastureBase off-line app has been developed, including grass measurement, recording of graze dates, recording of fertiliser and recording of milk sales.
The new offline app could save time when measuring grass, as there is no need to enter the house and type grass covers in to the computer. The importance of measuring grass to make good decisions on a day-to-day basis but also to identify underperforming paddocks on farms at the end of the year. The paddocks should be soil-sampled and targeted for reseeding.
Recording the correct graze date and pregrazing yield is essential to capture the correct growth rates and annual tonnage for these paddocks. Recording the correct fertiliser on paddocks to be able to capture the correct response and growth rates as a result on N, P and K applied.
Measuring grass using PastureBase Irland offline app can capture covers around the farm while walking the farm. Therefore, when the farm has measured the last paddock, an average farm cover, growth rate, cover/LU and can also generate a wedge. The motivation of the farmers was to reduce workload when measuring grass by being able to carry out the grass covers on the phone. The challenge for the farmers was also poor broadband/internet connection when measuring grass; however the app is offline which means that farmers can measure grass using their phone without any delays/loss of data.
Abstract also available in:
Dutch | French | German | Italian | Polish | Swedish
