Partners in practise.
The Dairy UP team onsite at Nelson farm (from left): Technical Officer Josh Hack (Ag Farming Systems), Dr Juan Gargiulo (DPI NSW), Dr Martin Correa-Luna (University of Sydney) and Matt Neilson (Dairy UP partner farmer).
The Dairy UP team is grateful for the contribution of farmers from NSW participated in recent workshops about remote pasture monitoring.
Held in Taree and Bega, the workshop provided a forum to share early findings and experiences from a range of people involved in Dairy UP’s project on remote monitoring of Kikuyu pastures. They involved Dairy UP researchers and technical officers, LLS extension officers, farmers and service providers.
The project is collecting the data from Dairy UP partner farms on a weekly basis to study and adapt a remote sensing monitoring tool (pasture.io). Originally developed in Tasmania in 2005, the tool was calibrated for for perennial ryegrass pastures, using satellite monitoring technology.
Dr Martin Correa-Luna who is co-ordinating this project, said farmer feedback would influence project outcomes.
“The aim is to provide dairy farmers with a tool for farmers to monitor and forecast kikuyu pasture cover and make better and more timely pasture management decisions. It is important that we hear the experiences of farmers early in the research process so that we can ensure what we develop is relevant and works in practice,” he said.
The project involves a collaboration of research institutions, industry stakeholders, and 14 kikuyu-based pastures dairy farmers distributed along the south, mid, and north regional coasts of NSW.
After the workshop, the Dairy UP team visited four farms in the Tocal area that are participating in the project for farm walks, individual discussion and additional data collection.
Another workshop is scheduled for September with partner farms in the NSW south coast.
About Dairy UP
Dairy UP is a collaborative research, development and extension program for the NSW dairy industry. It aims to unlock the potential of pastures, cows, water and milk to increase productivity and profitability, and de-risk the industry and develop new markets.