Improve the quality of your soil
Soil testing and soil sampling is critical to improving the quality and mineral balance ofyour soil.The vital point of soil testing is to determine if there are sufficient levels of the essentialelements for plants and livestock to grow at their best.All physical things in the universe are made from 92 naturally occurring chemicalelements. Living things such as plants and animals are mostly made of certain elements,depending on the life form. These are known as the essential elements of life, meaningthat if all the other elements are present, but if one of these elements is missing, thenthe organism will fail.There are 13 elements were needed for plant and animal growth, not just nitrogen (N),phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). A further three elements (cobalt, selenium andiodine) are essential animal health and nutrition. If your soil is deficient in one or morenutrients, your livestock and plants are not going to be able to receive enough of thosenutrients to grow properly.If farmers are injection or bulleting animals for any deficient nutrients such as Cobalt,Selenium , Iodine or any nutrient it is a soil borne disorder. Injecting, bulleting orsupplementing nutrients to animals overcomes the problem short term rather than fixingthe cause, which is a soil borne disorder. Its equivalent to taking medication rather thanfixing the root cause. Testing of soil, pasture, clover only or animal bloods is relatively cheap. Coming in atless than 1% of your total fertiliser costs, it is a cost-effective investment in the healthand wellbeing of your plants and livestock.When it comes to your livestock, if the pasture they are eating does not contain correctamounts of the right nutrients they will not grow in a healthy manner, or worse, becomesick.Most dairy farms probably need only about 13kg/ha of P per year to maintain theirphosphate levels, but more than 70kg/ha is sometimes applied, leading to massiveexpenditure. This money could be diverted to overcome any deficient nutrient.Accurate soil testing also provides a significant management tool in creating an efficientsoil fertility programme, as well as watching out for potential soil issues.