Nelson Mail

Spreading cost for best result

- Joyce Wyllie Sheep farmer at Kaihoka in Golden Bay

An early morning phone call. Jock answers wandering out into pre-dawn darkness to give a report on weather conditions. Looking for shifting leaves, sensing air movement and trusting gut feeling he gives his opinion to the caller.

Weather in Nelson is quite different from West Coast Golden Bay so Richard, the topdressin­g pilot, rings for an on-the-spot update. No amount of cyber forecasts and analysing isobar lines on maps compare with advice from an experience­d observer standing out on the dewy lawn.

If the decision is that it will be a fine, calm day the plane buzzes in about 40 minutes later and lands on the all-weather runway in our aptly named Airstrip Paddock.

Usually the loader is already parked, all set to go. This specialise­d truck carries fuel for the plane as well as being cleverly designed mechanical­ly to drive on the road at one end and operate as a loading vehicle facing the other direction.

The loading bucket scoops fertiliser out of the bin to be delivered in carefully weighed quantities into the hopper of the aircraft. Our fert bin is a concrete bunker with a rolling roof so freight trucks can back in and dump tonnes of powdered bulk product. The loader driver ferries his truck between strips on different farms then spends his day driving in and out of the bin waiting for the plane return.

The pilot performs take-offs and landings dozens of times with impressive flying feats to spread valuable fertiliser product evenly across pre-allotted areas. Technology on board maps the flights and the computer can generate a farm map of the completed job.

It is a wonderful service. In days gone by, Tiger Moth planes carried lighter loads, fertiliser came in sacks and a team of strong men opened bags and dumped the stuff into the loader hopper. Heavy manual work under pressure to keep ahead of the plane.

Now modernised and mechanised, the RAL-Cresco LTH plane carries two tonnes per trip and the only finger we need to lift is the one to tap keys paying the bill online.

Watching the long, white cloud drift downwards as the plane works whining along the hills is satisfying. It is the end result of a long line of decisions.

The important first step is our budget and calculatin­g how much money we have to spend on fertiliser. It’s our biggest discretion­ary cost, which could easily reach into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Taking soil samples gives informatio­n on what is required and we choose which service to use.

Then there come decisions on how to interpret the results.

Different experts confoundin­gly advise on varying criteria. Some use basic NPK figures and pH, some have theories on free radicals or ratios of nutrients. Choices follow on whether to go with traditiona­l super phosphate, or organic or ‘‘beyond organics’’ and what company to order through.

The vet degree I did years ago included a paper on soil science but much has changed. This big annual fertiliser decision needs expertise in chemistry, environmen­t, soils and structure, as well as both plant and animal nutrition.

It finally boils down to what we can afford and the benefits of either putting a little on a lot of paddocks, or a lot on a little area. And, once the fertiliser is ordered, delivered and applied by the plane, we can’t change our minds.

Making that early morning decision on the weather is the easiest one.

 ??  ?? A plane spreads fertiliser on Joyce Wyllie’s sheep farm at Kaihoka, Golden Bay.
A plane spreads fertiliser on Joyce Wyllie’s sheep farm at Kaihoka, Golden Bay.

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