Know your Ground: How soil and herbage testing drive profit and productivity

Every successful farm starts from the ground up - and what happens beneath the surface often determines everything above it. Healthy soil is the engine of any productive system, feeding pastures that in turn nourish your livestock. But without knowing what's really in your soil or the nutrients your grass is providing, you're essentially farming blind.

Soil and herbage testing provide the insights need to make smarter, more sustainable decisions. They reveal what your soil already has, what it lacks, and how your pastures are performing in terms of feed quality and nutritional balance.

Why Soil Testing Matters

Regular soil testing ensures that your farm management decisions are based on facts rather than guesswork.

Testing helps you:

• Optimise fertiliser use efficiently and cost-effectively

• Prevent nutrient losses and protect waterways

• Build long-term soil health and resilience

• Provide stock with high-quality, balanced feed

In short, testing connects soil health, pasture productivity, and animal performance - forming the backbone of sustainable and profitable farming. Understanding your soil and herbage is one of the smartest investments you can make in your land's future.

Why Herbage Testing Matters

Even the healthiest -looking pasture may not meet livestock nutritional needs. Herbage testing measures the actual nutrient content of forage, revealing imbalances or deficiencies that could affect animal health, growth, and productivity.

Benefits of herbage testing include:

• Ensuring stock receive balanced nutrients

• Identifying mineral deficiencies before they cause health issues

• Detecting trace element limitations by sampling plants like clover, which may not show up in soil tests

• Informing supplementary feed decisions

• Tracking pasture quality across seasons

By combining soil and herbage testing, farmers gain a complete picture of nutrient supply and availability - enabling smarter, more profitable, and sustainable farming management.

Making Test Results Work for You

Collecting soil and herbage data is only the first step. Independent expertise such as that offered by Nutrilink, helps farmers interpret results and turn them into actionable strategies. This includes:

• Understanding soil nutrient levels and pasture quality

• Identifying imbalances affecting livestock health and growth

• Planning fertiliser or supplementary feed efficiently

• Developing long-term, sustainable management plans

Investing in knowledge today ensures healthier land, stronger livestock, and better returns tomorrow. In modern farming, understanding your soil and herbage isn't just smart - it's essential.

By combining regular testing with expert interpretation, farmers can make informed decisions that benefit soil health, pasture productivity, and animal performance, creating a foundation for long-term, sustainable farm success.