Customer story
Getting the data they did not have time to collect
Before Pasture.io, Al and the team were largely assessing pasture by eye. A manual measuring round took around six hours a week, and they had stopped doing it because they could not spare the time, even with four people on the farm.
“So all of a sudden we have data that we didn't have at all before.”
Friends who were already using Pasture.io spoke highly of it. Al liked that it was an affordable way to get useful pasture information without making a major change to the farming system.
Keeping grazing decisions moving
The feed wedge is now part of the daily routine. Al and his team check the paddocks coming up and use that information to help choose where to graze.
Al is away from the farm quite often. Because team members also use the app on their phones, they can check the choices and make changes when needed.
“They can sort of just step in and make sure we've picked the right paddocks or they'll make a change.”
That shared access has helped build their understanding of pasture feeding.
“It's enhanced everybody's understanding of pasture feeding, through everybody having access to the app.”
From daily grazings to silage and cropping
The team still rides around the farm each day as part of general farm work, keeping a mental note on how the grass is coming on. Al describes Pasture.io as a “solid backstop” that supports those observations and helps them make decisions.
That includes choosing paddocks to take out of the grazing rotation for silage, as well as deciding where pasture may need attention.
“it’s helping us identify paddocks for cropping because maybe the pasture's worn out or not performing as well.”
Once a year, they sit down to review the annual data.
Affordable technology that earns its place
Al has recommended Pasture.io to several other farmers. For him, its appeal is practical: useful information, an affordable cost and a small change to the way the farm operates.
“It's a very small change to make to your system. It's affordable technology.”
He looks closely at the cost of farm technology and the return it provides. In his experience, some options are expensive enough to make that decision much harder.
“Some of these other technologies, they're just so expensive.”
Pasture.io is something he feels he can keep in the farm budget, even if milk prices fall.
“It's like if something happens tomorrow, the milk price plunges, I know we can still afford Pasture.io.”
For Al, that combination of affordability and useful pasture data is what makes it worthwhile:
“But it's affordable technology that has a high return on investment. That's what it is.”