Practice Abstract - Research and innovation
How to measure grass?
How to measure grass?
Quanitifying grass can be difficult and cannot be done just by eye. However the use of the sward stick and platemeter tools can help. With a sward stick and board:- a ruler and compression board measure grass heights, the ruler contains a conversion table from cm to kg/dry matter per hectare; With a platemeter:- A manual or electronic device is used to calculate the density of the sward and converts it to a kg/dry matter per hectare measurement. Walk the field in a W-shape taking your board and sward stick or Platemeter. Simply implement by putting the board on the sward to compress the grass, put the sward stick against and take the reading. The more times you measure in the field the better the average. The sward stick has 5 different calibrations. Spring, late spring, summer, autumn, winter take the reading at the time of year measured. Optimum grazing zone is 8cm and 4cm for sheep with lambs at foot. The platemeters do the measurements for you, most electronic platemeters require 30 plonks (measurements) per field to give you the average. Depending on the model, some save the result automatically and others you have to manually record.
Sward stick and platemeters measure grass supply in kg of dry matter and from that value we can find out how much of grass can meet the demand of stock. Being able to quantify grass in kg dry matter allows the correct stocking rate to be set and accurate feed budgeting to occur. Measuring grass also helps improve grassland management practices.
Quanitifying grass can be difficult and cannot be done just by eye. However the use of the sward stick and platemeter tools can help. With a sward stick and board:- a ruler and compression board measure grass heights, the ruler contains a conversion table from cm to kg/dry matter per hectare; With a platemeter:- A manual or electronic device is used to calculate the density of the sward and converts it to a kg/dry matter per hectare measurement. Walk the field in a W-shape taking your board and sward stick or Platemeter. Simply implement by putting the board on the sward to compress the grass, put the sward stick against and take the reading. The more times you measure in the field the better the average. The sward stick has 5 different calibrations. Spring, late spring, summer, autumn, winter take the reading at the time of year measured. Optimum grazing zone is 8cm and 4cm for sheep with lambs at foot. The platemeters do the measurements for you, most electronic platemeters require 30 plonks (measurements) per field to give you the average. Depending on the model, some save the result automatically and others you have to manually record.
Sward stick and platemeters measure grass supply in kg of dry matter and from that value we can find out how much of grass can meet the demand of stock. Being able to quantify grass in kg dry matter allows the correct stocking rate to be set and accurate feed budgeting to occur. Measuring grass also helps improve grassland management practices.
Source Project
Ongoing | 2020-2023
EuroSheep: European Thematic Network for interactive and innovative knowledge exchange on animal health and nutrition between the Sheep industry actors and stakeholders
Ongoing | 2020-2023
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- France