At about 3pm on Wednesday 5 February 2020, Matt and Christina Bradfield and their three children, then aged 12, 10 and seven, were evacuated by helicopter from their Mataura Island dairy farm.
Torrential rain had caused rivers across Southland to burst their banks. Roads were washed out and people were isolated. New Zealand’s MetService issued its first ever red weather warning and the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency.
Matt remembers listening to floodwater rushing past his lounge room as the rains flooded about 90% of their 91-hectare property and killed 12 hectares of grass.
Today, just a few years later, Matt’s farm is thriving, and he believes this turnaround is due to a decision he made eight years ago.
Matt and Christina acquired the farm in 2018 and found very high levels of urea and nitrogen in the soil – farmers before them had used up to 600kg/ha of urea. To make matters worse, grass grubs and other pests were eating pastures and damaging root systems.
In 2019, the Bradfields decided to change things from the ground up. They stopped applying synthetic fertiliser and started using biological fertiliser developed specifically for their farm by the team at BioActive Soils.
The result: milk solids increased by more than 30%, supplementary feed dropped to about 3kg per cow, vet bills were all but eliminated, and issues like grass grub and excessive docks in paddocks, became a thing of the past.
“It took the first year using the biological fertiliser to calm the paddocks down, build up the soil biomass and worm life again,” said Matt. “I put it on at regular intervals and soon noticed I could drop back how regularly I applied the BioFish N solid Ag Fert as the pasture growth held on for a lot longer than urea.”
“It wasn’t long before I saw results. The better quality pasture diet increased VAT protein levels and improved the health and contentment of the animals.”
The change didn’t just improve results, it repaired the soil for the long term, creating a healthier and more resilient farm. It helped the Bradfields recover quickly from the devastation caused by the floods in 2020.
“This season we’re projecting over 570kg solids per cow with 2kg grain feed per cow a day,” said Matt, “and I’m using 90% less nitrogen than the farm used when we first started.”
The key to this success, says Steve Ellison, Managing Director and owner of BioActive Soils, is customising solutions for each farm. “We customise recipes combining aquatic inputs (fish and seaweed) with biologicals within our solid Fert products. It’s environmental best practice and supports emissions reduction targets. It’s a real game changer for the dairy industry.”
Matt Bradfield says that BioActive Soils’ tailor-made fertiliser program has changed his farm. “I’m in a much better space net profit wise, and all this with much less nitrogen across my farm.”
“For anyone doubting biological fertilisers as a long term, viable alternative to the conventional urea system, all I can say is I’m living proof of what can be achieved. Never once did I go backward, only forward.”
Steve Ellison: Company Owner
