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Farm Nutrient Advisory Ltd., Napier (2026)

03/04/2026

This week I had the pleasure to present a webinar for a farmer discussion group whose objective is to improve animal health 🐑🐮🦌🐐

With animal health largely driven by nutrition & nutrition being such a large, complex topic, we started with just the basics of trace element requirements.

Both farms in NZ & Australia tend to forget the fundamental roles (or rather don't get the correct advice) trace elements play in animal production with appropriate supplementation an area of huge opportunity for farm efficiency, sustainability & profitability 🫰

It's also an area that deserves full attention regardless of fertiliser policy - regular liming inputs will increase trace element availability but regardless if farming with conventional, organic or 'regenerative' inputs, no pasture management philosophy can remove the need for direct stock supplementation if animal health & welfare are important (which they should be in every case) 🤠

I've included just a few of the slides we discussed, for summary purposes:

🧪 the “pathological” ranges provided by the lab/vets are NOT nutritional ranges.

🧬 There is a clear economic difference between ‘adequate’ whereby clinical (visual) disease is unlikely & optimum, where actual growth is maximised & genetic potential can be expressed.

💉Selenium & zinc in the form of multimineral injections is not long-lasting. The liver may offer approximately 10 days buffer of circulating minerals but if you are relying on one injection for adequate supplementation there remains deficiency beyond that. Selovin LA or Smartshot Plus are long-acting forms.

❗️Iodine is not just required for sheep & blood inorganic iodine values are highly relevant given once incorporated into the thyroid the iodine in hormones cannot cross the placenta or in milk in levels sufficient for the growing foetus or suckling lamb/calf/fawn.

‼️You don’t not have to have goitre present or an enlarged thyroid to have an iodine deficiency.

21/03/2026

Happy Saturday FaceBook Followers, I need some participation votes please for a bit of market research to assess options for business expansion.

I’m a big believer of independence & have a strong aversion to advice/consultancy driven by the incentive to sell which pretty much makes up the whole New Zealand & Australian agricultural industry, costing farmers tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands, each year in unnecessary inputs, reduced animal health, veterinary expenses, crop performance, profitability 💲💲💲

This doesn’t even touch on the negative implications on the environment, soil health, human health, all of which are given no consideration when 'the sale is what matters'.

I already provide fully independent advice for fertiliser & animal nutrition with absolutely no product or company bias & no commission or backhanders in any shape or form - I charge farmers direct an hourly rate plus travel (some companies acknowledge this whereby they then actually discount the 'commission' off the client's invoice!). Despite the apparent higher upfront costs in consultancy, the outcomes & farm profitability are significantly higher as a direct result of higher farm efficiency, inputs solely based on what is needed & a whole farm system's approach where soil, plant & animal health are all interconnected 🧑‍🌾🐑🌾🌱

Without that interconnection, the system is broken. Silo mindsets do not work for anyone other than the suppliers.

I am however often asked about cropping & spraying regimes which I’ve always avoided advising on due to insufficient knowledge to do such topics full justice & I'm a firm believer in 'staying in your own lane' rather than advising outside your qualifications (a concept many are unfamiliar with 🙄).

On that note, I've been toying with the idea of expanding business services by bringing in a specialist to advise on plant agronomy i.e. specifically seed & spray. This would follow the exact same business model I currently run whereby a recommendation provided would be based on seed/sprays that are best suited & actually needed, maximising efficiency & sustainability.

We do not supply any products so purchases would continue to go through the usual suppliers but removes the risk of getting a sales rep to provide a ‘recommendation’ when there’s clear incentive to sell a particular company’s seed, encourage application of more sprays etc. As with fertiliser & ‘nutrition’ reps alike, the ‘free’ advice always costs more in the long run as their objective is not the same as farmer objective.

I’m keen to gauge the wider current mindset & potential support of independent seed & spray advice to determine if there’s enough demand to warrant expansion or at least further consideration. I’d be grateful if you could participate by voting a 👍 for yes or 😆 for no (but if you’re a sales rep & vote no then I’ll be a bit suspicious 🤫).

15/03/2026

With April nearly upon us (eek!) I'm going to be confirming dates for my autumn travels to the upper North Island & all regions in the South Island for anyone interested (dates to be confirmed depending on the majority's availability). At this stage it's looking likely to have at least one winter trip South also.

This round of farm visits will largely be dairy based to ensure dry-off plans implemented prior are going smoothly with cow condition well up there, along with draft fertiliser & feed plans for the season ahead. A few deer, sheep & beef visits thrown in too for a nice bit of variety 🐄🦌🐑

Those who are not current clients but interested to learn more, I offer a free, remote no obligation consult to discuss what I offer & relative to your farm's requirements.

Where time permits, I'm always happy to meet with other likeminded RPs as I'm a firm believer collaboration is going to get everyone & most importantly the farmers a lot further successfully than egos & competition ☕

14/03/2026

Part III of III & the completion of the mineral chronicles (I think🤐).

As touched on in part II, when I discuss with a client using liver biopsies & bloods for assessing trace element status, I bet my bottom dollar when first requesting for zinc, that their vet asks “why” as for some reason it’s all too common for zinc to be disregarded as an essential element despite its contribution to animal health.

Well, here’s some of why…Zn plays key roles in nutrient metabolism, both the innate (first line defence) & adaptive immunity, skin & mucous membrane integrity, intestinal permeability/absorption, growth & musculoskeletal development, reproduction including oogenesis, oocyte maturation, fertilisation & spermatogenesis as well as being a major driver in the number of wool follicles & fibre strength 🐑

There are no long-term body stores of zinc therefore the diet must provide daily adequate intake. Neither serum nor liver zinc are perfect measures but both do provide insights to dietary intake with low levels indicative of deficiency. As with selenium, the liver provides a more ‘stable’ value of intake from the last 7-10 days but bloods can be useful if livers are unable to be done for some time.

Zinc deficiency leads to decreased feed intake, reduced growth as result of both lower DMI & lower feed conversion efficiency due to increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut syndrome, see an early post), impaired immune function, poor hoof integrity increasing susceptibility to foot rot, poor skin health/hair loss/scaly skin, drooling, lameness, decreased fertility & decreased wool follicles.

FUN FACT 🙌 Due to its role in mucous membrane/epithelial integrity, Zn deficiency is implicated in woody tongue development.

Multimineral injections include zinc (as well copper, selenium & manganese) however this would not fix a deficiency given it's been & gone in less than two weeks. The Cu from such injections is the only ‘long’ lasting element yet still only covers for a couple of months.

Ranges provided for Zn from labs/vets in NZ are not true or correct but based on averages with no applicability to nutrition. The upper range references the ‘danger zone’ ✈️ for stock on facial eczema treatment while the lower range is simply because it’s common i.e. the average – news flash 🚨, the lower range is deficient!

Such ranges illustrate the importance in knowing your subject & understanding how to interpret the data. Agricultural labs (soil/herbage) & pathology labs typically don't provide reference ranges that are meaningful or relative to nutritional assessment. Pathology labs provide just that, pathological ranges (to put it crudely, the animal isn't dead or it is indeed nearly dead ☠️) whereas my objective is to ensure we are farming animals optimally, efficiently & profitably & well from the borders of under performance.

Nutrition is complex & needs to be evaluated as such by a suitable qualified advisor specifically trained in nutrition 🤯

14/03/2026

Part II of III - The Chronicles of Minerals!

Following on from the part I, there is real need for increasing farmer & RP awareness of the true requirements for minerals & effective, efficient supplementation. It is well-known that animals with mineral deficiencies have higher energy requirements, lower immunity, fertility, growth rates, lower phenotypic expression. All unnecessarily resulting in lower farm efficiency & profitability.

When assessing trace element status, I request we look at copper, iodine, selenium, zinc & B12 with a combination of bloods & livers for which we need to collaborate with the vet. While the range the vet considers ‘optimal’ & what I consider nutritionally optimal are two very different things as per Part I, there’s no qualms in getting Cu, Se & B12 tested but iodine & zinc on the other hand always get ‘push back’ & questioned; a prime example of the limited nutritional knowledge in the industry.

Iodine is commonly incorrectly associated with only goitre with most (vets) under the impression there is no issue unless an abnormal thyroid is present. Similarly, there is an incorrect belief that only sheep need iodine & testing the blood is not a useful diagnostic tool because it only represents dietary intake over the last few days.

Well, here’s the thing….if your stock eats pasture all year round, then that ‘few days’ worth of intake is highly applicable to the farm system & expected dietary availability of a given nutrient in this instance, wouldn’t be expected to change significantly seasonally seeing as we have bu**er all iodine in our pastures.

The other reason to assess iodine in the blood is the fact once it’s in the thyroid & incorporated into hormones, it can no longer cross the placenta (& minimally in milk) for embryonic or foetal development hence requirement for actual circulating iodine. Iodine deficient pregnant ewes cause a permanent abnormal follicle development in the foetus thereby severely limiting the wool growth & quality of future generation wool (probably not a selling point for some but in fine wool breeds quite valuable!).

The thyroid & therefore iodine essentially controls every part of us; appetite, metabolism, growth, thermoregulation, neuromuscular function, immunity, reproduction, foetal development, lactation, cortisol (stress). There has been plenty of evidence globally that iodine blood levels are effective at diagnosing deficiency which similarly to any other, by the time you physically see clinical symptoms such as an enlarged thyroid, production losses have already been significant both in terms of reproduction, mortality & growth rate.

Oral drenches have no lasting effect at all on circulatory iodine levels so can be fine for pre-mating to increase conception rate but will have no prolonged effect to help with foetal development during pregnancy or lactation. Daily supplementation or long-acting injections are must haves.

14/03/2026

Part I of III - The frustrations of industry mineral knowledge

Each & every day I talk about the importance of minerals (like a broken record!), including that of trace elements for optimal animal health & production. The general understanding of mineral importance amongst farmers & rural professionals in New Zealand & Australia unfortunately is poor, consequently a lot of bad advice is given, driven by ignorance, lack of truly qualified nutritional professionals plus pressure to sell a product whether needed or not.

One of the biggest misconceptions is the ranges provided by vets & pathology labs are the nutritionally optimal ranges – this is NOT the case, they are 'pathological' ranges. When your stock are sitting below the mid-point, especially pre winter or consistently in the lower quartile, there is opportunity cost to productivity (efficiency of output). Once just a few stock are in the ‘clinically’ deficient range, farm profitability has already taken a big hit.

As with anything pastoral, true health starts in the soil however, a ‘perfect’ soil still cannot provide the animal (or human) with everything they require without further inputs so even if you’re farming following the ancient-defined Asian & European principles of good farming practice (more recently labelled ‘regenerative farming’), mineral inputs & supplementation remain a vital component of any system for maximum efficiency, profitability & the less spoken about One Health (think further afield from just the animal farmed & environmental consequences of inputs but actual human health & epidemiology…)

Copper & selenium are ‘commonly known’ in farming to be of importance but despite ‘awareness’ for these minerals, correct testing, interpretation & inputs remains low.

Copper availability is adversely affected by soil acidity/low calcium; low pH/calcium directly increases iron & manganese uptake to levels which antagonise Cu - this occurs on nearly all NZ soils‼️ Digestion efficiency of Cu is very low & prone to high antagonism by iron, manganese, sulphur, molybdenum & zinc. Most think Mo is the biggest contributor to low Cu in stock when in fact sulphur has a higher impact & independent of Mo as does feeding brassicas with their very low Cu concentration. Only 2-6% of total dietary copper is absorbed/utilised with stock supplementation likely to still be required regardless of pasture levels. Brassica Cu efficiency would be well below the average utilisation.

The liver is the storage organ for copper, responsible for maintaining blood levels within a tight range. Blood tests should NOT be used for monitoring purposes as Cu will only be low once the liver is depleted; production losses have occurred long before this point with only one or two low stock meaning your profitability has taken a big hit. Liver is the means to determine if baseline levels & supplementation is where it needs to be.

Cu injections very quickly boost the liver however the increase only lasts 6-8 weeks if not followed up with a longer acting input such as boluses or water inputs. One injection a year doesn't come close to sufficient supplementation.

For selenium, due to no specific storage organ, blood or liver tests are suitable although liver gives a bit of an average over a longer period approx. 10 days compared to bloods reflecting dietary input over the last few (still relevant). There are multiple different methods to assess Se in the blood either directly or indirectly with the differences between each needing to be fully understood for correct interpretation or relevance to the objective applied.

Se in oral drenches or multimineral injections do not last beyond a few days so a daily source of input or slow release form is required.

Carry on over to Part II & III discussing the underrated importance of iodine & zinc for all farm systems.

23/02/2026

Day one of my first South Island trip of the year & what I’d consider the most beautiful part of New Zealand, the Rakaia Gorge. The photos don’t do the backdrop or water colour justice.

This area with its recent soils' is generally high fertility so needs little input in the way of nitrogen or phosphorus (if any) despite high productivity. In saying that, it's very common for fertiliser reps to do the usual 'poor it on' which not only jeopardises the pristine river but animal health & farm profitability. Stock will have a far higher feed conversion efficiency, growth rate, immunity, reproduction (the list goes on) when they're not eating what's essentially toxic feed in the form of excess protein, phosphorus & potassium.

When I travel, I typically have back-to-back meetings to minimise client travel costs so it's not often I have a spare hour to take in the views but yesterday, I had just that & took full advantage by walking one of the tracks along the river. With its breathtaking views, the bird life was thriving, the fantails especially. A little black youngster befriended me for part of the walk, you've got to admire their curious & friendly nature.

I didn't have the time to do the full four-hour loop but for anyone who's passing by & does, I highly recommend it!

18/02/2026

Another busy couple of weeks juggling farm & office work. All local Hawke’s Bay farms recently but heading to the Mid & North Canterbury high country next week to finish the month off.

I love my work, I’m incredibly lucky to do what I do & go where I go & on top of that, when you share a seat with happy dogs you just can’t help but smile 🐶

11/02/2026

A bit of a belated post of my travels last month on the West side of the island. Always enjoyable seeing such different soil profiles with their pumice dominance.

There’s no local lime source in this area so typically no one limes & the strong copperative presence (not specific to this region) does no favours for farmers when it comes to the need for liming with the common sales pitch ‘it’s too expensive’, put more P on’.

Needless to say, this farm & those alike have huge potential for productivity gains by addressing the severe calcium deficiency, both primary & secondary (quantitative & availability). The economic benefit of liming, regardless of no local source is a no brainer with a ‘gauranteed’ impact on soil, plant & animal health.

With calcium the backbone of any farm system, no question, your farm profitability will improve as a direct result. Your stock, with a calcium requirement over double that of phosphorus, will perform significantly better than simply receiving continuous & unnecessary phosphorus inputs.

Misinformation about our ‘optimum pH’ of 5.8-6.2 does us no favours given the fact pH is highly variable with soil moisture, temperature, cation balance, laboratory margin of error (which alone has a +/- 0.2 units!!). pH should NOT be what we interpret, calcium quantity AND base saturation is essential. I effectively pay no attention to pH.

Even for those with a pH in the low to mid 6’s, further calcium & liming is highly beneficial. Even in scenarios with a pH in high 6’s, often this pH is elevated by high potassium, magnesium &/sodium but sub-optimal calcium where further calcium is required but in a non-liming form.

Sadly, no fertiliser rep or company benefits from telling farmers the truth about the significance & true requirement of liming on our acidic soils.

; ;

09/02/2026

Intestinal hyperpermeability aka ‘Leaky Gut’ occurs when the gastrointestinal barrier has been compromised, consequently leaking digestive contents through the epithelium & into the bloodstream. With 70-80% of all immunologic cells within the gut, intestinal integrity is the foundation of health for all animals whether monogastric, hindgut fermenters or ruminants.

There are numerous causes of leaky gut:

❗Dietary changes,
❗Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA),
❗Dysbiosis (microbial imbalance),
❗Heat stress,
❗Physical stress,
❗Environmental stress,
❗Pathogenic infection.

All of the above leads to circulating lipopolysaccharides (endotoxin) that in ‘normal’ circumstances would remain within the intestinal lumen. When LPS crosses the intestinal barrier & enters circulation it becomes a potent immune system activator, triggering an energy-expensive systemic inflammatory response reducing feed intake, feed conversion, production, reproduction & increasing incidence of liver dysfunction, infection & lameness.

Specific causes of leaky gut in pasture-based systems:

🍀DIETARY CHANGES are frequent with variations in seasonal growth, use of monocrops or ‘rocket fuel’ crops with little consideration to the requirement of the rumen for fibre & it’s limited capacity to metabolise protein.

We don’t provide enough effective fibre (long stranded, essentially the lignified/indigestible portion) directly reducing cud chewing & saliva production. The consequential increased rate of passage further increases intestinal epithelium damage.

🤢SARA often incorrectly assumed to only be an issue with high grain/starch diets but just as much of a concern in low fibre & excessive degradable protein diets. In these instances, it’s not the ammonia that causes acidosis but the increase in rumen bacterial growth beyond the rumen capacity. This causes excessive VFA production in effect mimicking the same mechanism as would be expected with high grain diets. Soluble protein digestion indirectly increases rate of glycolysis through increased lactate but the increased lactate itself can further increase the glycolytic flux, a vicious cycle.

Lack of effective fibre, & high rates of degradable protein are both independent causes of acidosis but when combined, an even higher risk for acidosis & inevitable reduced performance. Stock grazing lush pastures or crops, high in phosphorus, potassium, low dry matter, low effective fibre will all be to some degree in a state of acidosis with rumen & gastrointestinal dysfunction reducing feed conversion efficiency, preventing full potential being achieved.

🦠DYSBIOSIS, goes without saying when we have the issues above.

❌STRESS another underrated cause for reduced production so minimise wherever possible. Shade, shelter, good water access, handling, space, herd dynamics etc. are just the basics but I’d add fibre to this list – if a ruminant can’t ruminate, animal welfare is brought into question.

Image sourced from Kermin.com

27/01/2026

Yesterday driving home I took photos of a couple of maize paddocks along the roadside I provided recommendations for which defies the industry standard fertiliser regime of 150-250Kg N/Ha, 30-60Kg P, 200-300Kg K. For these paddocks in particular (the photos don’t do justice from where I was standing on the outskirts), NO nitrogen or phosphorus was applied at planting.

Total inputs included aglime, 40Kg potassium plus sulphur & magnesium worked into the soil pre-drilling, followed up with 35Kg nitrogen & 75Kg additional K as a side dress.

To recap, this is a total of 35Kg N & 115Kg K, no P yet a big, healthy-looking crop.

Volcanic soils depending on origin are often very high in phosphorus & potassium but low in magnesium. This part of the farm is very high in P, low-end K with low Mg. The key with many volcanic soils is identifying low magnesium availability; without addressing the root of the problem (the low capacity for photosynthesis), fertiliser efficiency would be significantly less with significantly more N & K required to ‘cover up’ the bigger issue & profits reduced.

Magnesium (as with calcium) is generally incorrectly judged solely on its quantity with no interpretation or understanding to its availability – these are two different measures, when only one is focused on, crop/pasture/animal performance will continue to be limited.

The other misconception is maize needs copious amounts of potassium however this is incorrect. Maize will take up as much potassium as you throw at it however it has been very well proven over & over that increasing potassium above that of its growth requirement does NOT increase yield. It does however reduce crop profitability as well as animal health, assuming the end outcome is for feed.

In instances where the soil potassium reserves are not high, crop K input should only be that to ensure it is not a limiting factor & distributed to match growth (less than 5% of K requirement is taken up within the first month of planting). If soil K needs replenishing to maintain levels for future performance, post-harvest application is recommended to avoid luxury (unnecessary) uptake.

For pastoral systems, there is absolutely no benefit to maintain soil potassium above that of the plant minimum as this is already over double the requirement to meet animal dietary needs with excess K detrimentally impacting calcium, magnesium & sodium balance along with causing digestive irritability/scouring & leaky gut (the latter will be the topic of my posts in coming days).

; ; ; ;

24/01/2026

The point where I question my choices to head to the other side of the island to work on a Sunday. The Gentle Annie not looking to be very gentle 😂⛈️

Farm Nutrient Advisory Ltd.

03/04/2026

21/03/2026

15/03/2026

14/03/2026

14/03/2026

14/03/2026

23/02/2026

18/02/2026

11/02/2026

09/02/2026

27/01/2026

24/01/2026

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