Te kapi pātītī me te feed wedge
Turn this week's farm walk into a feed wedge. Enter each paddock's cover to see your average pasture cover, whether feed is building or falling, how many days are in front of the herd and how much to graze each day.
Your feed position
Growing 45 and eating 44 kg DM/ha a day: cover is building by about 1 kg DM/ha a day.
- Average cover in 7 days2,155 kg DM/ha
- Average cover in 14 days2,163 kg DM/ha
- Days of feed above residualGrowth is covering demand
- Stocking rate on this area2.6 per ha
- Graze about2.32 ha a day
- That is a round of25 days
Since your last walk (7 days ago)
- Average cover then → now2,399 → 2,148
- Change−36 kg DM/ha a day
- Measured growth40 kg DM/ha/day
- Measured on10 ungrazed paddocks (42.3 ha)
You entered 45. Use the measured 40 kg DM/ha/day
4 paddocks are lower than last walk, so we count them as grazed and leave them out of the growth figure.
Feed wedge
Above target On target (±200) Below target Target line 2,650 → 1,550 (from a 25-day round) Last walk
The wedge is close to the target line (7.1 t DM over, 4.4 t under). Keep walking the farm each week and watch how it moves.
4 paddocks above, 7 on, 3 below the line.
| # | Paddock | ha | Cover | Last walk | Growth/day | Target | Wedge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shed 1 | 4.1 | 3,150 | 2,850 | +43 | 2,611 | +539 above |
| 2 | Road | 3.8 | 2,900 | 2,620 | +40 | 2,536 | +364 above |
| 3 | Creek | 4.5 | 2,750 | 2,440 | +44 | 2,458 | +292 above |
| 4 | Top flat | 5.0 | 2,600 | 2,310 | +41 | 2,368 | +232 above |
| 5 | Race | 3.6 | 2,450 | 2,150 | +43 | 2,286 | on target |
| 6 | Back | 4.2 | 2,300 | 2,030 | +39 | 2,213 | on target |
| 7 | Hill 1 | 4.8 | 2,150 | 1,900 | +36 | 2,127 | on target |
| 8 | Hill 2 | 4.4 | 2,000 | 1,760 | +34 | 2,040 | on target |
| 9 | Woolshed | 3.9 | 1,900 | 1,600 | +43 | 1,962 | on target |
| 10 | Bush | 4.0 | 1,800 | 1,520 | +40 | 1,887 | on target |
| 11 | Corner | 3.5 | 1,650 | 3,050 | grazed | 1,816 | on target |
| 12 | Long | 4.6 | 1,500 | 3,100 | grazed | 1,739 | -239 below |
| 13 | Pump | 3.7 | 1,400 | 3,200 | grazed | 1,661 | -261 below |
| 14 | Shed 2 | 4.0 | 1,350 | 3,250 | grazed | 1,588 | -238 below |
How we work it out
- Average pasture cover (APC): each paddock's cover × its hectares, added up, ÷ the total hectares.
- Demand: stock × what each eats, ÷ the grazing area, in kg DM per hectare per day. Growth minus demand says whether cover is building or falling.
- Days of feed ahead: the pasture above your residual ÷ (demand − growth). Shown only when the stock eat more than grows.
- Area a day: daily demand ÷ (pre-grazing target − residual). The farm ÷ that area is the round it gives you.
- Measured growth: on paddocks that are the same or higher than last walk (not grazed in between), the rise in cover ÷ the days between walks, weighted by hectares. Paddocks that went down count as grazed and are left out.
- Feed wedge: paddocks from highest to lowest cover, bar width by area, against a straight target line from the pre-grazing target down to the residual. Within ±200 kg DM/ha counts as on target.
A feed wedge is a planning picture, not a prescription: pasture quality, weather, supplements on hand, stock condition and your own goals all matter. For grazing plans that suit your farm, talk to your farm adviser, DairyNZ or Beef + Lamb New Zealand. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere - the link button just puts your numbers in the web address so you can save or share it, and the CSV is made on your own device for your spreadsheet or farm adviser. Need to add up stock units first? Try the stock units calculator; short of grass? The feed budget calculator works out supplement.
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