Calibration of a Rising Plate Meter: Measuring the Amount of Available Feed in your Pasture

Grazing pasture is a great way to save on feed costs and utilize marginal land. To maximize the profitability of a pasture, a producer can use different tools to aid in management decisions. One tool, the rising plate meter, gives the producer an estimate of the dry matter cover in a paddock while also being more user friendly compared to the falling plate meter. Knowing the dry matter cover of a paddock can help to determine when to move livestock, as the user can figure out how many days the livestock should stay in the paddock based on amount of available feed and how much the animals eat. This can lead to longer grazing seasons, resulting in a greater profit from pasture for producers. Also, knowing the amount of available pasture can help to determine proper stocking rates and improve pasture utilization, as the producer can measure before and after the livestock have grazed. This results in knowing the amount of cover the livestock have consumed while in a paddock, which gives the percent of pasture usage, or pasture utilization. Knowing these factors aids in maximizing the profitability of the land, making it ideal for beef, sheep, and organic dairy producers grazing on pasture to use.