Craig
- Kwazulu natal
Maize silage
Craig's story
Craig increased his silage yield by 33% and his corn yield by 42% by using 100% organic GuanoBoost all the while reducing his input cost 40% and simplifying his farming operations.
Craig manages a large commercial farm in Nottingham Road in KZN. Before he took over the operations, the field had been subjected to monocropping and large-volume application of synthetic fertilisers for 34 years.
The Yield was steadily declining over the years and the soil was showing signs of significant depletion.
They were using a wide variety of synthetic fertilisers. Since taking over the farm a few years ago, Craig had tried everything, but still, the yields kept falling.
- He was concerned that the soils were being depleted.
- In 2019 the yield had dropped to 45 tonnes of silage per hectare.
- They have to feed 1,000 head of cattle annually and they relied heavily on their grazing to subsidise the reduced silage, which was putting that under pressure and it is also not sustainable.
Craig is a visionary farmer and he was researching for an innovative solution to his challenge. He read about GuanoBoost and decided to do some research.
HE SOON REALISED THAT NOT ONLY DID GUANOBOOST HELP IMPROVE HIS YIELDS, BUT IT HAD MANY OTHER BENEFITS AS WELL:
- Because Guano is 100% organic, it preserves the soil, stops it becoming depleted and protects the water sources
- It simplified the farmer’s operations because it requires less mixing with other products
- It improves water retention in the soil because organic fertiliser binds to the soil
- Guano can be applied all year round on 2-week intervals. (Agricultural)
- Does not burn plant roots because it’s organic and ensures more upright stems and open leaves enhancing photosynthesis
- Contains lots of nutrients and minerals from the bird’s diet, with an unprecedented long list of microelements including boor and molopdeen.
All this leads to Healthier Crops and Higher Yields for the farmer. Last year, the season 2019 to 2020 he decided to go all-in on GuanoBoost, he was determined to avoid another poor crop yield, like in 2019. He had seen an ad on social media for GuanoBoost and decided to change his application strategy.
Previously, he was using 2.5 times the MAP, 200 kg of Urea and 100kg of K2so4 and a wide variety of foliar feeds. Now, his operation was simplified to 100kg of MAP and 4 applications of GuanoBoost. This was a significant reduction in input cost & it also made the farming operation simpler.
33% SILAGE INCREASE
His silage yield results increased from 45 tonnes from 60, an increase of 33% in silage production, for the same area
MAIZE IN 2019
He also grew maize, in 2019 the harvest was 3.5 tonnes of maize per hectare.
MAIZE IN 2020
This increased from 3.5 tonnes to 5 tonnes of maize for sale. An increase of 42%.
INPUT COSTS
His input costs reduced by 40%.
Despite being a vastly experienced and expert farmer, these kinds of results were a surprise to Craig, but the also BIG benefit was that there was life in the soil again. For the first time in a long time, he started to see earthworms and general soil health improvement.
He has now converted all his operations to GuanoBoost.