One of the five Farming Forecaster probes installed across Central West NSW.

NEW South Wales’ Central West Local Land Services has installed five new soil probe and weather stations as part of the Farming Forecaster Project to equip graziers with predictive forecasts on weather, soil moisture, and pasture production.

The sites are at Mendooran, Geurie, Parkes, Jemalong (Forbes) and Grenfell, and it is expected there will be more funding available for further NSW stations to be established.

The NSW sites will be incorporated into a wider network of soil probe and weather stations across Australia.

Central West Local Land Services mixed farming advisor Rohan Leach said the Farming Forecaster program operates by collecting data from the soil moisture probes and weather stations.

“The data is transformed into user-friendly weather and soil moisture data, which is readily available online.

“Farming Forecaster will also provide estimates of future pasture growth over the next 3-4 months, compared with historic seasons and climate forecasts,” he said.

LLS said the website’s output will be a valuable resource for landholders in the Central West, helping them make informed decisions about grazing management and understand the role of stored soil moisture in future pasture growth.

Host of the project’s Grenfell site, Paul Tognetti, has already found the probe and weather station extremely useful.

“I’ve just started having a look at the data online and am really pleased with the info it is showing me.

“The weather information is great with things like wind speed and direction great for spraying and the easy-to-read daily rainfall chart great for my record keeping,” he said.

“We are using probes and moisture metres in our cropping country, so it is great to see the differences between soil moisture across these enterprises.

“Now we just need a bit more rain in the gauge to start to see the pasture growth predictions respond.”

Rohan Leach said those further north who have seen good rainfall in March and April are able to use the pasture forecast component to predict how their pastures are responding.

“This tool uses validated modelling, ingesting site-specific data and sources from CSIRO and BOM, to provide producers with forecast growth rate (kgDM/ha/ day) and production data (tDM/ha).

“The forecast provides information around current pasture position and the likely range in pasture availability over the next 3-4 months,” he said.

“This type of information will be invaluable for pasture management and livestock planning in the Central West region, as well as managing risks associated with predicted declines in feed availability, such as conserving fodder, purchasing fodder and/ or destocking.”

To learn more about the Farming Forecaster Project or to enquire about hosting a future site, please contact Rohan Leach on 0417 021 795 or via [email protected]