Agricultural Plant and Crop

Agricultural Plant and Crop

Plant materials can be tested for mineral nutrients or feed quality. Plant nutrient levels are valuable to identify nutrient deficiency or toxicity and to monitor the fertiliser programme.

Why Test Plants?

Soil and herbage analyses help pastoral farmers and their advisers choose the best fertiliser programme. They also highlight mineral imbalances that might be affecting the health of pasture or animals that feed on it. Herbage tests of pasture complement soil tests and allow important trace nutrients like cobalt, selenium, copper and iodine to be adjusted for improved animal health. Using both herbage and soil testing will provide a better overall picture of the farm nutrient status for an improved fertiliser programme.

What tests to order?

  • For pasture, the Mixed Pasture Profile analysis is commonly selected and this contains a Basic Plant Profile with added cobalt, molybdenium and selenium tests.
  • For those wanting a more comprehensive view of their pasture, especially when metabolic disorders are an issue Hill Labs offers an Extended Feed Profile. This suite contains the Mixed Pasture Profile combined with the Feed Profile.
  • Clover-only testing is another useful way of understanding potential soil mineral issues. This is because clover develops mineral deficiencies before pastural grasses and is therefore an early indicator of potentially looming soil mineral issues.
  • The Animal Dietary Mineral Balance (ADMB) Report is a value-added report that can be requested on all Mixed Pasture Profile tests. This report shows the animal requirements and dietary intake per nutrient for a specific livestock class. To get this report as part of your testing all you need to do is ask for the ADMB Report and supply details of the animals being fed.

Helpful links

Our team of testing experts has meticulously crafted these documents to offer recommendations tailored to your testing requirements.

Latest Stories

Fieldays 40th Birthday Competiton - Terms and Conditions

To celebrate our 40 year success story, we're giving away a free test* to 40 lucky winners who enter on our stand at Fieldays, 12-15 June 2024, Mystery Creek, Hamilton. Come and see us at site PE24 in The Pavilion to enter!
  11 Jun 2024

40 Years of Environmental Excellence

Over the past four decades, Hill Labs has been at the forefront of environmental testing in New Zealand. We initially provided basic water tests for farmers, but in 1986, following an enquiry about water analysis for mining projects, the Environmental division was established. The landscape of environmental testing shifted significantly with the enactment of the Resource Management Act in 1991, which precipitated a surge in demand for Hill Labs’ services.
  28 May 2024

The First 40 Years

When Roger and Anne Hill started Hill Laboratories, they had no idea what was ahead of them. Roger had been working as the manager of a small, private soil testing lab in Cambridge, but when it was clear the promised significant shareholding was not going to happen, it was very unsettling. Anne finally said to him “You know what you are going to have to do. You need to leave and start your own laboratory, otherwise you will just grow into a grumpy old man, wondering what might have been.”
  28 May 2024

What our customers have to say

"We've always found them to be responsive in getting results back and giving advice on problems we might be facing."

Andrew Hutchinson, Technical Manager, Turners & Growers

"We strongly recommend Hill Labs as a sound testing service provider to the honey industry."

Nick Walker, Technical Manager, Egmont Honey

"Their sample registration system has made things simple and seamless - collect, scan and send!"

Mathew Bannister, Compliance Manager, First Fresh New Zealand

Accreditations

As a New Zealand accredited laboratory by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ), Hill Labs' commitment to quality is tantamount to our overall operating philosophy. We pride ourselves on the quality of our work.