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The Agriworks Platemeter Range

Grant Available on EC20 – Up to 40% (60% for young farmers!)

The Agriworks Plate meter range is a new range of Plate meters launched by Jencuip NZ. The Agriworks Plate-meter has a T-handle where as the Jencuip plate meter has a round knob . The new T- handle is designed to improve user comfort and to improve accuracy on slopes. The plate meter will deliver a series of accurate measurements of grass height that accounts for any variation in pasture density. There are four different types of Agriworks plate meters available. Under current specification for precision grass measuring equipment only plate meters that use an app on a smart device can qualify. The Agriworks EC20 is the only plate meter which uses the app. The EC20 is the only plate meter that qualifies for Precision Grass Measuring funding under TAMS.

Service and know how is essential when buying a technology. We are available to help you in any way we can. At Farm Galore, we many years experience using the plate meter as a grass measuring tool. The plate meter is an accurate and extremely fast way of grass measuring. It also allows any member of the farm team to complete a farm walk and train in their eye.

The objective of grass measuring is to maintain grass quality all year round by recording the grass available and grass growth rates. Quantifying grass available and measuring growth rates will help determine your ideal rotation for your farm at different stages of the grazing season. We will also be available to service the plate-meter if needs be.

EC09
EC10
EC20
EC20

How the Plate meter works?

A rising Plate meter consists of a weighted plate that slides up and down the shaft. As the meter is placed over the pasture sward, the sward is compressed until the sward supports the plate’s weight. The shaft passes through the plate and through the sward down to the ground surface. It is the distance from the point where the shaft contacts the ground surface and where the plate (plates height) comes to rest that forms the relationship with dry matter per hectare. The taller and denser the pasture, the higher off the ground the plate will come to rest.

All plate-meters have two counters. One counter counts the number of times the plate-meter is dropped and the other counter records the depth of the grass. The total depth of the grass is divided by the amount of drops resulting in the average compressed height. Using the formula the compressed height is then converted into Kg/DM/ha. The grass depth counter records every 0.5cm which the plate is dropped.

The combination of number of plate falls and the metered sum of notch activations allows an average number of ‘notch notifications’ per plate fall to be calculated for the area being measured. By means of a simple multiply sum that has been validated through research the number of clicks can be used to calculate kgDM/ha values.

To account for changes in dry matter, different equations will be used throughout the year. An assessment of dry matter is all that is needed in order to choose the correct equation. Up to date dry matter % can be found on the pasture base website each day. Research has shown that real world accuracy using a rising plate meter is within plus or minus 5% for 95% of the time.

Use the correct equation all the time from our instruction manual or alternatively you can make your own equation.In the instruction manual there are clear guidelines on which formula to use and how to select this on the plate meter. We will be on the phone always available to help with anything we can.