Plate Meter Advice

[balbirniefarm]

Hi all, I'm doing some research on plate meters as we're managing our grass differently and I want to know how much grass there is.
Which plate meter is used by people on this forum and would anyone buy a different one? They're pretty expensive so I'd like as much information as possible.

 

[scholland]

Think the actual plate meter perhaps isn't the most important but but the software that goes with it?
If you're going to be measuring lots of if like me you like me to be very easy and not involve paper then get a Bluetooth one with an app.
I'm hoping to use agrinet but haven't started yet.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Had a C-Dax pasture meter and it was brilliant really for a thousand acres of rolling to steep dairy where the cover wasn't even close to being even across a field.
Takes large numbers of samples eg 100 to 250 and gives a reading as you go, GPS paddock ID so you can't stuff things up, just whip around on the quad once a week and download via bluetooth when you get home.
Miles better than a plate meter - unless you have a flatter, more even farm, then I fully agree with @scholland they are much of a muchness but software is important.

 

[scholland]

Had a C-Dax pasture meter and it was brilliant really for a thousand acres of rolling to steep dairy where the cover wasn't even close to being even across a field.
Takes large numbers of samples eg 100 to 250 and gives a reading as you go, GPS paddock ID so you can't stuff things up, just whip around on the quad once a week and download via bluetooth when you get home.
Miles better than a plate meter - unless you have a flatter, more even farm, then I fully agree with @scholland they are much of a muchness but software is important.

The tow behind feeling plate meter so look good but they're a lot more money than a manual one.
The agrinet software can work with both.
With the app you can select paddock as you go around the place so pretty simple to use, I hope!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

The tow behind feeling plate meter so look good but they're a lot more money than a manual one.
The agrinet software can work with both.
With the app you can select paddock as you go around the place so pretty simple to use, I hope!

Yeah - a lot of bread aren't they...
I got mine 'preloved' on a trading site and it was about $3500
used it for two seasons and then sold it for $2400 plus 17 calves but it definitely stopped it being a chore.
I found it was really good for getting my eye-crometer calibrated and then I used it less and less as time went on, ended up only using it as ammunition when the farm consultant was coming
Ditto on the software, it came with Farmkeeper and it would download from my platemeter as well, just for checking residuals and growth rates

 

[MrA.G.]

Use a jenquip plate meter with agrinet, no real issues

 

[balbirniefarm]

Think the actual plate meter perhaps isn't the most important but but the software that goes with it?
If you're going to be measuring lots of if like me you like me to be very easy and not involve paper then get a Bluetooth one with an app.
I'm hoping to use agrinet but haven't started yet.

So is agrinet software the best out there?

 

[scholland]

So is agrinet software the best out there?

No idea, only stuff I've tried. It is easy enough to use.

 

[ploughman1963]

We use agrinet and find it really good - good backup advice on the phone as well. We have a manual plate meter that we have to write everything down then load info onto agrinet. This makes weekly grass measuring a big chore so we are using the small farm grant to get one that will load up to agrinet automatically.