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By the 1960’s, with the increasing use of water-soluble, acidic fertilisers in New Zealand, Hatuma saw a potential problem being created that would threaten the sustainability of farming within the country.
Hatuma’s General Manager, Joe Topp, was concerned with the tremendous waste of phosphate, the environmental consequences, the increasing stock health issues and the depletion of the humus supply underneath the pasture. Therefore, he set out to counteract the negative effects. In 1963, after learning about how the Tennessee Valley Authority had mixed calcium oxide with mature superphosphate and water to overcome the problems with erosion from the dust bowls, he began to use the same principle on the North Island’s farmland.
Instead of using calcium oxide though, Joe used calcium carbonate (limestone) straight out of their quarry, with mature superphosphate.
Almost instantly, local farmers in central Hawke’s Bay started praising the results they were getting from this new fertiliser, and soon word spread around the rest of the Bay, down the Wairarapa, across to Manawatu, and before Hatuma knew it, there were farmers all around the lower half of the North Island farming with brilliant results that they originally believed were unattainable. Even farmers, who thought they had the right combination of applying lime and superphosphate separately, were astounded to discover that Hatuma’s dicalcic phosphate was giving them even better results than they had already been getting.
So what made this fertiliser so different from the other fertilisers?
The key to it is the balance it has. Hatuma mixes the acidic superphosphate with the alkaline limestone. It is then packed down with heavy machinery and left to mature. During this time the acid in this superphosphate (pH 1.5) reacts with the limestone (pH 8.5), and turning the original friable mix into a hill as hard and dry as concrete. After the maturing period the new compounded product, dicalcic phosphate, is then broken up with heavy machinery, crushed and screened into a spreadable size. It now has a balanced pH of 6.5 – 7.0, is non water-soluble, non-wasteful and non-polluting, fully plant available, and most importantly, soil and humus friendly.
When farmers apply acidic phosphate in a water-soluble form, like superphosphate, the acid-hating organisms within the top surface of the soil (10-12mm), including the obvious earthworms, cannot thrive in such an acidic environment. The process of breaking down the litter layer of dead grass and manure slows, causing the soils recycling process to shut down, seriously affecting the pasture quality and stock health.
Water-soluble fertilisers also interfere with the symbiotic relationship between the soil microbes and the plant, because the plant doesn’t have to rely on this mutual arrangement for the supply of its nutriment. The plant instead becomes lazy, and relies on the farmer to feed it from out of the back of a spreader. The soil microbes effectively throw their hands up and say to the farmer, “Well Mr. if you think you can do better…
Thankfully, Hatuma’s dicalcic phosphate works differently. Due to their dicalcic having a balanced pH of 6.5-7.0 (a neutral pH is 7), the soil organisms can thrive in this environment without the risk of it becoming too acidic. Also, because the dicalcic is non-water-soluble, the plant can use all the phosphate, which is citric soluble, as it naturally needs |
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it. This means farmers do not get the highs and lows of pasture growth associated with the ‘flush phenomenon’ – a symptom caused when water-soluble fertilisers are used. Instead, what they get is a constant growth of quality pasture through the year that the stock can fully utilise. There is also very little risk of run-off into the streams and waterways.
Hatuma dicalcic phosphate is not associated with traditional Olsen P levels. Dicalcic works completely different to superphosphate; it is certainly not a case of comparing apples with apples. Dicalcic was never intended to grow a sudden surge of grass. Instead, the phosphate present in the dicalcic is there to gradually feed the plant, help “oil the engine”, and allow the soil life to create its own phosphate supply through the natural organic cycle. This phosphate, available through the manufacture of humus, feeds the plant with all the phosphate it needs through mineralisation – true phosphate efficiency. But the advantages do not stop there. If you ever talk to one of the thousands of farmers using Hatuma dicalcic you can be sure they will talk about a multitude of benefits, such as: an increase in stock health, the palatability of the pasture, the return of clover in areas they had given up on, the weights of their stock increasing, less dries, meeting deadlines, disappearance of bloat, and an obvious improvement in the soil life and humus production. All benefits which lead to a better bottom line.
The manufacture of Hatuma dicalcic phosphate has not changed since Joe Topp started producing it. It is still made to the same precise method. Contrary to popular belief Hatuma dicalcic phosphate is not just a basic dry mix of super phosphate and limestone. If it were that simple, Hatuma would have been doing that the whole time! Hatuma takes the next step beyond that and turns the two products into a proper form where they finally become suitably compatible with each other. It is no wonder that those farmers who were experimenting 40 years ago with separate lime and super phosphate mixes were happy once Hatuma Lime Company started manufacturing the perfect product that they had been trying to obtain. Not only does the dicalcic phosphate spread beautifully after any amount of time, but it can also be spread at any time of the year and at any rate.
In 1963, when the first farmers started using Hatuma’s dicalcic phosphate, experts told them their production would quickly decline and they would have to sell the farm shortly after. Those farmers now have their grandchildren farming the same properties, using the same dicalcic, and they are still producing some of the best stock in the land, all the while receiving the same benefits their grandfathers did. That is three generations of dicalcic use. Three generations who have, and still are, receiving satisfaction from their farms performance. It has obviously stood the test of time.
Hatuma dicalcic is a simple product that works very effectively in all livestock farming situations and on all soil types. Thousands of farmers are getting the same advantages whether they are farming Gisborne hill country, dairy farming in the Taranaki, a lifestyle block on the Kapiti Coast, or farming a large station operation in the Wairarapa. And throughout the 40 years of dicalcic production, farmer clients unanimously agree that they have best results when it is applied at the same rate as their old phosphate fertiliser, making it an incredibly cost effective way of topdressing, particularly when mixed together with Cropfine lime.
But most importantly though, Hatuma dicalcic phosphate assists the humus makers to do their job, and keeps New Zealand’s biggest asset, the living soil, fertile and sustainable. |