Farmers are taking a more measured and scientific approach to their grassland, leading to reduced fertiliser usage, but there is still plenty more that they can do according to new survey results.

Organised by the Grassland & Muck Event, the survey reveals that more farmers are analysing their soil and manure than ever before, with an increasing proportion also taking professional advice on variety choice.

However, there is still a huge opportunity for farmers to make more of their grassland, with only 14 per cent regularly measuring grass growth and 29 per cent still not producing a nutrient or manure management plan.

As a result, 29 per cent of respondents have reduced nitrogen fertiliser usage, 24 per cent are using less phosphate and 21 per cent have cut potash application.

Even so, there's plenty more that farmers can do to exploit the true potential of their grassland, warns Nigel Hester, area manager at Yara.

Nigel said: "Many are still not soil testing frequently enough, measuring grass yields or investing in the best grass varieties where an effective balanced crop nutrition programme will help achieve high yields of nutritious forage.

"This suggests that farmers are paying more attention to variety selection.

"In fact, the proportion who simply choose the variety they grew before has halved, to just over sic per cent.

"Interestingly, considerably more farmers than before are spreading slurry and manure on arable land, 49 per cent compared to 34 per cent in 2011.

“Arable producers are increasingly turning to more traditional methods to combat rising input costs and falling soil organic matter.

“Many are now opting to return grass and livestock to the enterprise mix, which is something that we will be exploring in more detail at this year’s Grassland & Muck Event.”

Alice Bell, head of technical events and organiser of Grassland & Muck, said: "The last time we conducted this survey was in 2011, and it’s encouraging to see how farmers’ attitudes have changed.

“Of particular note is a more scientific approach to manure and slurry usage, 14 per cent of respondents now use laboratory analysis against nine per cent in 2011 and the proportion basing nutrient content on personal assumption has dropped 37 per cent to 20 per cent.

“The cost savings from making better use of manure are considerable.

“But it’s also interesting to note that between 15 per cent and 19 per cent of farmers have increased fertiliser use, based on soil analysis, to improve grass quality and yield.”