A Brix test may mean high sugar for the horticulture sector but when it comes to measuring pasture quality, farmers are being told to look to traditional feed quality analysis by scientists who have been looking into the measure. In this episode, Anne Lee talks with Dr Beverley Thomson of On-Farm Research at Poukawa, Hawke’s Bay about her study comparing Brix as a measure of pasture quality with traditional laboratory based analysis including metabolisable energy (ME), drymatter (DM), water soluble carbohydrates (WSC), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF).

Host:

• Anne Lee, Senior Journalist, Dairy Country

Guest:

• Dr Beverley Thomson, On-Farm Research

 

Brix has become increasingly popular with some farmers as a tool to give a simple and immediate measure of pasture quality with some citing it as a way to measure nutrient density for pasture. However, Beverely explains her study found high Brix levels in low quality pastures with higher DM and the measure was an unreliable indicator. She talks through the study and how it was set up using plots comparing conventional ryegrass/clover species with plantain/clover and with multi-species, diverse pastures. She details when the measurements were taken through the season and the results of the study. 

Read the article featuring Dr Beverly Thomson from the Autumn 2026 issue of DAIRY Country here: https://dairycountry.co.nz/brix-might-not-be-best/

 

Find out more about the Better pastures together podcast from Barenbrug here: https://www.barenbrug.co.nz/podcasts

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