With new nitrogen (N) limits now in place, checking your nitrogen fertiliser applications throughout the season is going to be vital to ensure you are staying compliant. To help do this, HawkEye now includes an N-190 Heat Map to help you stay on top of your N-use.  

What is the N-190 Heat Map?  

The N-190 Heat Map is a colour-coded visual representation of the nitrogen fertiliser you have applied on farm by paddock for the current reporting year. As fertiliser applications with an N component increase, the map colours change from green to yellow to red as you approach 190 units of nitrogen applied (Figure 1). The date defaults to the year beginning July 1 to match with current regulatory reporting dates. The reporting options also include a table showing the effective area of the paddock, N applied in kg/ha, and a running total of where your paddocks are in relation to N-190. The map can be generated in HawkEye under Reports>Nutrient Reports.  

How are the nitrogen levels calculated?  

The nitrogen levels come from all fertiliser applications that have been recorded on farm with a nitrogen component. These can come from Ravensdown joint venture spreading data, TracMap spread data, and from manual recording of activities. The figures exclude any effluent applications you may have recorded on farm. If there are no nitrogen applications for a paddock, it will not be included on the heat map.  

Why N-190?  

The new National Environmental Standards for Freshwater include an annual N-Cap of 190kg/ha for nitrogen fertiliser use on pastoral land. These came into force on 1 July, 2021 and dairy farmers will be required to report their N-use figures to their local regional council in 2022.  

Features, hazards and ordering  

Exclusion zones are now an option in Features and Hazards on your farm. This tool allows you to draw the areas on your farm where you do not wish to have any fertiliser spread and these recordings will flow through to the map received by your spreader. Exclusion zone areas are removed from the effective area of the paddock when ordering or creating your own activities.  

Create, maintain and share important points of interest on your farm using points, lines and polygons. You can:  

• Individually name features and tag your hazards  
• Edit and delete features and hazards as your farm changes  
• View and print only the features and hazards you need to see  
• Select your feature type, e.g. buildings, feed pads, gates, riparian areas, troughs and water pipes.  

HawkEye – your partner in on-farm nutrient record keeping  

With the wheels of national farm compliance now in motion, one of the most important things you can do is keep reliable records for all fertiliser purchases and applications on your property. Keeping records will also be beneficial when it comes to creating a Farm Environment Plan. 

Do I need to be a Ravensdown customer to use HawkEye? 

While you do not need to be a Ravensdown customer to use HawkEye, Ravensdown customers can access additional benefits and functionality such as ordering directly from their agronomy plans and farm maps.  

To learn more about how HawkEye can help you, head to www.hawkeye.farm 

*Customers using spreading contractors withTracMap technology will require a subscription fee of $125 a year. 

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