The Australian Feedbase Monitor (AFM) User Guide

This is an overview of how to get the most out of the Australian Feedbase Monitor (AFM) tool.

The Dashboard

Demo Farms

The AFM Layers

Pasture Biomass

Dead Pasture Biomass

Green Pasture Biomass

Fractional Cover

Pasture Biomass Deciles

Woody Cover

Total Cover

Satellite View

The Dashboard

Upon accessing the Cibo Labs dashboard the 'My Farms' section provides you with your farm details and ability to view and manage all features. 

The list and grid views give you access to a range of details including farm name, farm ID(PIC) and Size closely associated with features such as Maps, Reports and Assessments, and management functions, Manage to edit parcels and paddocks and Share. 

List View:

Grid View:

To share your PastureKey service with other members in your organisation requires account sharing access. This can be completed from the PastureKey subscription owners account. 

 

Demo Farms

You can also view our Demo Farms by clicking 'Show Demo Farms' in the top right corner of your dashboard.

You will see a Demo Farm and associated details appear in a window above your current dashboard. This Demo Farm allows users to take a look at both an AFM and PastureKey service. PastureKey is our subscription-level service and this Demo Farm will provide insight into what's on offer if you choose to upgrade.

Maps are accessible via including the option of viewing:

1. Base Map layers

2. AFM Map layers

3. PastureKey Layers (PastureKey Subscribers).

A useful resource to compare map services please refer to: What's the difference between the Australian Feedbase Monitor (AFM) and PastureKey?

 

1) Maps

Features and Functions:

Map layer view, enables the user to elect their preferred 'Base map' view, and then to select and review PastureKey service layers. 

Left Pane Menu:

 

Time slider:

View service layers including Base, AFM and PastureKey layers using the 'show layer' icon in the top right of the screen. An overview of each layer has been outlined below.

A) Base Map Layers

Map layer view, enables the user to elect their preferred 'Base map' view, and then to select and review PastureKey service layers. 

 

From this point after selecting AFM Layers, users can  access a number of imagery layers of there properties land parcels.

The 'Reports' widget will open a new tab which provides a list of three different types of examples of reports that can be generated using AFM directly.

Click "Reports" in Demo Farm to view the three different report types available.

Reports options examples in the Demo Farm File archive include: 

• Groundcover and woody vegetation - zip file.
• FarmKey - zip file.
• Pasture Biomass - zip file.

More information regarding these reports can be found HERE. 

To learn about different types of Pasture Key Data available please refer to the  PastureKey Users Guide

The AFM Map Layers

This service provides users with the ability to view in real time, their whole property pasture performance based on 5 day Total Standing Dry Matter captures displayed as a 30 day rolling median at 80m resolution. This provides you with insights to understand the median pasture performance and the range of TSDM across your property. You also have the ability to analyze monthly historical data for your property back to 2017.

There are eight different map layers provided to users. Below is a brief summary of these available layers:

These eight layers have been described individually below and discuss how to access further data and what insights can be gained by users. 

Pasture Biomass 

You can see your property details by clicking the ‘AFM layers’ icon. The opening view will present your chosen property, defined by a blue outline. The view defaults to the most recent image of Pasture Biomass (kg DM/ha), which is defined by Total Standing Dry Matter (TSDM). 

TSDM is the total amount of pasture, measured in kg/ha, after the water content is removed. It includes both green (actively growing plant material) and dead (senesced standing material) but excludes plant litter.

Each individual square represents 1ha of land within the property boundary. The colours of these squares are associated with a category of TSDM, as shown in the legend in the lower left hand side of the screen.

You can choose to zoom in or out to examine more detail – however, zooming too far in will remove the TSDM layer. Zooming out offers users the opportunity to observe district conditions.

You can compare recent changes in seasonal conditions by using the time series icon at the bottom of the map to look at previous months. 

By clicking on a land parcel associated with your PIC, the AFM will generate two charts. 

• The first chart shows the range of TSDM grown since 2017, with a red line to indicate the median amount grown. 
• The second chart shows a comparison of the current year against previous years.

To obtain a whole property scale series of charts, click on the front gate location associated with your property 'front gate'. 

You can also download the TSDM data into a csv file by clicking on the blue 'Download farm chart data' icon at the bottom of the chart pop-up window. 

Dead Pasture Biomass

Dead Standing Dry Matter (DSDM) is defined by the amount of non-photosynthetically active plant material, such as dead leaves and stems, in kg/ha. This is the dead component of the TSDM.

This layer can assist landholders to obtain a visualization of the seasonal influences and potential digestibility components of different areas of there property. This may assist in decision support for allocation of livestock to different areas of the property or to assist in making decisions for additional supplementation and stocking rate programs.

Green Pasture Biomass

Green Standing Dry Matter (GSDM) is defined by the total amount of photosynthetically active growing plant material in kg/ha. This is the green component of the TSDM.

This layer enables the user to simply and easily be able to obtain visualization of changes across their property. These changes for example could be due to seasonal impacts, natural disaster impacts,  impacts of the change or effect of rainfall on plant pasture production across a whole farm level. It helps users understand what proportion of the pasture is actively growing in different conditions and at different sections of the property. This can assist with matching livestock grazing requirements with what is currently on the ground. 

Fractional Cover

Fractional cover is expressed as the percentage of land covered by photosynthetically active vegetation (green), non-photosynthetically active vegetation (dead or dry), and bare ground. The three proportions add to 100%. Vegetation includes all grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees.

Pasture Biomass Deciles

This layer displays the ranking of the current month’s Total Standing Dry Matter (TSDM) relative to all the previous estimates for that month over the length of record since 2017.

A decile of 1 means the current month's pasture biomass is vastly below average. A decile of 2-3 is below average, 4-7 is average, 8-9 is above average, and 10 is vastly above average.

Woody Cover

You can also explore and compare changes in woody cover on your property using the AFM. 

This imagery demonstrates the change in Primary and Secondary Forest and Woodland.

The imagery shows the changes in woody cover over a one-year period. A forest is woody vegetation with a minimum 20% canopy cover (CC), potentially reaching 2 meters high and a minimum area of 0.2 hectares. Woodland is defined as woody vegetation with a canopy cover between 5-19%. Primary forest or woodland is defined as woody vegetation that has existed since 1988. Secondary forest or woodland has been disturbed at any time post-1988.

This data is sourced from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (2023).

Total Cover

You can also select 'Total Cover' to compare changes over time in Ground Cover levels across your property.

This is expressed as the combined percentage of ground covered by green, dead and dry vegetation, including grasses, forbs, and woody plants like trees and shrubs.

Total Cover % = green cover % + dead or dry cover %.

OR

Total Cover % = 100% - Bare Ground %.

Satellite View

This image is a composite made from all available cloud-free Sentinel-2 data from the previous 35 days. It displays bands 11 (SWIR), 8 (NIR), and 4 (Red) as red, green, and blue, respectively.

In the image, bright green represents vigorous, healthy vegetation such as forests, crops, and growing pastures. Dry forests and woodland appear in muted green through to browns, while sparsely vegetated, dry pasture and bare areas appear brown to pale purple, showing variability in soil colour.