Soil Sampling Service

Teagasc Westmeath, Offaly, Cavan and Monaghan provide a soil sampling service to Teagasc clients, and non-clients, just contact your local office.  

Soil sampling is a valuable tool which should be utilised on all farms.  It allows you to identify areas of the farm that require lime and identify fields with high and low soil fertility.  Knowing this allows you to target organic manures and fertilisers to where they are needed most.  Getting overall soil fertility right will increase the efficiency of nitrogen spread on the farm.  Soil samples should be taken every 3-5 years as soil nutrient levels change slowly over time.  These soil test results will provide the basis for nutient advice until soils are resampled.  The most appropriate time of year to take samples is from September to March.

In this video, Teagasc Soil Specialist, Mark Plunkett, tells us why it is important to have soil tested, the correct way for sampling and the optimum time of year for taking soil samples 

How to read and understand your soil test results

Soil test results will reveal alot about the soils on your farm and will help explain why some fields perform better than other fields on the farm.  It also allows you to compare old and new soil test results in order to assess the effectiveness of the fertiliser programme.  

For further information, contact your local office in Westmeath, Offaly, Cavan or Monaghan