Short answer: yes – and here’s why.
Looking north-west across the LUC 6–7 valley—every ridge and gully in one glance. (Photo has flattened the steepness!)
1. Why Topography Matters to You
Steep slopes change sunlight, soil depth, moisture, and stock access. Getting reliable dry‑matter (DM) estimates is even more valuable when each grazing decision carries more risk.
2. How Steep Is “Steep”?
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New Zealand’s Land Use Capability (LUC) rates land from Class 1 (flat, arable) to Class 8 (too steep/fragile to graze).
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Class 6: rolling to moderately steep hill country (16–25°).
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Class 7: steep hill country (>25°) where machinery is limited.
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Globally, the same idea applies: anything over ~15° slope is considered hill country in grazing.
Key point: Pio doesn’t need flat paddocks. Our machine‑learning models correct for slope and aspect before estimating biomass.
Mixed aspects and broken contours the model handles daily. (Photo has flattened the steepness!)
3. Case Study – LUC 6–7 Beef & Sheep Farm, NZ
| Metric | Farmer’s Rising Plate Meter* | Pasture.io Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Average DM/ha sample | 1 850 kg | 1 880 kg |
| Difference | – | + 30 kg |
“Pio is usually within 50 kilos of the plate meter – closer than I can eyeball.”
– NZ hill‑country customer, Alan Cave
What This Shows
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Consistency beats occasional calibration. Both tools track trends the same way, so daily decisions stay on point.
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Visibility across the whole farm. Satellite pixels capture gullies, spurs, and shady faces that a walk couldn’t safely cover every week.
End-of-day allocation: Pio helps you see when the sun goes down. (Photo has flattened the steepness!)
4. How Pio Handles Hills
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High‑resolution multi‑angle imagery minimises shadow and foreshortening errors.
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Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) adjust reflectance for slope and aspect.
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Localised training data – Pio learns from farms with similar terrain worldwide.
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Continuous improvement loop – any manual readings you add (plate meter, cut‑and‑weigh) fine tune Pio's models for your farm.
5. Getting the Best Results on Your Hill Farm
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Keep paddock boundaries accurate – draw along the true ridge/valley lines and ensure your paddock boundaries are up to date using the mapping tool.
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Record occasional plate‑meter transects (even just once a month) to speed local calibration. Otherwise, we can perform a calibration, as explained here.
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Record grazings promptly so the model knows when residuals apply on each face. Helps with multi-day grazings, which can be recorded with the extended grazing planner.
6. Frequently Asked Questions
Will shadows or aspect fool the satellite?
No. Image correction uses DEMs and sun‑angle metadata to normalise reflectance before biomass prediction.
Do I need a plate meter as well?
Only if you want an on‑farm reference point. Pio stands alone, but sporadic plate checks help you (and us) build confidence.
What slope limit applies?
We routinely service properties with slopes of approximately 35° or more in some cases. The main constraint is people and stock safety and environmental concerns around soil erosion – not the satellite.
7. Take‑Home Message
If your country is steep, you gain the most from hands‑free, whole‑farm pasture insight. Pio’s slope‑aware models mean you can spend less time climbing and more time allocating feed where it counts.