OverseerFM software release notices

2024

2nd October 2024

• The ability to re-auto assign S-map soils to a block.

• The ability to turn on individual help text on data input screens.

• Improvements to error messages for recently identified model error scenarios.

19th September 2024

• New Overseer model Version 6.5.7. The release notes can be found here.
• The OverseerFM model release 6.5.7 included the addition of polyferric sulphate methane emission technology for effluent systems. This update did not affect any model results as this is a new mitigation technology. There were no changes to the N, P and GHG results. 

28th August 2024

• The addition of "Blue Pacific Minerals" fertiliser products and the "Calciprill" lime product.
• Formatting and re-labelling fields within the effluent screen.
• Minor defect fixes.

28th July 2024

• Publishing Analyses - You can now publish analyses directly to the farm owner.
• Enhanced Reporting - Farm group and publication reports now include various model result trends over time in a new history tab.

5th July 2024

• New Overseer model Version 6.5.6. The release notes can be found here
• The release includes a minor bug mix to the maintenance fertiliser modelling for pastoral blocks.

31st May 2024

• New Overseer model Version 6.5.5. The release notes can be found here
• The release includes significant enhancements to the modelling of nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions and methane (CH₄) emissions from effluent management systems.
• These improvements are designed to enhance the accuracy and reliability of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emission estimates from agricultural activities.
• The updates are informed by recent advancements in scientific understanding and methodologies, particularly the Agricultural Inventory Model (AIM) approach.

2nd February 2024

• Where S-Map soils are not available auto suggestion of a blocks FSL (soil group and order) will occur based on the block’s location if it is drawn, or the farm location if not drawn..
• If a block has not been drawn, the software automatically looks for any S-Map Online mapping with proximity to the geo-location of the farm. If S-Map soils are available these will be suggested for the block, otherwise FSL will be suggested. Please note we strongly recommend drawing blocks.
• Minor bug fixes.

 

2023

10th December 2023

• Improved net energy modelling: OverseerFM model now incorporates a more refined representation of net energy requirements for walking while grazing. This improvement better considers factors such as relative stocking rate and block slope, leading to a better representation of energy needs during grazing activities

• National Inventory alignment: Some animal coefficients have been updated to align with those used in the National Inventory GHG modelling. This alignment ensures relativity with the national data.
• Breeding bull breeds: A more comprehensive list of breeds is available to be modelled for breeding bulls in a dairy enterprise.

15th November 2023

• Dairy stock numbers can no longer be entered using the "Peak Cow Numbers" function. While existing analyses using "Peak Cow Numbers" will still be modeled accordingly, the stock numbers in these analyses cannot be edited unless entered using the "Stock Reconciliation" function.
• Following requests from users the regions used in Benchmark reporting have been updated to represent the geographic and territorial authority regions across New Zealand.

23rd October 2023

• New Overseer model Version 6.5.3. The release notes can be found here. 
• Allow users to harvest a maize silage crop and send it to on-farm storage. 
• Allow users to import maize silage feed supplement from the on-farm storage for distribution.
• Correct the reporting of CO2 emissions from making supplements from crops that are exported off-farm.

4th July 2023

• Soil ASC and TBK Reserve K for each soil on a block is now displayed on the soils screen.
• Soil test ASC and TBK Reserve K for each block is now displayed on the soils screen.   
• Ability to enter number of additional defoliations on the last month of a crop rotation.
• Additional field level help throughout the system.
• Minor admin functionality.
• Minor bug fixes.

25th June 2023

• New Overseer model Version 6.5.2. The release notes can be found here.
• Minor defects in model implementation identified by feedback from our users and through our model review and governance processes have been addressed.
• Timing of animals on structures graph now included in aggregated reporting.

8th May 2023

• GHG report summary email to owners provides the ability to send a summary of GHG emissions to a farm owner and/or pending farm owner from the farm dashboard.
• Minor bug fixes.

30th April 2023

• New Overseer model Version 6.5.1. The release notes can be found here.
• The update of the Overseer model represents a complete update of the crop sub-model.
• Defect fix, where holes in S-maps polygons resulted in soil information failing to load.
• Legacy Overseer "xml" file upload disabled - contact Helpdesk if you find you have files which you need to upload. 
• Minor API changes.
• Minor admin functionality.

6th April 2023

• Benchmarking performance streamlined and improved.
• Ability to publish an analysis from within the “Reports” tab has been added.
• Donaghys N-Boost added to the fertiliser list.
• Ability to minimise benchmarking graphs within benchmarking by farms.
• Total milk production has been added to the aggregated reporting (benchmarking by farms) csv download.
• Footnote on irrigation screen when irrigation applied is 0mm to describe why it is 0mm.

13th March 2023

• Supplements - Showing the totals of harvested and imported supplements within the green box of the supplements screen.
• Compare blocks report - Addition of Olsen P to the "Phosphorus" section of the report; also additional information added to the csv download (fertiliser N, effluent N, irrigation N).
• Farm trends - Farm trends graphs have been added to the ‘Farm summary’ and ‘Farm impact’ reports.
• Additional help - Added help text for the wintering pad feeding regime check boxes
• Minor admin functionality

 

2022

21 December 2022

• New Overseer model Version 6.5.0. The release notes can be found here.
• Models nitrogen uptake below 600 mm by deeper rooting plants when there is a nitrogen deficit above 600 mm. 
• Additional data fields provided in the aggregated reporting csv download

7 April 2022

• New Overseer model Version 6.4.3. The release notes can be found here.
• Digital farm maps (kml and GeoJson geo-spatial files only) can now be imported and used to map out your farm system.
• An analyses farm map or parts of a farm map can now be copied from an existing analysis.
• Block and soil data entry have been de-coupled. Block soils are now managed on the soils tab not within the blocks tab.
• Soils are now auto assigned to a newly created block using the top three S-Map soils, when a block has S-Map soil coverage. These can be reviewed and changed.
• Soil tests can now only be assigned at the block level, not the soil level. For example, one block can only have one soil test.
• Analysis audit log entries now include what screen the user was on when the analysis was saved.
• Better handling of sending small blocks created by soil/irrigation combinations to the model.
• The Ballance Agri-Nutrients fertiliser product list has been updated in the fertiliser tab.

 

2021

19 December 2021

• New Overseer model Version 6.4.2 The release notes can be found here.
• Addresses defects in model implementation identified by feedback from our users.
• Implements changes to specific parameters, reviewed and recommended by subject matter experts, that improve representation of dairy goats in the Overseer model based on the latest information available

 

29 September 2021

• New Overseer model Version 6.4.1. The release notes can be found here
• Update to Overseer crop sub-model, includes the addition of new crops which can now be modelled for crop blocks and new crop parameters for some existing crops. 
• Subscription payments – you can now auto renew your subscription and pay with a saved credit card.
• Farm timeline – shows the farm over time and any significant changes made between each year end analysis.
• Farm summary – users can now email a farm summary to a farm owner (or pending owner). The summary provides a breakdown of farm nutrient results and activity against the farm account.
• Categories added to analysis comments – when adding a comment to an analysis you must select one of the following categories: general comments, action for a plan, model workarounds or compromises, commentary, or analysis. 
• Farm impact report – you will now see a summary of the most significant changes between two analyses that are being compared along with comments attached to the analyses that have a category of action for a plan.
• N and P nutrient budget – this is now shown more simply on the analysis summary.
• Aging of fruit trees and forest blocks – when copying an analysis that contain fruit blocks and/or tree blocks that contain forests, the fruit trees and/or forests can now be aged by any number of years. 
• Benchmarking by farms and blocks map view (for farms you have access to) – you can now see where a farm and blocks are situated on the map within a farm group or publication report. 
• Farm group csv download – additional GHG, fertiliser and pasture fed data is now included. 

 

28 July 2021

• New Overseer model version 6.4.0. The release notes can be found here.
• NIWA climate data - The climate data for OverseerFM has been updated to use NIWA data from 1991-2020.
• All climate data used in the model will be based on the location of the block. If the block does not have a location, the location of the farm will be used. Where farms do not have a location, the model will not run until a location is set. This ensures that each analysis is using the best representation of climate for their farm.
• Please read the Overseer model 6.4.0 release notes for information about the change and the impact it has had on analysis results. 

23 June 2021

• Farm dashboard - Summarises information about the farm into one screen. Information includes latest year end, trends over time, benchmarking, recent activity and more. 
• Navigation when in a farm - There is a new menu top left of the screen that can take you anywhere in the farm along with the inclusion of breadcrumb navigation links making it easier for you to know where you are within a farm and to navigate around a farm.
• Ability to create a plan - Ability to add a future year to a predictive analyses so you can create a plan within your list of analyses. 
• Farm location - A farm location must be specified on the map when creating or editing a farm within farm settings. If the farm already has a location specified from the farms address, it will already be set.
• Payment transactions - You can now see the last 50 payment transactions in the my payment transactions list. 
• Farm access - An administrator of a farm can now manage farm access requests. 

21 April 2021

 

4 February 2021

• New Overseer model version 6.3.5. 
• Modelled animal liveweight and weight gain graph is now displayed within the livestock screen for animals that gain weight throughout the year
• GHG carbon stock reporting graphs be toggled to display by annual carbon stock changes in addition to the accumulated view.
• The Overview tab within an analysis has been renamed Reports
• Beta release of a new scenario tool. This provides a way to analyse changes that a farm might make to their system while maintaining the feed requirements of the animals. It is provided as a tool for users to try out and provide us with feedback.
• Farm impact report. A new report has been added under Overview when in an analysis. This report summarises all information about the farm. From this report, you can select another analysis to compare, which will show a side by side comparison of differences between the two analyses. This replaces the existing compare tool, and is very useful to compare changes to a farm over time or when doing future planning.
• A new benchmarking report has been added under Overview called “Feasibility”. This will compare the pasture growth for each of the blocks on the farm with “similar” blocks across the country.
• You can now create tags for farms within a farm group. This allows you to create sub groups of farms that can have their own aggregated and benchmark reporting.
• The rate of N applied to pastoral blocks has been added to the farm group reporting. This provides a way to quickly see whether farms are meeting the NES requirements of 190 kg/ha.

 

2020

27 Aug 2020

• Overseer version 6.3.4 - Provides modelling for plantain pasture. Release notes can be found here.
• Ability to renew a farm subscription 6 months before expiry.
• A button has been added to the right of the farm name on the farm home screen. This provides a way to add or remove the farm from the “My farms” list on the dashboard.
• Publications are now included when checking S-map soils for a farm. Please note - publications can only be updated by updating the analysis and re-publishing.
• When adding fertiliser applications, the total nutrients by hectare are shown for each application group.
• AET has been added to the soil/irrigation results on the block and farm details reports.

11 June 2020

• Knowledgebase replaces the old "MyOverseer" portal. Access the Knowledgebase through the Knowledgebase link in the drop menu at the top right of the screen or by clicking on More info from any data entry tab. It is designed to be users first source of information should they require help with OverseerFM; users can access their Helpdesk tickets or request help from within the Knowledgebase.
• More help and information messages have been added within OverseerFM. Turn on in app help by selecting Help at the top right of the screen.
• Quick Search function allows users to search for farms, publications and Knowledgebase articles. The old farm search remains but has been renamed “Farms”.
• Check for S-Map soil updates. S-Map soil information may be out of date for some older analyses. A new function has been added to check the soil data in a farm and allow users to update the soil data for each analysis. Access this from the farm home screen by clicking on Check for S-Map soil updates.
• Analysis compare tool has been updated to provide more information when comparing analyses.
• Plantain has been added as a pasture type to start capturing that information. Modelling of plantain is currently being tested and so has not been released yet. Plantain pasture is currently modelled in the same way as ryegrass until the changes are available.
• Maintenance nutrients have been added to the compare blocks report under the overview tab.
• Version 6.3.3 corrects some modelling implementation errors with fertiliser applications, irrigation and how end weights are handled for some animal mobs. It also includes updates to LCA emission factors. Full details are available in the release notes here.
• Our Model diagrammatically describes the Overseer model, the interactions of the sub-models, and the farm data inputs that drive the model. It can be accessed through the Knowledgebase or from www.overseer.org.nz/our-model.

6 May 2020

• Year end analyses that have been deleted can be now be restored. 
• Year end analyses can now be replaced with another analyses or publication. 
• Block type can now be changed (eg. from pasture to crop), keeping the physical features and drawn areas. This option is available when viewing the blocks for an analysis.
• From the ‘Dashboard’ you can access all analyses published to your organisation by year and/or by status.
• Added a facility to upload 3rd party data files to create a partial analyses.
• Target N application rate as effluent can be entered for the effluent report. This can be set by editing the dairy effluent system. The effluent report is shown within the farm details report.
  
  

29 March 2020

• Farm groups provide a way for farmers, advisors and organisations to group farms enabling aggregated reporting and benchmarking. This supports farms working together to better manage nutrient losses. Farm groups can be created by selecting create farm group from the dashboard. 
• The same aggregated and benchmark reporting that is used in farm groups is also available to organisations that have publications (analyses published to their organisation). The numbers of publications are shown on the dashboard, with access to reports for each year. 
• A new tool for simplifying analyses is now available via the farm home screen. You will see a link called simplify under each analysis. This tool merges “like” blocks together to create a new analysis with less blocks to manage. This is particularly useful where analyses with blocks split by soil or irrigation were imported from Legacy.
• Publications can now be compared using the compare tool.
• Organisations that receive publications can now delete them if they are “draft” or “submitted”.
• The dashboard has been updated to show publications from the last week.
• Notifications on your dashboard have been simplified and organised such that it is more obvious what actions you need to take.
• Topography for pasture blocks has moved to the block setup screen.
• Pasture and runoff information can now be applied to multiple blocks at once, saving time in setting up similar pasture blocks.
• Livestock events can now be sorted by clicking on the column heading in the table on the animal enterprise screen. When entering events for a mob the events order by date when viewing an existing mob.
• Farms can be sorted by column in farm search. Click on the column heading to sort
  
  

24 February 2020

• Improved layout of dashboard to make actions and notifications clearer.
• Can now set the topography of a pasture block when adding/editing a block.
• Can pay for a farm subscription from my farms and the farm search screen.
• Can sort search results and my farms list by clicking on the table headings.
• Livestock events are ordered by date on the stock entry screen.
  
  

2019

10 December 2019

• From the farm account overview screen you now have the ability to compare two analyses within a farm. You can compare the analysis results, physical characteristics and monthly numbers.
• We have updated the way to enter irrigation systems in response to user feedback. This provides the ability to draw multiple areas for an irrigation system, including half pivots. Also to change the percentage of block irrigated for non drawn irrigation systems.
• Enhancements to copy crops. The ability to copy crop block prior land use.
• We have also fixed a bug affecting urease inhibitors. If you use these products this will likely change your results. You will need to re-run your analysis to see the impact.
  
  

6 November 2019

• Based on user feedback, we have completely rewritten fertiliser management. This makes it easier to enter multiple applications and allows copying of applications between blocks. For help information select “Show help” on the top right of the screen when on the fertiliser screen.
• Overview screen will only show one row for each type of fertiliser per block. The amount is a total of all applications of that fertiliser in that month.
• Some additional information has been added to the compare blocks report. This now shows N in drainage, N added and N surplus for each block.
• The list of blocks for each soil has been moved into an expandable area under the row in the table. This provides more room to view all the blocks.
  
  

29 October 2019

• OverseerFM’s new carbon stock tool means you can now estimate how much carbon your tree blocks are sequestering. 

 

 8 September 2019

• New model release (version 6.3.2). To view the release notes click here: 6.3.2 release notes.
• Copy crops from one block to another. Edit the crops for the block you want to copy into. Select copy crops from another block, select the block to copy from and whether you wish to copy from previous or reporting year or both.
• Graph of phosphorus loss for blocks on the overview page.
• Graph of phosphorus loss and GHG emissions on the farm home screen.
• Area covered by irrigators in the irrigator list under the irrigator tab, in compare blocks and in the farm report.
• Button to scroll to the top of the page. Will appear at the bottom right of the screen when you have scrolled down the page.
• Resend a farm access request if you were not the original sender of the request from your organisation.
• Size of blocks and amount per hectare of supplements are displayed when adding harvest events.
• New block selector to make it easier to select multiple blocks at once.
  
  

27 August 2019

• Introduction of a guest access for farm accounts which enables you to create analyses within a farm before your access invitation is accepted. This access status does not allow a user to see any existing information in a farm account beyond farm name.
• Ability to view the ownership status of a farm (pending, owned and unowned) when using the farm search or request access form.
• Optimised performance for analyses with a large number of blocks.
• Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research released changes to SMap data on 27th August 2019. Overseer makes a copy of soil data when the block is set up and so no existing analyses will be impacted; however if you look up new soil data from SMap this will retrieve the latest soil data. Not all soils are affected, for information about the changes to SMap select the following link https://smap.landcareresearch.co.nz/data-provenance/#Aug19Update.
• To update any existing soil in OverseerFM, you need to re-load that soil data. We are looking at creating a function to enable this without having to reload every soil.

 

28 July 2019 

• Can now draw multiple land areas for all blocks. Draw each land area as normal and then click on “Finished drawing” when done. The soil and climate data will be retrieved for all drawn areas.
• Model notes are shown on the farm/block detail reports. This was formerly known as Comments in legacy. The model needs to run to generate these notes; you can do this by editing the farm area and saving it without making any changes. The comments are generated for each soil/irrigation combination.
• The block area is shown on each screen where blocks are listed. eg. under pasture/crops tab.
• There has been a misunderstanding when trying to provide access to a farm. Users have been invited to join the organisation instead and so additional messaging has been added to try and explain this better.
• Custom nutrient values for fertiliser, supplements, effluent, irrigation and lime can now be defined at an organisation level by an administrator of an organisation. This allows them to be shared by all users within that organisation.
  
  

1 July 2019

• Support for outdoor pig enterprises.
• Create option to show or hide help information on the top menu. Some additional information is provided under each tab of the application.
• Can specify change in soil organic matter for soils.
• Publication guide under support guides (select support under your name on the right hand side of the menu) and when in the publish analysis screen.
• The audit log will only show when the analysis results have changed. If a change in fertiliser is made this is shown. Other changes will be included in the future.
• Improvements to farm details report.

 

6 June 2019

• Import soil series data from farm files as soil group and order.
• Change number of bale equivalent field in supplements to be kg of DM in each bale. Default value is 20kg.
• Generate default soil tests for blocks. These will be shown on the soil tab under an analysis. They can be edited to override the defaults. You may select multiple blocks for a single soil test.
• Reorganised compare blocks report so can handle more blocks and fit on a page when printing. Show soil test information on compare blocks.
• Show months that animals are on crops in crop screen and on reports.
• Show months animals are on fruit blocks.
• Add support for use of DCD.
• More information has been added to the farm details report. This includes a list of blocks and results, list of structures and effluent systems, results for each soil and irrigator, month table for each block showing crops, fertiliser nutrients, irrigation and animals.
• Sends an email to the farm owner when a request for farm access is created.
• Can enter a company reference for a farm when paying for a subscription.
• Support for animals that are housed all year round.

 
26 April 2019

• Non-farm animals grazing on crop blocks are now shown on the animals and overview screen.
• Can now use a default total farm area based on the block sizes and a calculated percentage that is not productive.
• Farm files that contain soil series can be uploaded however the soil will not be imported.
• Farm files that contain fertiliser by form can now be uploaded however the fertiliser will not be uploaded.
• Ability to expand and collapse sub menus of a nutrient budget on the farm report.
• Enhancements to the detailed and summary API.
• Can now delete publications that have been published to your own organisation.

 

28 March 2019

• Can now enter defoliation events on crops for more than one month at a time.
• New logos for each of the products (FM, Education and Science).
• Can now enter a farm identifier on a publication.
• Can add comments to analyses. If import a farm file from legacy the farm description will be loaded as a comment.
• Farm details report (under Overview) shows all information about the farm system and results. It also provides a way to PDF or print the entire analysis.
• If you have submitted a request to support you can now view and submit new comments under that request.
• Some menu items at the top of the screen have moved under your profile menu at the top right of the screen. These menu items are My organisation, Support and Custom.
• Show animals that are not part of your enterprise (non-farm) on crop blocks under the animals and overview tabs.
• Show farm access request comments on dashboard.
• Farm access request will no longer expire but can be removed by the person that created the request.
• Can now enter a latitude and longitude for a block that will be used to get the climate information. This will override using the centre of the block to get climate.
• Can now enter one decimal place for supplement weights (eg. 3.4 tonnes).
• Can now expand the animal enterprise under block pasture & diet report (in Animal report) to view the list of mobs in that enterprise.
• Show soil drainage profile in the list of soils under the Soils tab.
• Have added some messaging for each of the crop categories when adding a new crop. This provides some explanation what can be done with these crops.
• Councils can assign “agents” to review/audit publications on their behalf.

 

12 February 2019

• We have updated the Overseer science engine to correct a defect that has been identified related to fodder crop blocks. We have also made a change to use annual emmision factors for nitrous oxide in the greenhouse gas reports. This will effect the greenhouse gas results. You can see the previous results (v6.3.0) for analyses on the farm home screen. For more information about the fodder crop change please click here: 6.3.1 release notes.

 

2018

10 December 2018

• Show icons for prior land use on crop blocks.
• Enhancements to publications and viewing them on the farm home screen. Each publication is now listed below the analysis.
• New block details report that shows the details for each block. Select the Overview tab and then the Block Details sub tab to view the report. If you have drawn blocks, a map is shown, and you can select different blocks from the map.
• Block details report shows N pools graphs for each block.
• New farm summary report that groups soils, crops/pasture, animals, supplements, fertilisers and irrigation across the whole farm. Access this under the Overview tab and then select the Farm Details sub tab.
• Can now copy GHG settings when making a copy of an analysis.
• New supplement (DDG) is now available for dairy goats.
• Some cosmetic improvements to farm home, audit, analysis settings and creation of an analysis screens.
• Enhancement to livestock events to prevent errors in data entry.
• Allow spaces and “_” in farm identifiers. 

We have resolved some defects within the existing Overseer code.

• Error when distributing supplements to a seed crop with animals.
• Over estimating dry matter growth for supplements harvested from a Lucerne block.
• Over estimating dry matter pasture production for rye grass that has been harvested from a crop block. This created a high production error in some cases.
• Error when crop prior grazing changes from farm stock to non-farm animals.

 

8 November 2018

• A new list of fertiliser products from Fertmark certified providers Ballance, Ravensdown, Fertco, TerraCare and Viafos.
• GHG settings for fuel use, contracting services, application methods, transport and electricity use. Access these settings under the GHG tab.
• Create your own custom compositions for fertilisers, irrigation, supplements and dairy effluent. Select Custom from top of the screen to set up compositions. Once created you can use these compositions when adding fertiliser, irrigators or importing supplements.
• Improved fertiliser screens to allow changing of products/compositions for existing applications.
• Link the dairy effluent system to the milking shed for managing effluent
• Some additional help on analysis screens. Selecting Help at the top of the screen or ‘?’ at the bottom will toggle additional help on/off.
• Some improvements to the formatting of output information when printing. Some screens will format better in landscape, while portrait is appropriate for others.
• The dry matter for supplements is shown when creating harvest events.
• Can view the wetlands description guide from within the wetlands screen. It is quite a large document so might take some time to download.
• Can now remove the S-Map soil outline within the block screen.

We have found two issues with the existing Overseer that we have fixed in this release of OverseerFM. This will have some effect on numbers for analyses that have certain supplements.

• Seasonal harvesting of Lucernce cuts were not being recognised.
• All imported supplements were set to hay/silage type and so there is a slight change to results for some supplement types (greens, grains and vegetables).

 

 

20 September 2018

• Drawing of more than one area of land for non-productive blocks (trees, house, riparian or wetlands).
• Soil properties can be changed from the SMap and soil order defaults. This should only be used if you have a proven difference to the default values.
• We have made it easier to use the same soil definition across your blocks. Simply select from the existing soil list after drawing your block, rather then add a new soil.
• Log in or register using your Facebook or Google credentials. For existing users the email address must match the email used to register with OverseerFM.
• View the nitrogen and phosphorous summary for the farm under the overview tab.
• GHG results are shown under the overview tab