scholarly journals Winter management practices to optimise early spring pasture production: a review

2012 ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J. Wall ◽  
D.R. Stevens ◽  
B.R. Thompson ◽  
C.L. Goulter
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Late Pregnancy ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Pasture Management ◽  
Bare Area ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
The Past ◽  
Continuous Grazing

The performance of the national ewe flock has increased significantly in the past 20 years. Pasture management in winter and early spring has a large impact on the success of the subsequent seasons. Overgrazing in winter can reduce spring pasture production by up to 80%. Treading and pugging damage can also decrease spring pasture production by 10% for every 10% of bare area created. Maintaining pasture cover at over 2000 kg DM/ha can improve pasture growth, and leaving a residual pasture mass of more than 1200 kg DM/ha also aids in pasture production in late winter. Techniques such as feed budgeting, longer winter feeding periods (4 day cf. 1 day shifting) and increasing the control of feed intake during late pregnancy can be used to help achieve the goals of higher pasture residuals and increased pasture growth and availability. More tools for managing the transition from winter rotational grazing to spring continuous grazing would help farmers. Keywords: early spring production, grazing management, pasture cover, residual cover, treading.

scholarly journals Will current rotational grazing management recommendations suit future intensive pastoral systems?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Donaghy ◽  
Racheal Bryant ◽  
Lydia Cranston ◽  
Michael Egan ◽  
Wendy Griffiths ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Pastoral Systems ◽  
Short Rotation ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Management Recommendations ◽  
Good Agreement

This review aimed to determine whether current grazing management practices will suit future intensive rotationally grazed pastoral systems. A review of literature on grazing management recommendations found that there was good agreement on the ‘principles’ required for optimal grazing management. While these management practices have stood the test of time, it is concluded that shifts in external pressures (e.g., climate, plant selection and breeding, system intensification) compared to the period when farm-level grazing recommendations were first developed, may necessitate a rethink of current grazing recommendations. Examples include greater pasture masses (e.g., around 4000 kg dry matter (DM)/ha vs. the recommended range of 2600 to 3200 kg DM/ha) where short-rotation (annual, biennial) and tetraploid ryegrasses are sown, provided a consistent post-grazing residual can be maintained (possibly between 40- and 70- mm height). Milder winters and the use of ryegrass cultivars with higher growth rates in late winter/early spring may necessitate either lower target pasture covers at calving or shorter rotation lengths during winter. Longer grazing rotations (well beyond the 3-leaf stage, i.e., equivalent to deferred grazing) can be recommended for select paddocks from mid-spring into summer, to increase seasonal resilience across the farm. Longer residuals (even up to 70 mm - i.e., almost double the recommended height) might improve plant survival during periods of high stress (e.g., heatwaves, droughts). Lastly, diverse species pastures may require specific management to suit dominant species other than perennial ryegrass.

scholarly journals Working with dairy farmers to improve their pasture management skills through better understanding the principles of ryegrass growth

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Clarke ◽  
Danny Donaghy ◽  
Marie Casey
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Management Technique ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Pasture Management ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Rotation Length ◽  
Supplement Use ◽  
Ryegrass Growth

The relationships between leaf regrowth stage, pre- and post-grazing pasture covers, and grazing rotation length are complex. Despite the existence of well-documented grazing guidelines for managing these relationships, implementation on-farm is highly variable indicating that skill levels are often inadequate and/or farmers are not convinced of the benefits. Twenty dairy farm managers and assistant managers from the Hopkins Farming Group in the lower North Island engaged in structured observation and discussion with experts to test the potential of the 3-leaf grazing technique for increasing pasture production and reducing imported supplement use from mid-spring to mid-autumn. The farmer members of the study group initially had little knowledge of the principles of ryegrass growth at the plant level, and how their management influences pasture production and persistence. Grazing management skills developed by group members during the process included: identification of pasture species within the sward, including perennial ryegrass; identification of leaf morphology, tillers, tiller buds and daughter tillers; pasture health checks to understand when new tillers appeared and their grazing and nutrient needs; and the importance of grazing residuals for future pasture quality. Pasture productivity, as measured by the amount of silage conserved, increased by approximately 0.45 t DM/ha during the 6 months of study through the application of this grazing management technique. Managing grazing using the 3-leaf technique requires a greater depth of knowledge than previous, simple, rotation length-based systems. Many farmers are concerned about the lack of persistence of new ryegrass cultivars, whereas it may be their management practices that have a greater influence.

Studies in pasture management for the breeding ewe. I. Effects on ewe liveweights, incidence of pregnancy toxaemia, lamb birth weights, and neo-natal mortality

1968 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 605
Author(s):  
HL Davies
Keyword(s):  
Birth Weight ◽  
Early Pregnancy ◽  
Subterranean Clover ◽  
Late Pregnancy ◽  
Stocking Rate ◽  
Pasture Management ◽  
Continuous Grazing ◽  
Natal Mortality ◽  
Stocking Rates ◽  
Pregnancy Toxaemia

Breeding ewes were run under three systems of pasture management on sown pastures (based on subterranean clover) at Canberra. The ewes lambed from mid August to late September. The three management treatments were: (i) Continuous grazing (treatment CG). (ii) Ewes were confined to one-third of the whole area available in early pregnancy, so that feed was autumn-deferred for late pregnancy (treatment DP).(iii) Ewes were confined to a portion (one-third in 1956, one-half in 1957) of the area for the whole of pregnancy in order to ensure an adequate amount of feed for lactation (treatment DL). Two stocking rates and two breeds of ram were compared (Merino and Border Leicester). Treatment DL resulted in unsatisfactory liveweight gains during pregnancy, a far higher incidence of pregnancy toxaemia, reduced lamb birth weight, and increased neo-natal mortality. At the low stocking rate there were no significant differences between treatments CG and DP. At the high stocking rate, treatment DP reduced liveweight gain in early pregnancy and ensured an adequate liveweight gain in late pregnancy. The incidence of pregnancy toxaemia was lower at the high stocking rate in 1957 on treatment DP compared with CG. At the higher stocking rate, ditocous ewes on treatment DP gained more weight in late pregnancy than those on CG or DL.

scholarly journals Effects of feeding juniper as a roughage on feedlot performance, carcass measurements, meat sensory attributes, and volatile aroma compounds of yearling Rambouillet wethers1,2

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (7) ◽  
pp. 2850-2864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R Kerth ◽  
Kayley R Wall ◽  
Rhonda K Miller ◽  
Travis R Whitney ◽  
Whitney C Stewart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Sensory Attributes ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Sensory Panel ◽  
Feedlot Performance ◽  
Sensory Score ◽  
Sorghum Sudangrass

Abstract The majority of U.S. lambs are born during late winter or early spring, which can create downstream variability in carcass quality if commercial lamb harvest is to be relatively constant throughout the year. Flavor is an important quality determining characteristic of sheep meat and is influenced, in part, by animal age at harvest. However, management practices to mitigate the risk of objectionable flavors in meat from old crop lambs or yearlings are not well known. Yearling (16.8 ± 0.14 mo) Rambouillet wethers were assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups, which consisted of feeding a 20% ground sorghum-sudangrass hay diet for 40 d (JUN0; n = 10), a 20% ground juniper diet for 40 d (JUN40; n = 10), or a 20% ground hay diet for 20 d followed by a 20% ground juniper diet for 20 d (JUN20; n = 10). Wethers were harvested on day 41 and a whole bone-in loin and a boneless inside leg roast were fabricated from one side each of carcass. After grilling (loin chop) or convection air roasting (leg roast), trained sensory panel evaluation and measurement of aroma volatiles by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry were performed. Treatment diet did not affect (P ≥ 0.17) wether feedlot performance, dressing percentage, or loin eye area. However, wethers fed JUN0 tended (P = 0.06) to have greater back fat depth than wethers fed JUN20 or JUN40. No trained sensory panel trait of loin chop samples was affected (P > 0.10) by treatment. Leg roasts from JUN0 and JUN20 wethers had greater (P = 0.01) lamb identification sensory score than JUN40. Benzaldehyde, 1-heptanol, and 1-octanol concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) and decanal and nonenal concentrations were less (P < 0.05) in loin chops from JUN0 compared with JUN40 wethers. Additionally, the terpenes cedr-8-ene, gamma muurolene, and widdrene tended to be greater (P < 0.07) in loin chops from JUN20 and JUN40 than JUN0 wethers. The 2-pentyl-furan concentrations were greatest (P = 0.03) in leg roasts from JUN40 wethers. Like the loin chops, cedr-8-ene, gamma-muurolene, toluene, and widdrene were greater (P < 0.05) in leg roasts from wethers fed either of the juniper diets compared with JUN0. Yearling wethers can be finished on a feedlot diet containing 20% juniper for up to 40 d prior to harvest with no impact on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, nor negative impact on sensory attributes or volatile compounds of either grilled loin chops or roasted legs.

Some consequences of imposing different continuousgrazing pressures in the spring on tiller demography and leaf growth

1989 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. B. Tallowin ◽  
J. H. H. Williams ◽  
F. W. Kirkham
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Growth ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Demographic Differences ◽  
Inflorescence Development ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Sward Height ◽  
Continuous Grazing ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Common

SummaryThe effects of different severities of continuous grazing imposed during the spring, followed by a uniform continuous grazing management from mid-summer onwards, were examined in relation to changes in tiller demography and leaf growth of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Two grazing severities were imposed, based upon maintaining a constant sward height of either 35 mm (severe) or 75 mm (lenient). From 1 June onwards, a uniform grazing pressure with a sward height of 60 mm was imposed.Differences in the age class structure of the tiller populations developed during the spring between the two grazing treatments, principally through the suppression of daughter tiller development under the more lenient grazing. The demographic differences between the treatments were further increased during the remainder of the grazing season, under the common grazing management, largely because of the greater production of secondary daughter tillers in the sward which had been leniently grazed. The demographic differences between the swards had little effect on net pasture production during the treatment season, with lamina growth rates being virtually unaffected across a wide range of steadystate, continuous-grazing pressures. However, longer-term effects on pasture development, due to the demographic differences between the swards, did appear in the following season; the more severe grazing pressure treatment resulted in earlier inflorescence development in the subsequent season.

How to optimise pasture production off uncultivatable hill country

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 57-60
Author(s):  
D. Daniell ◽  
S. Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Late Winter ◽  
Manuka Honey ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Hill Country ◽  
Land Clearing ◽  
The Past

Around 70 percent (guesstimate) of New Zealand's sheep and beef population is farmed on uncultivatable hill country. There are large areas where individual farms have less than ten percent available for cultivation. Wairere is such a property. Originally the southern end of the "seventy mile bush", the soils are poor, derived from sandstone and clay, with pHs of 4.9-5.2 and phosphorus (P) levels of 1-2. Following initial land clearing there were several rounds of reversion to Manuka until the mid 1960s when my father John embarked on a programme which included large inputs of lime, at 5 t/hectare, super at 1 t/hectare, and DAP at 100 kg/hectare, all flown on in the first 28 months. This programme took from 1965 to 1982. I personally spent nine months cutting scrub—more recently I have been a shareholder in a manuka honey company planting scrub, how things go round! This programme was accompanied by subdivision and provision of stock water by the construction of dams. There were invasions of porina and manuka beetle following development, and porina control is still required on a regular basis. Wairere has run performance recorded sheep since 1967, based on a registered Romney stud started by my grandfather in 1929. We winter around 9500 sheep and 340 cattle on 1070 effective hectares. The 5300 ewes wean 145 percent average; the 2000 ewe hoggets (all in lamb) wean around 1700 lambs. All hoggets have been mated for the past 50 years; the 1800-2000 ram hoggets are culled lightly in late winter, and taken through to private sale in November; the 300 cows (replacements bought in) calve from mid October, with most wearers sold in April.

Effect of deferred autumn grazing and stocking rate of sheep on pasture production in a Mediterranean-type climate

1976 ◽  
Vol 16 (79) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
TH Brown
Keyword(s):  
South Australia ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Botanical Composition ◽  
Stocking Rate ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Continuous Grazing ◽  
Wimmera Ryegrass ◽  
June July ◽  
Stocking Rates

The effect of deferred autumn grazing and stocking rate on an annual pasture was monitored for five years at Kybybolite Research Centre in the south-east of South Australia. Pasture availability, yearly production and botanical composition were measured under a series of eight stocking rates from 12.4 to 29.7 Merino wethers per hectare. Autumn deferment resulted in extra available pasture during the winter months of June, July and August. However, the continously grazed pastures reached the same level of availability as the deferred pastures in spring. By the third year of the experiment yearly pasture production irrespective of grazing management was greatly reduced at the higher stocking rates. This reduction was associated with an invasion of Poa annua and Juncus bufonius. Autumn deferment tended to favour the growth of Wimmera ryegrass at the lower stocking rates whereas continuous grazing tended to favour clover growth at these stocking rates.

scholarly journals HOW GOOD IS TAMA RYEGRASS?

1978 ◽  
pp. 180-183
Author(s):  
W.R. Scott ◽  
K.R. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Lolium Multiflorum ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Late Pregnancy ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Italian Ryegrass ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Early Lactation ◽  
Winter Maintenance ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Quality Production

'GRASSLANDS TAMA' Westerwolds ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) is a tetraploid cultivar of an extreme annual form of Italian ryegrass, bred in New Zealand and released into certification in 1967 (Barclay and Vartha, 1966) . Tama has been used mainly as a greenfeed crop to provide high quality production feed for use in late pregnancy and early lactation and should not be confused with winter maintenance feed crops such as swedes and turnips. Seed sales of Tama on the domestic market have declined in recent years, no doubt caused in part by the high cost of seed and by poor performance from sowings in dry autumns. To ensure reliability of Tama feed supply in late winter-early spring, correct husbandry in the previous months is required. It is the purpose of this paper to review this husbandry in the light of recent research findings.

scholarly journals Height and mowing of pasture at the end of winter modulate the tillering of Marandu palisadegrass in spring

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Bruno Humberto Rezende Carvalho ◽  
Lilian Elgalise Techio Pereira ◽  
André Fischer Sbrissia ◽  
Gabriel De Oliveira Rocha ◽  
Manoel Eduardo Rozalino Santos
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Stability Index ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Pasture Management ◽  
Appearance Rate ◽  
Urochloa Brizantha ◽  
Tiller Recruitment ◽  
Intense Process

In pastures subjected to stockpiling, the tiller population goes through an intense process of self-thinning, hindering the recruitment of new tillers in the subsequent season. We evaluated different pasture management strategies in late winter in an attempt to modify tiller recruitment during spring. Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu was maintained at 4 different levels (heights) of stockpiled pasture at the end of winter: short (15.1 cm), medium (23.2 cm), tall (31.4 cm) and tall/mown (31.3 cm, mown to 8 cm). In October (early spring), the short and tall/mown pastures had a tiller appearance rate (TAR) and a population stability index (PSI) superior (P<0.05) to that of the tall pasture. During the remainder of the growing season, these characteristics (TAR and PSI) were similar for all pastures. Tiller survival rate (TSR) was also highest (P<0.05) in short pasture in early spring. TAR values were highest in early spring and these tillers persisted throughout the growing season. When stockpiling Marandu palisadegrass pasture during spring it is important to have it short at the end of winter to ensure early and intense tillering in spring. If pasture is tall at the end of winter mowing at this time before spelling is advantageous.

The influence of grazing management on the competitiveness, persistence and productivity of chicory (Cichorium intybus L.)

2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Alemseged ◽  
D. R. Kemp ◽  
G. W. King ◽  
D. L. Michalk ◽  
M. Goodacre
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Ability ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
First Year ◽  
Percentage Composition ◽  
Continuous Grazing ◽  
Annual Grasses ◽  
Weedy Species ◽  
Broadleaf Species

Chicory is a highly productive and nutritious forage that is sensitive to grazing. A challenge for grazing management is to prevent pasture decline associated with the replacement of productive species by undesirable weedy species. The competitive ability, persistence and productivity of chicory were investigated under a gradient of grazing management practices ranging from continuous to short grazing–long rest treatments by merino wethers. Chicory density and percentage composition declined after the first year of continuous grazing. The density of chicory in all rotationally grazed treatments initially increased and then declined significantly after the third year, except in the short grazing–long rest treatment. The percentage composition of chicory in the pasture was influenced mainly by the frequency of grazing and to a lesser extent by stand age and was inversely related to the combined percentage composition of annual grasses and broadleaf species. The percentage composition of legumes was dependent more on seasonal conditions than on treatment. The interactions between chicory, grasses and broadleaf weeds are most probably driven by their competition for nitrogen.

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