Description
The outcome of mixed grazing depends on the degrees of complementarity and competition between animal species. Complementarity increases the utilisation of herbage resource but competition may be desirable when one grazing species has a higher priority ranking in the farming system. A species wins in the competition by harvesting a higher proportion of the available herbage than the other (Nicol, 1997). De Wit (1960) used the replacement series based on degrees of substitution of species, for the quantification of the outcome of mixtures experiments. The use of species equivalence is required in order to apply this approach to the analysis of the outcome of a mixed grazing experiment. This paper aims to discuss the competition between heifers and ewes in a dairy system, where heifers have a higher priority ranking. Data on species equivalence, reported in Paper 1, were used for this purpose.
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Cattle and Sheep Mixed Grazing: 2: Competition
The outcome of mixed grazing depends on the degrees of complementarity and competition between animal species. Complementarity increases the utilisation of herbage resource but competition may be desirable when one grazing species has a higher priority ranking in the farming system. A species wins in the competition by harvesting a higher proportion of the available herbage than the other (Nicol, 1997). De Wit (1960) used the replacement series based on degrees of substitution of species, for the quantification of the outcome of mixtures experiments. The use of species equivalence is required in order to apply this approach to the analysis of the outcome of a mixed grazing experiment. This paper aims to discuss the competition between heifers and ewes in a dairy system, where heifers have a higher priority ranking. Data on species equivalence, reported in Paper 1, were used for this purpose.
