Description

Cell grazing (CG) has shown to increase the production per hectare by allowing higher stocking rates, greater grass production and higher herbage utilisation throughout the grazing season compared to set stocking (SS). Our objective was to compare the herbage growth rate during winter resting (WHGR, October/November to April) and the animals grazing days per ha (AGD-ha) of CG and SS systems grazed by dairy x beef steers. Three 1.75ha (1.5ha in 2018) plots and three 1.0ha were used for the SS and CG, respectively. Forty-two and 48 autumn born dairy x beef steer calves were split into six equal groups and randomly allocated to treatments in April 2018 and April 2020, respectively. In the second grazing seasons (2019 and 2021), the number of animals was reduced to keep stocking rates comparative to the prior year, and steers remained in the plots until finishing (October/November). Herbage mass (HM) was recorded weekly with a rising plate meter. The WHGR was estimated by subtracting the HM recorded at the end of the previous grazing season to the HM recorded at the beginning of the following season and divided by the number of days between readings. The AGD-ha was calculated by summing the days each animal grazed each area and divided by the size of the study enclosure. In three of the four years, the CG had fewer days of winter resting (157-175) than the SS (157-182), whereas the WHGR was greater in three of the four winters (average across years: 5.77 vs. 4.05 kg DM/ha per d, for CG and SS respectively). Despite the shorter winter rest, overall, the CG accumulated 37% more HM (average across years: 976 vs. 710 kg DM/ha) and had 78% more AGD-ha (1102 vs. 620 animal.d/ha) than SS. These differences do not seem to be driven by the herbage residual at the end of the grazing season but by the change in botanical composition across time.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.13023/99y5-7d89

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Winter Herbage Mass Accumulation and Animals Grazing Days of Set Stocking or Cell Grazing Dairy x Beef Systems in Southwest England

Cell grazing (CG) has shown to increase the production per hectare by allowing higher stocking rates, greater grass production and higher herbage utilisation throughout the grazing season compared to set stocking (SS). Our objective was to compare the herbage growth rate during winter resting (WHGR, October/November to April) and the animals grazing days per ha (AGD-ha) of CG and SS systems grazed by dairy x beef steers. Three 1.75ha (1.5ha in 2018) plots and three 1.0ha were used for the SS and CG, respectively. Forty-two and 48 autumn born dairy x beef steer calves were split into six equal groups and randomly allocated to treatments in April 2018 and April 2020, respectively. In the second grazing seasons (2019 and 2021), the number of animals was reduced to keep stocking rates comparative to the prior year, and steers remained in the plots until finishing (October/November). Herbage mass (HM) was recorded weekly with a rising plate meter. The WHGR was estimated by subtracting the HM recorded at the end of the previous grazing season to the HM recorded at the beginning of the following season and divided by the number of days between readings. The AGD-ha was calculated by summing the days each animal grazed each area and divided by the size of the study enclosure. In three of the four years, the CG had fewer days of winter resting (157-175) than the SS (157-182), whereas the WHGR was greater in three of the four winters (average across years: 5.77 vs. 4.05 kg DM/ha per d, for CG and SS respectively). Despite the shorter winter rest, overall, the CG accumulated 37% more HM (average across years: 976 vs. 710 kg DM/ha) and had 78% more AGD-ha (1102 vs. 620 animal.d/ha) than SS. These differences do not seem to be driven by the herbage residual at the end of the grazing season but by the change in botanical composition across time.