Grazing Strategy Effects on Utilization, Animal Performance, Aboveground Production, Species Composition, and Soil Properties on Nebraska Sandhills Meadow PDF Download
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Author: Aaron Shropshire
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Grazing
Languages : en
Pages : 126
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Book Description
Ultrahigh stocking density (a.k.a., mob grazing) is proposed as a management tool that results in greater harvest efficiency, animal performance, aboveground plant production, species richness, and soil carbon content. The study objective was to determine grazing treatment, haying, or non-defoliated control effects on forage utilization, aboveground production, animal performance, and soil properties. In 2010, 25 ha of Sandhills meadow were divided into 2 replications of 3 grazing, a hay, and control treatment. Grazing treatments were a 120-pasture rotation with one grazing cycle (mob), a 4-pasture rotation with one cycle (4PR1), and a 4-pasture rotation with two cycles (4PR2) at stocking densities of 225,000, 7,000, and 5,000 kg ha-1, respectively. Pastures were stocked by yearling steers (365 kg) at 7.4 AUM ha-1 from May to August in 2010 to 2017. Hay was harvested annually in July. Control plots were not defoliated. In grazed treatments, aboveground biomass was clipped at ground level to estimate utilization after grazing periods (24 hours, 10 and 15 days,). Aboveground biomass was clipped at ground level annually within experimental units in mid-August. Species composition was determined annually in June. Soil cores were taken in 2010 and 2018 at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depths. Utilization in grazed treatments differed by treatment. Mob utilization and trampled vegetation was highest followed by 4PR1 and 4PR2. Harvest efficiency did not differ by treatment. Residual standing live herbage had a treatment by year interaction where mob was usually lowest and 4PR2 was usually highest. Aboveground production did not differ among grazing and hay treatments but was greater for grazed treatments than control. Animal performance differed by treatment and year with steers gaining more in 4PR2 than the other treatments. Cool-season grasses decreased in control but increased in grazed treatments. Warm-season grasses decreased in control and were unchanged in grazed treatments. Prairie cordgrass and white clover were affected by treatment. Soil carbon, nitrogen, and bulk density did not differ among treatments. We concluded that management strategy was a driver of utilization, animal performance, and species composition. After 8 years, mob grazing was not a driver of aboveground production or soil property changes.
Author: Aaron Shropshire
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Grazing
Languages : en
Pages : 126
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Book Description
Ultrahigh stocking density (a.k.a., mob grazing) is proposed as a management tool that results in greater harvest efficiency, animal performance, aboveground plant production, species richness, and soil carbon content. The study objective was to determine grazing treatment, haying, or non-defoliated control effects on forage utilization, aboveground production, animal performance, and soil properties. In 2010, 25 ha of Sandhills meadow were divided into 2 replications of 3 grazing, a hay, and control treatment. Grazing treatments were a 120-pasture rotation with one grazing cycle (mob), a 4-pasture rotation with one cycle (4PR1), and a 4-pasture rotation with two cycles (4PR2) at stocking densities of 225,000, 7,000, and 5,000 kg ha-1, respectively. Pastures were stocked by yearling steers (365 kg) at 7.4 AUM ha-1 from May to August in 2010 to 2017. Hay was harvested annually in July. Control plots were not defoliated. In grazed treatments, aboveground biomass was clipped at ground level to estimate utilization after grazing periods (24 hours, 10 and 15 days,). Aboveground biomass was clipped at ground level annually within experimental units in mid-August. Species composition was determined annually in June. Soil cores were taken in 2010 and 2018 at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depths. Utilization in grazed treatments differed by treatment. Mob utilization and trampled vegetation was highest followed by 4PR1 and 4PR2. Harvest efficiency did not differ by treatment. Residual standing live herbage had a treatment by year interaction where mob was usually lowest and 4PR2 was usually highest. Aboveground production did not differ among grazing and hay treatments but was greater for grazed treatments than control. Animal performance differed by treatment and year with steers gaining more in 4PR2 than the other treatments. Cool-season grasses decreased in control but increased in grazed treatments. Warm-season grasses decreased in control and were unchanged in grazed treatments. Prairie cordgrass and white clover were affected by treatment. Soil carbon, nitrogen, and bulk density did not differ among treatments. We concluded that management strategy was a driver of utilization, animal performance, and species composition. After 8 years, mob grazing was not a driver of aboveground production or soil property changes.
Author: Torie Lindsey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plants
Languages : en
Pages : 70
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Book Description
A study was conducted on a subirrigated meadow in the Nebraska Sandhills to determine differences in aboveground plant production, utilization, trampling, harvest efficiency, ground cover, plant functional group composition and animal performance among four grazing treatments. Grazing treatments included ultrahigh stocking density, four-pasture rotation with one occupation (4-PR-1), and four-pasture rotation with two occupations (4-PR-2). Pastures were grazed from May to August in 2014 and 2015 at equal stocking rates within years but varied among years. Stocking densities were 225,000 kg ha-1 for ultrahigh stocking density, 7,000 kg ha-1 for 4-PR-1, and 5,000 kg ha-1 for 4-PR-2. Aboveground plant production did not differ among treatments. Litter mass was 2 to 4 times greater in control treatments but there were no differences among grazed treatments. Standing dead biomass did not differ among treatments. Utilization was greater in ultrahigh stocking density treatments than 4-PR-1, likely due to trampling amounts, which were greatest in ultrahigh stocking density. Remaining herbage was lowest in ultrahigh stocking density treatments. Cool-season grass composition was greatest in the 4-PR-1 treatment and lowest in the control treatment. Warm-season grass composition was greatest in 2015 for grazed treatments and in 2014 for the control treatment. Sedges and rushes did not differ among grazed treatments. Percentage forbs did not differ among treatments and peaked in 2014. There were no treatment effects on ground cover; including litter, bare ground and plant base hits. In 2014, steer daily gains among all treatments were not different. In 2015, steer average daily gains in the 4-PR-2 were greater than ultrahigh stocking density and 4-PR-1 daily gain.
Author: Miles D. Redden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Grasslands
Languages : en
Pages : 125
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Book Description
Mob grazing using ultrahigh stocking densities is promoted as a tool to increase the health and productivity of grasslands by increasing nutrient cycling and soil organic matter. Mob grazing can be defined as a strategy in which area available to grazing animals is restricted to achieve stocking densities of 200,000 kg/ha or greater. Objectives were to determine herbage production, utilization, and cattle weight gains among ultrahigh stocking density grazing and more conventional grazing methods on a Sandhills subirrigated meadow. Treatments included two replications of each of the following: four-pasture rotational grazing with two occupations per pasture in an 80-day grazing season (4-PR-2), four-pasture rotational grazing with one occupation per pasture in a 60-day grazing season (4-PR-1), and a mob grazing system with one occupation per pasture in a 60-day grazing season (MOB). In each of the four years (2010 -- 2013), yearling beef cattle grazed the 4-PR-2 from mid-May through early August and the 4-PR-1 and MOB treatments from early June through early August. Stocking rates were equal among treatments within years but varied among years dependent on forage production. Stock densities were 225,000 kg/ha, 7000 kg/ha, and 5000 kg/ha for the MOB, 4-PR-1, and 4-PR-2 respectively. Herbage mass in grazing exclosures was used to estimate aboveground production in 2012 and 2013. Trampling and harvest efficiency were estimated every other week in the MOB and each time cattle changed pastures in the 4-PR-1 and 4-PR-2 during 2010, 2011, and 2013. Aboveground production did not differ among treatments. Average daily gains of MOB were low (0.2 kg/head/day) compared to 4-PR-2 gains (0.8 kg/head/day). Low gains on the MOB pastures likely were related to high levels of trampling and poor forage quality late in the grazing season.
Author: Daniel G. Milchunas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Grazing
Languages : en
Pages : 134
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Book Description
Grazing by wild and domestic mammals can have small to large effects on plant communities, depending on characteristics of the particular community and of the type and intensity of grazing. The broad objective of this report was to extensively review literature on the effects of grazing on 25 plant communities of the southwestern U.S. in terms of plant species composition, aboveground primary productivity, and root and soil attributes. Livestock grazing management and grazing systems are assessed, as are effects of small and large native mammals and feral species, when data are available. Emphasis is placed on the evolutionary history of grazing and productivity of the particular communities as determinants of response. After reviewing available studies for each community type, we compare changes in species composition with grazing among community types. Comparisons are also made between southwestern communities with a relatively short history of grazing and communities of the adjacent Great Plains with a long evolutionary history of grazing. Evidence for grazing as a factor in shifts from grasslands to shrublands is considered. An appendix outlines a new community classification system, which is followed in describing grazing impacts in prior sections.
Author: Mitchell B. Stephenson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Pastures
Languages : en
Pages :
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Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Soil Resources, Management, and Conservation Service
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9789251030288
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 176
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Book Description
Author: J. Murphy
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9086865542
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 269
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Book Description
Leading authorities from wide geographical regions of the globe will review the most up-to-date information in relation to temperate grasslands. Topics covered are: nutritive value of pasture; plant characteristics conducive to high animal intake and performance; modelling of both grass growth and animal production and intake in grazing systems; optimising financial returns from grazing; decision support systems; optimal animal breeds and traits for grazing systems; challenges and opportunities for animal production in the immediate future .In addition, short papers will present the most recent research on the above mentioned topics. One paper will present a comprehensive overview of animal production from pasture in Ireland This book will be of interest to grassland and ruminant production scientists, mathematical modellers working on grazing systems, extension workers, students of agriculture and animal production and progressive livestock farmers.
Author: Leslie Michele Roche
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781124908342
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Upper montane meadows are keystone areas of ecological importance within a forested landscape: Although montane meadows comprise less than 10% of the Sierra Nevada, they represent tremendous ecological, social, and economic importance. Meadows are highly productive and provide numerous ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat, flood flow retention and maintenance of summer stream baseflows, and forage production for permitted cattle grazing. Because montane meadows provide for these multiple uses, there has been considerable concern regarding potential detrimental effects of livestock grazing on meadow functioning, especially in high elevation systems on US Forest Service lands. Public lands grazing in higher elevation range is crucial to sustaining many Sierra foothill ranching operations: In the Sierra foothills, forage quality and livestock performance is generally low throughout the inadequate dry forage period (i.e., summer season), and so managers must seek alternative feed sources (e.g., high elevation grazing leases) during this time. For these reasons, there is a growing amount of interest and examination of the potential impacts of cattle grazing on meadow functions and ecosystem services. This research was part of a larger collaborative effort, the Yosemite Toad Adaptive Management Project, between the USDA Forest Service-Pacific Southwest Region, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis. The overall project included multiple experimental approaches to investigate the potential impacts of cattle grazing on a sensitive amphibian species, Yosemite toads (Bufo canorus Camp), and its meadow habitat. In the first study, we investigated the potential to alleviate possible negative grazing impacts on hydrologic, water quality, and cover habitat conditions via cattle exclusion treatments. Our objectives were to: 1) Determine associations between breeding pool habitat conditions and use of potential breeding pools by toads, and 2) Determine how habitat conditions respond to cattle exclusion treatments on the Sierra National Forest, California. We randomly selected two toad occupied and two unoccupied breeding pools in each of nine meadows for this study (n=36 breeding pools). After baseline data collection in 2006, three meadow fencing treatments were implemented over the course of three years. Treatments were fencing to exclude cattle from the entire meadow; fencing to exclude cattle from potential toad breeding and rearing areas, with grazing allowed in the remaining unfenced portion of the meadow; and cattle grazing allowed across the entire meadow. We monitored hydrologic, water quality, and cover habitat factors as well as toad occupancy during the breeding seasons of 2006 through 2008. Concentrations of water quality constituents were uniformly low all years, regardless of treatment. Occupied pools were shallower, warmer, and more nitrogen enriched than unoccupied breeding pools. We found no evidence of improved toad breeding pool habitat conditions following fencing compared to standard US Forest Service grazing management. The second study was a three year, cross-sectional observational survey of cattle grazing intensity and Yosemite toad occupancy of meadows across the extensive grazing landscape. We surveyed biotic and abiotic factors influencing cattle utilization and toad occupancy across 24 meadows to investigate potential associations between grazing and amphibian occurrence and inform conservation planning efforts. Toad occupancy, cattle utilization, plant community, and hydrologic data were collected within each meadow. Cattle use was negatively related to meadow wetness, while toad occupancy was positively related to meadow wetness. In mid and late season (mid July through mid September) grazing periods, cattle selected for higher forage quality diets associated with drier meadows. Bayesian structural equation model analyses supported the hypothesis that meadow wetness had a greater magnitude of influence on toad meadow occupancy than cattle grazing intensity. The third study focuses on the variation in soil and plant community properties, and associated ecosystem services, across grazed meadow catenas. This patch-level (i.e., within meadow) approach allowed us to: 1) Quantify patch-level relationships among wetness, plant community characteristics, and annual cattle utilization within meadows; and 2) Quantify and describe plant community and soil characteristics expressed across meadow catenas to evaluate the variation in--and 'compatibility' of--multiple ecosystem services across grazed meadows. We found significant differences in the levels of multiple ecosystem services provided across patch types. Drier (moist to mesic) patches provided greater forage quality value, and experienced greater grazing pressures. These patches also supported greater plant species richness and diversity. The wettest patch types, produced by season-long high water tables, had the greatest accumulations of soil organic matter, soil C, and soil N. There were no significant cattle grazing impacts on soil characteristics across patch types. Collectively, these findings suggest that cattle production, wildlife conservation, and maintenance of soil properties can be compatible goals within this working landscape. Loss of critical wet meadow habitat will have direct negative impacts on sensitive aquatic species and soil health; therefore, managing current land uses to maintain proper meadow functioning conditions, restoring sites degraded from past land use activities (i.e., legacy effects), and mitigating potential climate change impacts on meadow ecohydrology are vital to conservation of multiple ecosystem services.
Author: Jared Vern Judy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Feeds
Languages : en
Pages : 94
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Book Description
The objectives of this research were to 1) evaluate the effects of stocking rate on forage nutrient quality 2) quantify the relative proportions of current vs. previous year growth being consumed in early summer upland range pastures and 3) determine how grazing effects forage nutrient quality in subirrigated meadows in the Nebraska Sandhills. Experiment 1 was a two year study conducted on the experimental upland range paddocks at Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory. Twelve 2-hectare paddocks were assigned one of three treatments stocked at 0 (control), 0.57 (light), and 0.85 (heavy) AUM/ha. Ten 0.25 m2 quadrats were clipped per paddock during the study. Diet quality was determined using esophageally fistulated cows. Experiment 2 was conducted at a commercial ranch near Lakeside, NE. Esophageally fistulated cows sampled pastures either grazed or non-grazed throughout the grazing season starting on June 14 and ending late August in a two year study. Samples were analyzed for IVOMD, CP and NDF content. Stocked upland range paddock diet samples had decreased CP, IVOMD, and greater NDF content compared with control paddocks for diet samples. Diet samples were lower in quality compared with current year growth but greater in quality compared with previous year growth indicating cattle consumed previous year growth as part of the diet. Forage accumulation increased linearly in control paddocks but did not change in stocked paddocks. Grazed samples had lower CP content than non-grazed pastures early in the grazing season and unaffected later in the season. Neutral detergent fiber was greater in grazed compared with non-grazed pastures early in the grazing season. Diet IVOMD was most affected by grazing as season progressed. These studies indicate grazing and stocking rate effect diet quality in subirrigated meadows and upland range. Producers need to rotate cattle frequently in early summer to ensure high quality intake..
Author: John F. Vallentine
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0323139663
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 544
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Book Description
Introduction to Grazing. Grazing Effects on Plants and Soils. Spatial Patterns in Grazing. Manipulation Grazing Distribution. Grazing and Herbivore Nutrition. Grazing Activities and Behavior. Plant Selection in Grazing. Kind and Mix of Grazing Animals. Grazing Animal Intake and Equivalence. Grazing Capacity Inventory. Grazing Intensity. Grazing Seasons. Grazing Systems. Part I. Grazing Systems. Part II. Appendix. Terminology. Literature Cited. Index of Plants. Subject Index. Comparison of types of grazing land with grazing animals Evaluation of productivity of forage plants under different grazing regimes Examination of specialized grazing systems Development of inventories of grazing resources Determination of nutritive quality of various forages Sustainability of forage plant vigor and productivity
