It is important to distinguish between stocking rate and grazing intensity. Stocking rate is the number of defined stock units per unit area, usually expressed as DSE/ha (dry sheep equivalent per hectare).
Grazing intensity includes a pasture component as well as stock numbers, for example, two paddocks stocked at the same rate but one with 1500 kg DM/ha FOO and the other with 2500 kg DM/ha FOO have different grazing intensities, the first being higher.
The aim of a grazing enterprise is to profit by:
• optimum production from each animal; and
• optimum animal production from each hectare of land.
Increasing stocking rate to increase animal production per hectare can lead to lower production per head. As stocking rate increases, competition increases between animals for pasture and greater spoilage by dung, urine and trampling.
Consequently, up to a certain stocking rate, animal production per hectare will rise as stocking rate increases, even though there is a decline in per head production. But increasing stocking rate past this point results in a decline in both production per hectare and production per head.
In meat animals that are being grown to a specific level of fatness the drop away is sudden (Figure 1) because a point is reached where individual gains are too low to provide any finished product per hectare.
Fodder budgeting allows you to match pasture supply and animal production, thereby calculating the number of grazing days in a particular paddock. You need to achieve a compromise between per head and per hectare production.
Use pasture benchmarks as a basis for varying stocking rates while ensuring the nutrient intake of livestock is maintained. Grazing management decisions aim to match feeding requirements with pasture production.
That is, match sheep or cattle that have the lowest demand, like dry stock, with lower pasture quality. Match growing and lactating stock with the highest quality and quantity of pasture on offer.
Overall, an annual strategy combining the benefits of both continuous grazing and flexible rotational grazing needs considering to achieve pasture and animal targets. Such a strategy should attempt to better use flushes of pasture, not penalise pasture during periods of slow growth. This strategy will be profitable and sustainable.
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