Balancing animal, pasture and environmental outcomes in grazing management experiments

Abstract

About 60% of the gross value of Australia’s agriculture (AU$49 billion) is produced from the 85 million ha of temperate grasslands of southern Australia. A large part of this production comes from grazing livestock in the high-rainfall zone (HRZ) where 40% of the area has been retained as native and naturalised pastures, located in variable landscapes. These native pastures have seen a decline in productivity and increasing environmental problems, such as erosion, due to a loss of productive perennial species over recent decades. Grazing management systems have been advocated to not only balance the quality and quantity of forage with the nutritional demands of grazing animals, but also to manage the degradation caused by grazing. There has been an evolution of grazing management research through national projects from Temperate Pasture Sustainability Key Program to Sustainable Grazing Systems and then EverGraze, which has shifted from a focus on small plots and fixed stocking rates, to large-plot and farmlet experiments that include landscape variability and flexible grazing systems that more closely resemble commercial practice. These experiments generate reliable plant and animal response data that can be used to validate system models needed to assess the spatial and temporal challenges of grassland management. The present paper introduces the research conducted at the Orange proof site as part of the national EverGraze program. The research investigated the interactions between landscape variability and grazing method (1-, 4- and 20-paddock grazing management treatments) with flexible stocking rates. The following three key questions were addressed: (1) does increasing the number of paddocks and implementing rotational grazing result in a higher stocking rate, higher per hectare production and better economic outcomes; (2) which is the most appropriate combination of grazing method and stocking rate to achieve a higher and more stable perennial component to improve production and environmental benefits in different parts of the landscape; and (3) can landscape variability be identified, mapped and effectively managed on HRZ native grassland properties? This special edition of Animal Production Science answers these questions and provides recommendations for managing HRZ native pastures.

Research Progress of Grassland Ecosystem Structure and Stability and Inspiration for Improving Its Service Capacity in the Karst Desertification Control

“…The above systems encourage the sustainable development of grassland ecosystems, and are key to preventing soil erosion and promoting soil improvement, as well as being important measures to conserve grassland plant biodiversity. Michalk et al detailed sustainable and permanent grazing systems and answer the key questions currently facing Australia: (1) whether increasing the number of paddocks and implementing rotational grazing results in higher grazing rates, higher yields per hectare and better economic benefits; (2) which combination of grazing methods and grazing rates is most appropriate to create higher and more stable perennial grasslands to improve yields and environmental benefits in different parts of the landscape; and (3) can landscape variability be identified, mapped and effectively managed on native grasslands in high-rainfall areas [ 173 ] ? These can provide some inspiration for grassland grazing and farmers’ livelihoods in KDC.…”

Consórcio de azevém (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) com leguminosas na porção pampeana do Rio Grande do Sul: uma revisão de literatura

“…O estabelecimento de pastagens de gramíneas de ciclo hibernal (C3) pode ser empregado para suprir a carência de alimento durante estações de baixa produção vegetal, elevar a taxa de lotação animal e, consequentemente, aumentar o desempenho animal (Sichonany et al, 2016;Michalk et al, 2017). Além disso, a melhoria forrageira pode ser feita através do consórcio de gramíneas com espécies de outras famílias botânicas, cuja associação propicia o aumento da utilização de recursos (e.g., nitrogênio (N), fósforo (P)) e compensa a produtividade forrageira quando alguma outra espécie vegetal não persiste na pastagem (Fales et al, 1996).…”

“…e maior retorno financeiro para o produtor(Garay et al, 2004).De acordo comMichalk et al (2017), a maior parte do aumento de produção de carne virá dos países em desenvolvimento, pois, nos Estados Unidos da América e Europa, a quantidade de carne produzida pouco vem crescendo, enquanto a produção de Índia, Brasil e Austrália possuem tendência de permanecer crescendo, sendo, atualmente, juntas, responsáveis por 59% de todas as exportações de carne do mundo. O rebanho brasileiro de ruminantes domésticos conta com, aproximadamente, 253,1 milhões de animais (IBGE, 2020), responsáveis pela geração de R$495 bilhões em bens e serviços(CEPEA, 2020).…”

Sustainability and future food security—A global perspective for livestock production

“…This achievement is due to investment in research focused on identified profit drivers for wool (i.e., clean fleece weight, fibre diameter, staple length, colour, strength, and low contamination) and meat (i.e., reproductive performance, lamb growth rate, fat depth, and meat quality) and the development of precision management practices, including good agronomy, that consistently and efficiently produce sheep products that meet the demands of Australia's domestic and export markets (Michalk, Wu, Badgery, & Kemp, ). Just as important is the sequence of National programmes such as Prograze (Bell & Allan, ), Sustainable Grazing Systems (Mason et al, ), Grain and Graze (Bridle & Price, ), and EverGraze (Badgery, Michalk, & Kemp, ; Michalk, Badgery, & Kemp, ) that have clearly built the knowledge required and demonstrated that many environmental benefits such as improved hydrology, enhanced species diversity, and reduced erosion have positive outcomes on production with substantial financial benefits to people involved in grazing industries. Those programmes have always had good agronomy and improved forage management as core components.…”