Demonstrating control of forage allowance for beef cattle grazing Campos grassland in Uruguay to improve system productivity

Abstract

While low-cost technology can be applied within beef cattle systems to improve economic output and decrease economic risk, methodologies to increase adoption by farmers deserve attention. Here we report 4 case studies where low-cost, high-impact technology was applied on commercial farms in an endeavor to demonstrate increased physical output in what we describe as 'Producer Demonstration Sites'. Forage allowance (FA) affects forage growth, forage intake by animals and energy partitioning to maintenance or production. We decided to demonstrate the benefits to production from controlling forage allowance at specific recommended levels. While we focused on FA, other management tools, e.g. suckling restriction and energy supplementation of cows prior to breeding, were tested in different contexts and time periods to improve the critical responses mentioned. While increases in production from 3 of the farms were demonstrated, only 2 of the farmers showed interest in implementing the strategies on their farms subsequently. We conclude that control of forage allowance improved energy intake. For this approach to be successful and increase adoption, it is important to involve the farmers in discussions regarding the proposed changes from the outset as well as the monitoring of progress during the demonstration.

Number of samples for accurate visual estimation of mean herbage mass in Campos grasslands

“…Herbage mass in the 26 paddocks was sampled as 273 events (Table 1) from July 2007 to March 2010 at Site 1 and from November 2012 to August 2015 at Sites 2–5, with frequencies of at least once per season per site and 1–27 times per paddock. The mean monthly temperature and monthly rainfall at the sampling events ranged between 3°C and > 22°C and between 0 and 435 mm, respectively (Do Carmo et al., 2018, 2019), which were within the range of historical records.…”

“…Site 1 was a grazing experiment which investigated the effect of herbage allowance on pasture and animal productivity (Do Carmo et al., 2018). The other four sites were commercial farms, involved in a technology transfer project (Do Carmo et al., 2019). All paddocks were under stocking by beef cows or a mixture of beef cows, steers or heifers with sheep and/or horses.…”

“…Estimation of mean herbage mass (kg dry matter [DM] ha −1 ) in individual paddocks is important for livestock managers for both experimental and commercial grazing systems, because this enables paddock‐to‐paddock adjustments of stocking density based on herbage allowance (kg herbage DM kg −1 live weight of animal; Sollenberger, Moore, Allen, & Pedreira, 2005) which greatly affects individual and per ha animal productivity (Do Carmo, Sollenberger, Carriquiry, & Soca, 2018; Do Carmo, Cardozo, Jaurena, & Soca, 2019; Rouquette, 2016). The question when estimating mean herbage mass of paddocks is the number of samples required for accurate estimation.…”

“…Temperature and rainfall fluctuate seasonally and inter‐annually. All these biotic and abiotic factors may cause paddock‐to‐paddock and within‐paddock variability of herbage mass modified by seasons and years (Cid & Brizuela, 1998; Do Carmo, et al, 2019; Hirata, 1993). Hence, Campos grasslands provide an ideal setting for exploring the number of samples for accurate estimation of mean herbage mass of paddocks.…”

Agroecology in Large Scale Farming—A Research Agenda

“…For example, simply organizing the herd and the grazing regime to increase forage allowance, forage height, and plant biomass leads to enhanced energy consumption per animal and forage production by native grassland species (Carvalho et al, 2011;Carriquiry et al, 2012;Do Carmo et al, 2016). Other agroecological strategies include matching grassland growth rates during the year with forage demands by different animal categories, multi-species grazing designs to stimulate complementarity, matching spatial heterogeneity to different quantity and quality of forage requirements, respecting reseeding, and maintaining a permanent soil cover, all of which have proven successful at both experimental and real farm conditions, doubling current productivity levels (e.g., Albicette et al, 2017;Do Carmo et al, 2018). These transitions require also animal breeding support, an agenda that has been highlighted for ruminants, pigs and poultry (Phocas et al, 2016).…”