The herbage intake of cattle grazing lucerne and cocksfoot pastures

Alder, F. E.; Minson, D. J.

doi:10.1017/s0021859600011953

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…At this stage the DM intake had dropped to below maintenance for both the 12-and 3-day treatments ( Table 2). The 20% decline in digestibility during a 12-day duration is consistent with the findings of Alder & Minson (1963) who measured a 7% decline following 1 day of grazing by steers. Most of this decline can be attributed to preferential selection of highly digestible parts by the sheep (Terry & Tilley 1964;Christian et al 1970) but may also be associated with a greater decline in levels of soluble carbohydrates in the stem over the longer grazing duration.…”

Section: Leaf:stem Ratiosupporting

confidence: 88%

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Lucerne grazing management 2. Effect of grazing duration on defoliation pattern by ewes

White¹,

Cosgrove²

1990

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research

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Patterns of defoliation of lucerne(Medicago sativa L.) by sheep. were cO?1pared during 12-day and 3-day grazing durations at stocking densities calculated to consume the available herbage in the specified grazing duration. Sheep grazing for 12 days ate more of the available herbage than sheep grazing for 3 days. The difference arose in the early stages of the long grazing duration when the lower grazing pressure resulted in a higher per head allowance of the most palatable plant parts, the apices and leaves, which resulted in a 29% higher intake initially. For both grazing durations the rate of herbage consUl~pti~n declined during grazing because of a decline 10 herbage mass and an increase in. the pro~rtio~of lower digestibility stem material, The 10 VItro digestibility of the leaf-less stalk at the end of grazing for 12 days was eq?ivalent~lu~ern~~~y, herbage on offer having dechned 20% 10 digestibility since the start of grazing. These findings suggest that high liveweight gain in animals would be favoured by 12-day rather than 3-day grazing, but once leaf and upper stem of lucerne is consumed, the lower stem should beutilised by stock that only require maintenance feeding.

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Section: Leaf:stem Ratiosupporting

confidence: 88%

“…3). It was observed that this upper stem consumption was associated with apex removal, also noted by Alder & Minson (1963) and Dougherty et al (1987) with cattle. There was a greater decline in stem length for the long grazing duration because more rapid consumption ofapices meant that sheep began grazing decapitated stems earlier.…”

Section: Leaf:stem Ratiomentioning

confidence: 76%

Lucerne grazing management 2. Effect of grazing duration on defoliation pattern by ewes

White¹,

Cosgrove²

1990

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research

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“…Tetraploid ryegrass varieties can increase intake and production relative to diploid varieties (Hageman et al, 1993). At grazing, herbage intake is markedly higher (115% to 120%) with pure legume relative to pure grass pastures (Alder and Minson, 1963). The beneficial effects of WC on animal intake and performance within a WC-grass pasture have been demonstrated by Wilkins et al (1994).…”

Section: Variation Of Nutrient Supply At Grazing Relative To Animal Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing variations in dairy cow nutrient supply under grazing

Peyraud

Delagarde

2013

Animal

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Grazed pasture, which is the cheapest source of nutrients for dairy cows, should form the basis of profitable and low-input animal production systems. Management of high-producing dairy cows at pasture is thus a major challenge in most countries. The objective of the present paper is to review the factors that can affect nutrient supply for grazing dairy cows in order to point out areas with scope for improvement on managing variations in nutrient supply to achieve high animal performance while maintaining efficient pasture utilisation per hectare (ha). Reviewing the range in animal requirements, intake capacity and pasture nutritive values shows that high-producing cows cannot satisfy their energy requirements from grazing alone and favourable to unfavourable situations for grazing dairy cows may be classified according to pasture quality and availability. Predictive models also enable calculation of supplementation levels required to meet energy requirements in all situations. Solutions to maintain acceptable level of production per cow and high output per ha are discussed. Strategies of concentrate supplementation and increasing use of legumes in mixed swards are the most promising. It is concluded that although high-producing cow cannot express their potential milk production at grazing, there is scope to improve animal performance at grazing given recent developments in our understanding of factors influencing forage intake and digestion of grazed forages.

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“…It has been shown (Alder & Minson, 1963) that animals tend to select leaves and stem tips; in doing so, they eat not only the most accessible but also the most digestible portions of the plant. Two immediate implications for grazing management may be drawn from the present trial.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digestibility and chemical composition of fractions of lucerne during spring and summer

1970

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Bulk harvests of primary growth were made at intervals during the spring and summer of 2 consecutive years from an ungrazed area of lucerne (Medicago sativa) and the digestibility by sheep was measured. At the same times, shoots of known length representative of the sward were collected, divided into 7-5 cm lengths, and separated into leaf and stem for the determination of ash, nitrogen, cellulose, and in vitro organic matter digestibility.Digestibility and leaf: stem ratio of the bulk harvests decreased and dry matter increased as the season advanced. Leaf composition changed little, but stem increased in lignin and decreased in ash and in vitro digestibility. In vitro digestibility and leaf: stem ratio were highly correlated with sheep digestibility.Chemical composition of shoots of known heights was similar to that of the bulk harvests. Leaf weights/shoot tended to increase linearly with height of shoot, whereas stem increased nearly as the square of the height. Dry matter of leaf and stem were inversely related to leaf:stem ratio. Stem digestibility decreased with leaf:stem ratio and with increase in shoot height.Chemical components of shoot fractions were associated with each other and were largely dependent on the distance from the top of the shoot at which they had been taken, irrespective of shoot height or time of year. Bottom stems had lower ash, nitrogen and digestibility but higher cellulose, dry weight and dry matter than top stems, whose composition approached that of leaves. Leaf fractions showed little consistent trend with position on the shoot.Some of the difficulties in studying changes in plant composition under field conditions are discussed. INTRODUCTIONreported by Mowat et al. (1965a, 6) to be similar; they suggested that digestibility might be preDespite the large niunber of chemical analyses dieted on a date basis by adjusting for particular which have been carried out on lucerne (Medicago year effects. sativa), information on the comparative nutritional The nutritive value of the material eaten by the value of various parts of the plant at different grazing animal may be greatly influenced by the times of the year is limited. Terry & Tilley (1964) height and stage of growth of the pasture and by divided lucerne stems into 6 in lengths and found the degree of selection, and cannot be determined that there was a progressive decline in digestibility merely by whole plant analysis. This paper reports from top to bottom, though the digestibilities of work carried out during two seasons, in an attempt equivalent stem fractions in young and mature to characterize more clearly plants at different stages plants were very similar. Davies (1963) observed of growth so that general predictions of the quality that as the season advanced and plant height of herbage available to the grazing animal might be increased, the leaf and upper third of the stem made. maintained high digestibilities, but formed a de-MATERIALS AND METHODS creasing portion of the total yield; the lower stem fell steeply in digest...

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The herbage intake of cattle grazing lucerne and cocksfoot pastures

Cited by 15 publications

References 3 publications

Lucerne grazing management 2. Effect of grazing duration on defoliation pattern by ewes

Lucerne grazing management 2. Effect of grazing duration on defoliation pattern by ewes

Managing variations in dairy cow nutrient supply under grazing

Digestibility and chemical composition of fractions of lucerne during spring and summer

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