Grazed Pasture Parameters: Dead herbage, net gain and
utilization of pasture
A.G. Campbell
Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre, Hamilton
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Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production.
1964, 24: 17-28
The pattern of accumulation of dead herbage in pastures grazed
by dairy cows under two management systems, continuous and rotational
grazing, at two stocking rates, 0.95 and 1.19 cows per acre, is
demonstrated. Because of the large amounts of dead herbage which may
decay, it is proposed that net gain of available dry matter (A.D.M.)
rather than absolute pasture production is the parameter of importance
to the grazing animal. The autumn flush, when expressed in terms of net
gain of A.D.M., is negligible. It is suggested that the pasture growth
in autumn benefits the grazing animal more through increased pasture
quality than through any increase in available pasture dry matter.
Utilization of pasture at each grazing in the rotational system and
between successive fortnightly samplings in the continuous grazing
system was found to be of the order of only 20 to 25%. These findings
are discussed in relation to critical Leaf Area Index, the summer slump
of pasture growth, and grazing management.
Keywords: NZSAPAB;
Last Updated 24-08-2000
