Growing grass and clover separately allows animals to sustain a
high nutrient intake
D.M. MAROTTI, G.P. COSGROVE, D.F. CHAPMAN, A.J. PARSONS, A.R.
EGAN AND C.B. ANDERSON
AgResearch Grasslands, PB 11008, Palmerston North
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NZSAP 2002 Abstract No. 41
Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 62:
163-166
White clover has high nutritive value but the proportion in
mixed pasture and therefore the diet, is often low. Offering sheep
ryegrass and clover growing side-by-side, for short periods, increases
the proportion of clover in the diet and daily intake compared to a
mixed pasture. This experiment tested whether sheep offered ryegrass and
clover side-by-side could sustain a high proportion of clover in their
diet and a high daily intake, compared with sheep grazing ryegrass
alone, clover alone and ryegrass and white clover growing as a mixed
sward. Forty-eight dry, non-pregnant Romney ewes (56 ± 1.8kg live
weight) were randomly allocated to four replicates (two spatial x two
temporal) of each treatment (n=3) for 12 days. Average grazing time was
292 ± 16.2 min/day and did not differ significantly among
treatments. Short-term intake rate on clover (5.0 g/min) was higher than
ryegrass (3.5 g/min) (P=0.02). As a result, clover dominant diets
supported higher daily intake (1.36 kg/d for clover alone vs. 1.08 kg/d
for ryegrass alone). Sheep sustained a diet of 70% clover and 30%
ryegrass, showing that predominance of clover in the diet was not a
result of novelty. This improved daily intake would provide significant
benefit to animal production systems and can be achieved simply by
growing grass and clover separately.
Keywords: NZSAPAB;
grazing behaviour; intake; ryegrass; clover; meals; nutrient
intake
Last Updated 30/07/2002
