Week 7 Grazing Management 1 Flashcards
What is The simplest and most financially rewarding system
of milk production is :
that based on grazed grass
Good grazing management =
long grazing season of
high quality feed @ low cost
Relationship between grass utilisation
and profit:
+1t grass utilised can increase profitability by
?? and ?? in drystock and dairy farms
respectively
€105/ha
€181/ha
A 10% increase in grazed grass in the diet,
reduces the cost of production by ??
2.5c/l
Profit per cow can be increased by ?? per cow
per day when the herd has access to grass earlier
in the spring
€2.70
Feed Consumption and estimated cost (€) to produce feed in 2024
Slide 7
What’s the Grass 10 campaign?
10t DM grass utilised=
Grass grown 10 grazings x 1,300kg DM/ha = 13 t DM grown
is down to :
-Soil fertility
-Ryegrass/clover content
-Management
10 t DM grass utilised:
Slide 8 graph can go the other way and can be utilized by 75%
-Grazing infrastructure
-Grazing management
-Grassland measurement
If you have a 600kg lactating cow
1-Whats the grass intake?
2-Whats the DMI?
3- Whats the area harvested?
4- How many bites?
5- How many bites per minute?
6- Ho many hours grazing
7- How much km walk?
8- How much of the BW are they eating?
1* Grass intake of 100-125 kg/d FW
2* DMI 15-19 kg/d
3* Area harvested 100-120 m2
4* 30,000 bites
5* 60 bites/minute
6* 7-9 hours grazing
7* 3 km walk
8* 2-3% BW
What are the 2 sorts of grazing systems?
1➢ Continuous grazing/continuous stocking
2➢ Rotational grazing
1. Creep grazing
2. Leader-Follower System
Continuous stocking:
1-Is there a set stocking rate?
2-When will tillers be grazed?
3- What is the rate for high sward densities?
4- Is it expensive?
5- What does this grazing reduce the risk of?
1* Set stocking or variable stocking
2* Individual tillers will be grazed every 10-30d
depending on SR
3* High sward densities ~ 30,000 tillers/m2
4* Low capital costs
5* Reduced risk of poaching
Whats the disadvantages with Traditional: continuous stocking
Difficult to get the correct grazing pressure
Inefficient conversion of grass to saleable product
What will undergrazing a paddock do? (3)
Under grazing will improve individual animal performance
➢ reduce the output per unit area and
➢ reduce sward quality
What will overgrazing a paddock do? (5)
➢ reduce the persistency of the sward
➢ weed ingress
➢ reduce yield
➢ decline in forage utilisation
➢ reduce individual animal performance
What is rotational grazing?
- Grazing area is divided into a series of fields or
paddocks that are grazed in rotation - After each grazing the paddock is rested
- Rotation length: grazing period + rest period
Whats the objective of the UCD systems herd grazing platform?
To maximize cow performance
from grass while maintaining
pasture quality.
This will be achieved by:
➢ Allocating 17 paddocks
➢ 21d grass allocation
➢ Size can be variable – most are
approx. 1ha
➢ Two larger paddocks 1.24-
1.59ha
➢ Multiple access points
➢ Multiple drinkers
➢ Underpass
1-What does creep grazing allow?
2-What does it have more of?
3-It is easy or hard to manage?
4-Adapted to what system?
1-Allows young stock access to fresh pasture before
their dams
2-* More nutritious herbage and a reduced worm
burden
3-* Difficult to manage
4-* Adapted to a leader/follower system
Is the leader follower system beneficial?
Leader/ follower grazing management would be
expected to benefit the leaders (calves), but to
disadvantage the followers (yearlings).
- This is because the leaders always have an abundant
herbage supply and have the opportunity to select the
highest quality herbage - The followers on the other hand may occasionally have
insufficient herbage and it is of lower quality because
the leaders have selected the highest quality material.
(just put that all in to read ;))
1- What is the leader/follower system suited to?
2- Whats it divided into?
3-What does the younger group get?
4- Whats the total time spend in each paddock?
5- What dictates the success of the system?
1* Suited to young dairy stock or beef cattle
2* Divided into two age classes
3* Younger group get access to the sward first
4* Total time spent on each paddock in a rotational
system should be < 4-5 days
5* Performance of the follower group will dictate
the success of the system
The effect of grassland management on the
LWG (kg/day) of calves, cows and yearling
cattle
Conventional
Calves
Cows
Yearlings
Calves 1.2
Cows 0.16
Yearlings 0.88
The effect of grassland management on the
LWG (kg/day) of calves, cows and yearling
cattle
Leader-Follower
Calves
Cows
Yearlings
Calves 1.2
Cows 0.30
Yearlings 1.07
Strip grazing:
1- Whats this used within?
2- When is it used?
3- Why would it be used more often at these times of year?
4- what does it increase?
5- what does it reduce?
1* Used within a rotation
grazing system
2* Spring and autumn
3* During wet weather
constitutions
4* Increase grass utilisation
5* Reduce waste
6* Reduce poaching damage
On off grazing what should you do with animals?
When is this used?
How long do dairy cows spend grazing?
➢ Animals graze for a limited period of time before
returning indoors
- Used when need to restrict access to pasture e.g.
heavy soils, heavy rainfall - Want to keep grass in the diet
➢ Dairy cow spends approx. 9-10 hours grazing
When are the 2 main grazing bouts?
– 2 main grazing bouts
– Early morning (3hrs)
– Evening (3hrs)
