Effects of livestock breed and grazing intensity on biodiversity and production in grazing systems. 1. Nutritive value of herbage and livestock performance

Abstract

Summary Reduction of grazing intensity and the use of traditional instead of commercial breeds has frequently been recommended to meet biodiversity and production goals in sustainable grazing systems in Europe. To test the impact of such practices across a range of contrasting grassland types, integrated measurements of foraging behaviour, agronomic production and botanical, structural and invertebrate biodiversity were made over three years on four sites in the UK, Germany, France and Italy. The sites in the UK and Germany were mesotrophic grassland with high productivity and low to moderate initial levels of plant diversity, and were grazed by cattle. The French site was a semi‐natural, species‐rich grassland grazed by cattle. The Italian site contained a wider range in plant diversity, from species‐rich to mesotrophic grassland, and was grazed by sheep. The treatments were: MC, moderate grazing intensity with a commercial breed – this was designed to utilize herbage growth for optimum livestock production; LC, lenient grazing intensity with a commercial breed – this was designed to increase biodiversity by not fully utilizing herbage growth; and LT, lenient grazing intensity with a traditional breed – this was also designed to increase biodiversity. Neither fertilizers nor pesticides were applied. The nutritive value of the herbage and the performance of the livestock were measured. Mean stocking rates were proportionately 0·30–0·40 lower and mean sward heights and herbage mass on offer were 0·30–0·50 higher on the LC and LT treatments compared with the MC treatment. The proportion of live and dead material, and leaves and stems in the herbage, its chemical composition and nutritive value were little affected by the treatments. Individual livestock performance, measured as liveweight gain, showed no consistent response to treatment. In Germany, performance on the MC treatment was slightly lower than on the LC and LT treatments but no such difference was found on the sites in the other countries. Livestock breed did not have a strong effect on livestock performance. In the UK and France the traditional breeds had a lower performance but this was not the case in Germany or Italy. Livestock performance per ha of the LC and LT treatments was up to 0·40 lower than of the MC treatment. It is concluded that biodiversity‐targeted extensive grazing systems have potential to be integrated into intensive livestock production systems because the individual livestock performance reaches a similar level compared to a moderate grazing intensity. Traditional breeds did not have a production advantage over commercial breeds on extensively managed pastures.

Phytodiversity of temperate permanent grasslands: ecosystem services for agriculture and livestock management for diversity conservation

“…Due to selective grazing, animals might select diets of a better quality than the mean of the herbage on offer (Rook et al 2004;Wales et al 1998). Therefore, with reduced stocking, even less productive grassland might be used for efficient livestock farming (Isselstein et al 2007). In investigations on extensive grazing with oxen on fen grassland in northwest Germany, Benke and Isselstein (2001) found relatively high individual daily live weight gains of 418-871 g head -1 with an average of 699 g head -1 during 1993-2000.…”

“…Interestingly, the choice of the breed, apart from size and weight restrictions, seems generally to be of less importance in cattle (Fraser et al 2007;Isselstein et al 2007), but effects have been reported for sheep and goats (Osoro et al 2007(Osoro et al , 2002. Larger breeds might achieve better performance rates but have higher requirements for maintenance (protein, energy, minerals etc.…”

Isotopic composition of soil, vegetation or cattle hair no suitable indicator of nitrogen balances in permanent pasture

“…The soil is a pelosol-brown earth with a pH of 6.3. For further site information, see Isselstein et al (2007) and Sahin Demirbag et al (2009 To reach these target sward heights, there were on average 1.3 ± 0.2, 0.7 ± 0.2 and 0.5 ± 0.04 LU ha -1 a -1 on MC, LC and VLC, respectively (averaged over 2006 and 2007; LU: livestock unit of 600 kg. The data is equal to 3.1 ± 0.5, 1.9 ± 0.3 and 1.1 ± 0.1 LU ha -1 during the grazing season for MC, LC and VLC, respectively).…”

Use of a micro-sward technique for determining bite mass of four grass species in short-term tests

“…However, animals have a maximum total time available for grazing, as other essential behaviors, such as rumination, resting, grooming, and socialization, must also be completed (Penning et al 1991b;Rook et al 1994). Indirect evidence from cattle grazing seminatural swards suggests that under UK conditions offered at similar levels to those of improved ryegrassbased pastures, DM intakes are also being maintained (Dumont et al 2007;Isselstein et al 2007.…”