Inter-paddock annual dry matter yield variability for dairy farms in the Waikato region of New Zealand

Clark, Cameron; Romera, Álvaro J.; Macdonald, K.A.; Clark, D. A.

doi:10.1080/00288233.2010.482964

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Time delays of temporal models (Diaz-Solís et al, 2009;Diaz-Solis et al, 2003;Sala, 2001) and factors related to soil water availability (Bell et al, 2013;Chapman et al, 2013), may explain this lack of relation. The interaction between soil and environment (weather) within farms should be considered when predicting individual paddock pasture growth and when devising paddock-scale management of inputs and animals (Clark et al, 2010).…”

Section: Productive Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency and stability in subtropical beef cattle grazing systems in the northwest of Argentina

Nasca

Feldkamp

Arroquy

et al. 2015

Agricultural Systems

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Section: Productive Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency and stability in subtropical beef cattle grazing systems in the northwest of Argentina

Nasca

Feldkamp

Arroquy

et al. 2015

Agricultural Systems

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“…(). Identifying poor performing paddocks, which typically yield 100% less than the top paddocks (Clark et al ., ), determining the cause of this poor performance and shifting these paddocks up the pasture performance curve by addressing the cause of poor performance will form the basis of increasing the amount of pasture herbage utilized on future dairy systems, both automatic and conventional.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparison of conventional and automatic milking system pasture utilization and pre‐ and post‐grazing pasture mass

Clark

Fariña

García

et al. 2015

Grass and Forage Science

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Automatic milking systems (AMS) present an opportunity for dairy farmers to not only improve their lifestyle and conditions of work, but also save on labour costs and/or increase the time available to focus on overall farm management. However, the viability of AMS will rely on achieving high levels of pasture utilization. Well‐established pasture management principles are implemented on many conventional milking system (CMS) farms and high levels of pasture utilization are achieved; however, the ability to follow these same principles on AMS is unknown. This study compared levels of pasture utilization and pre‐ and post‐grazing pasture mass between AMS and CMS farms at the same site when managed by the same pasture management principles. From 1 March 2007 to 29 February 2008, pre‐ and post‐grazing compressed height, milk yield and milk composition data were collected for two CMS farms and one AMS farm at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Camden, Australia. Despite differences in pre‐ and post‐ grazing pasture mass between milking systems, pre‐grazing mass was predominantly maintained within the bounds of 2200 and 2500 kg DM ha−1 and post‐grazing mass between 1400 and 1500 kg DM ha−1 (5–6 cm height). Similar levels of pasture utilization (mean 13 500 kg DM ha−1 year−1) were recorded between AMS and CMS farms. These findings highlight the ability to follow established grazing management principles and achieve high levels of pasture utilization on pasture‐based AMS farms.

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“…Increasing SR is usually associated with an increase in grazing severity, and many studies have attributed the increased productivity of higher SR systems to an improvement in pasture utilization (Hoden et al, 1991;Macdonald et al, 2008). In contrast, the effect of increasing SR and defoliation severity on pasture production has been extensively studied but inconsistently reported (Donaghy and Fulkerson, 1998;Macdonald et al, 2008;Lee et al, 2009), and the evaluation of such effects is often complicated by alternative grazing decision rules (Clark et al, 2010) and the difficulties of extending the results of shorter term component-based or cutting experiments to field conditions (Anderson and Briske, 1995). Indeed, previous studies have also indicated that although variation in defoliation and plant regrowth patterns creates variability in sward structure and nutritive value (Possingham and Houston, 1990;Adler et al, 2001), the effects of such practices are frequently accentuated by the farm system SR (Laca and Demment, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The multi-year cumulative effects of alternative stocking rate and grazing management practices on pasture productivity and utilization efficiency

McCarthy

Delaby

Pierce

et al. 2016

Journal of Dairy Science

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The production and utilization of increased quantities of high quality pasture is of paramount importance in pasture-based milk production systems. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cumulative effects of alternative integrated grazing strategies, incorporating alternative stocking rate (SR) and grazing severities, on pasture productivity and grazing efficiency over multiple years within farm systems using perennial ryegrass dominant pastures. Three whole-farm SR treatments were compared over 4 complete grazing seasons (2009 to 2012 inclusive): low (2.51 cows/ha; LSR), medium (2.92 cows/ha; MSR), and high (3.28 cows/ha; HSR). Each system had its own farmlet containing 18 paddocks and remained on the same treatment for the duration of the study. Stocking rate had a significant effect on all grazing variables with the exception of soil fertility status and sward density. Increased SR resulted in increased total annual net pasture accumulation, improved sward nutritive value, and increased grazed pasture utilization. Total annual net pasture accumulation was greatest in HSR [15,410kg of dry matter (DM)/ha], intermediate for MSR (14,992kg of DM/ha), and least for LSR (14,479kg of DM/ha) during the 4-yr study period. A linear effect of SR on net pasture accumulation was detected with an increase in net pasture accumulation of 1,164.4 (SE=432.7) kg of DM/ha for each 1 cow/ha increase in SR. Pregrazing pasture mass and height and postgrazing residual pasture mass and height were greatest for LSR, intermediate for the MSR, and lowest for the HSR. In comparison with the LSR, the imposition of a consistently increased grazing severity coupled with increased whole farm SR in MSR and HSR treatments arrested the decline in sward nutritive value, typically observed during mid-season. Incorporating the individual beneficial effects of SR on pasture accumulation, nutritive value, and utilization efficiency, total proportional energy (unité fourragère lait) utilization per hectare increased significantly with increasing SR (+0.026 and +0.081 for MSR and HSR, respectively). These results quantify the significant effect of grazing management practices on the feed production capability of modern perennial ryegrass pastures for intensive grazing dairy production systems. Furthermore, these results highlight the importance of consistently imposing grazing treatments over multiple years, and within integrated whole farm systems, to accurately assess the longer term effects of alternate grazing management practices on pasture productivity.

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Inter-paddock annual dry matter yield variability for dairy farms in the Waikato region of New Zealand

Cited by 12 publications

References 11 publications

Efficiency and stability in subtropical beef cattle grazing systems in the northwest of Argentina

Efficiency and stability in subtropical beef cattle grazing systems in the northwest of Argentina

A comparison of conventional and automatic milking system pasture utilization and pre‐ and post‐grazing pasture mass

The multi-year cumulative effects of alternative stocking rate and grazing management practices on pasture productivity and utilization efficiency

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