Short-duration rotational grazing leads to improvements in landscape functionality and increased perennial herbaceous plant cover

Lawrence, R. F.; Whalley, R. D. B.; Reid, Nicholas; Rader, Romina

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2019.04.031

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Another highly rated benefit perceived by both extensive RG and MIG adopters is increased proportion of desirable grass. This finding is consistent with Lawrence et al (2019), who found that, compared with CG, short-duration RG increased foliar cover of perennial herbaceous species by 19%, and reduced foliar cover of introduced annual plants by 14%, both of which are positive outcomes. Both extensive RG and MIG adopters are more likely to perceive livestock-related benefits, i.e., stocking capacity and livestock health improvement.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Understanding producers' perspectives on rotational grazing benefits across US Great Plains

Wang

Jin

Kreuter

2021

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

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Experimental findings on rotational grazing (RG) trials have generally differed from producer observations of RG outcomes on commercial scale ranches. Factors such as small plot size, short duration trials and relatively rigid grazing management that lacks responsiveness to the dynamic and complex social-ecological systems in grazing trials could all contribute to this disparity in outcomes. These differences call for a better understanding of producer perceptions of RG benefits. To fill this knowledge gap, we surveyed 4500 producers from the Northern and Southern Great Plains of the USA. Among the 875 respondents, 40.5% reported that they used continuous grazing (CG), 52.7% implemented RG management in an extensive manner, while 6.8% adopted management intensive grazing. Compared with CG users, adopters of RG in its extensive and intensive form reported an average annual increase of grazing season by 7.6 and 39.3 days, respectively. When controlling for producer demographics, ranch management goals and other rancher characteristics, we found soil and climate heterogeneity significantly affected the perceived relative benefits of RG vs CG strategies. Therefore, instead of focusing on whether RG outperforms CG per se, future research could focus on comparison of RG benefits under different management intensity levels and identifying soil and climate conditions where RG benefits are more noticeable.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Understanding producers' perspectives on rotational grazing benefits across US Great Plains

Wang

Jin

Kreuter

2021

Renew. Agric. Food Syst.

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“…Increasing the length of rest relative to graze time (so that rest:graze ratios were higher than 6:1) was associated with an increase in plant biomass, ground cover, animal weight gain and animal production per hectare when compared with continuous grazing (McDonald et al 2019). Lawrence et al (2019) found that under short-duration grazing, there was ~19% greater ground cover of perennial species, with higher-value forage species being more abundant, although they highlighted that there was also a large amount of unexplained variation in the plant community composition between treatments. This was similar to a study by Badgery et al (2017), which demonstrated that even though productivity and cover were higher under intensive rotational grazing, grazing management had little influence on pasture composition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Numerous terms have been used to describe potential components of regenerative grazing (RG) and landholders may use one or more approaches at different parts of their property over different time periods. Some of the terms include spelling or strategic rest (Ash et al 2001(Ash et al , 2011, rotational grazing (Briske et al 2008), time controlled grazing (Sanjari et al 2008), intensive rotational grazing (Badgery 2017), short duration rotational grazing (Lawrence et al 2019), cell grazing (McCosker 2000;Richards and Lawrence 2009), Holistic Management or Holistic Planned grazing (Savory 1983;Hawkins 2017;Gosnell et al 2020) and adaptive multi-paddock per herd grazing (Teague and Kreuter 2020), to name a few. Many of the principles outlined in RG are the same as those applied in more traditional bestpractice grazing land management (GLM) approaches, and many of the terms used are common to grazing systems and management generally.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do regenerative grazing management practices improve vegetation and soil health in grazed rangelands? Preliminary insights from a space-for-time study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments, Australia

et al. 2023

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Regenerative grazing, which generally involves some form of rotational grazing with strategic rest, is increasingly seen as a profitable management approach that will accelerate landscape recovery. However, there is limited quantitative evidence supporting the benefits of this approach in northern Australia. This space-for-time study collected vegetation and soil data from a range of properties in the Burdekin catchment in Queensland that have implemented regenerative grazing strategies for between 5 and 20 years. Data were also collected at adjacent control sites that did not undergo regenerative grazing, but where more traditional continuous set-stocking grazing approaches were applied. Coincident data were also collected from several sites where grazing had been excluded for ~30 years. Data suggested that improvements in vegetation, soil and land condition can be obtained from implementing regenerative grazing principles, although it is likely to take at least 3-5 years, and up to 15-20 years for statistically significant improvements to be measurable at a site, particularly for areas that are moving from a degraded baseline condition. Vegetation attributes such as plant biomass and basal area and litter incorporation all appeared to be better surrogates than percentage ground cover for representing improved landscape condition and soil health. Sites that maintained remotely sensed percentage ground cover at or above the minimally disturbed reference benchmark levels for >10 years, as well as having statistically higher biomass, basal area and litter, had significant increases in total nitrogen (TN) and soil organic carbon (SOC) relative to the local control site. Although there are indications that regenerative grazing can lead to improvements in land condition, this study does not enable us to conclude whether regenerative grazing will accelerate improvements compared with other best-practice grazing land management (GLM) approaches, and further research on the social and economic dimensions of regenerative grazing is needed.

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“…In areas with temperate climates, grazed herbage provides a highly efficient, nutritious and cheap energy supply for ruminants (Dillon et al, 2005). Thus, grassland‐based ruminant production offers a sustainable alternative to intensive, non‐grazing systems (e.g., Lawrence et al, 2019). Notably, for sustainable grazing management, timely, precise allocation of the grazing area according to the daily nutritional demands of the animals and herbage availability is essential (e.g., Curran et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do we feed grazing livestock in the future? A case for knowledge‐driven grazing systems

Horn

Isselstein

2022

Grass and Forage Science

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Grassland degradation has been observed worldwide and is often a result of overexploitation or abandonment. Knowledge-driven and precise grazing management is required to use grasslands' potential in a sustainable way. Information gaps lead to inefficiencies in grazing land management and ecosystem service provision. Rapid advances in automated sensors and information technologies for information acquisition on herbage availability, controlling animal grazing behaviour and setting up data-driven decision support tools have the potential to improve grazing management. Sensors and IT-based methods allow spatiotemporal dynamics in herbage mass and quality and sward structure and botanical composition to be obtained automatically. These monitoring methods enable a spatially and temporally precise adjustment of the forage allowance and stocking density. Virtual fencing (VF) is an innovative digital tool for fine-tuned spatiotemporal control of grazing animals. VF enables farmers to adjust grazing flexibly and dynamically by moving the virtual borders on a mobile user interface and sending new coordinates to the GPS receiver unit on each animal's VF collar. VF promises high efficiency with no obvious negative impacts on animal welfare. The potential of VF is enormous, but its economic viability still needs to be verified and its acceptance by authorities and the public needs to be supported. A decision support system that optimizes grazing management and agronomic and ecological outcomes by integrating and analysing multiple data at high spatial and temporal resolution can provide sufficient knowledge and confidence in grazing management decisions. Integration of key technologies into a holistic concept can take grazing management to the next level.

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Short-duration rotational grazing leads to improvements in landscape functionality and increased perennial herbaceous plant cover

Cited by 23 publications

References 67 publications

Understanding producers' perspectives on rotational grazing benefits across US Great Plains

Understanding producers' perspectives on rotational grazing benefits across US Great Plains

Do regenerative grazing management practices improve vegetation and soil health in grazed rangelands? Preliminary insights from a space-for-time study in the Great Barrier Reef catchments, Australia

How do we feed grazing livestock in the future? A case for knowledge‐driven grazing systems

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