Three grazing trials of 14 days each were conducted in April, July, and September, 1977, to examine the effects of grazing pressure on forage disappearance, organic matter intake, and the relationship between intake and forage disappearance. Levels of grazing pressure studied were 10, 20, 40, and 50 kg of forage allowed per animal-unit per day (kg/au/da). Standing crop was measured before, during the middle, and immediately after each trial. Organic matter intake was estimated at the beginning and end of each trial by the fecal excretion:indigestibility ratio technique. Total standing crop declined steadily during the grazing trials, with forage availability being significantly less at the end than at the beginning or middle of the trials. Averaged over the three trials, total forage disappearance during a 14-da grazing period was 236, 334, 355, and 457 kg per pasture and forage losses per au per day were 8.5, 12.0, 12.7, and 16.3 kg for the 10, 20, 40, and 50 kg/au/da grazing pressures, respectively. However, daily intake averaged across all treatments, periods, and trials was approximately 9 kg/au/da. At the grazing pressure level of 10 kg/au/da, forage disappearance approximated the average daily intake, whereas, grazing pressures of 20, 40, and 50 kg/au/da had forage disappearances that exceeded intake by 28, 48, and 90%, respectively. These data indicate a possibility for a two-fold increase in the efficiency of forage harvest by grazing cattle as grazing pressure is increased. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.