High stocking density “mob†grazing is a grazing technique that recently has received attention from producers regarding its impacts on harvest efficiency and trampling vegetation to improve soil carbon. The objective of this study was to determine how high and ultra-high stocking densities from grazing cattle would affect harvest efficiency and forage trampling. The study was conducted in 2012-2013 on a smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermus L.) pasture near Brookings, South Dakota. Two replicate treatments consisting livestock grazing at five stocking densities (50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 thousand kg of live weight per ha) for 2 consecutive years were compared. Biomass samples were collected pre- and post-grazing to determine harvest efficiency and forage trampling. After collection, samples were dried and weighed. Preliminary analysis shows that harvest efficiency and trampling increase non-linearly with increased stocking density.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.