The potential of dryland lucerne and medic pastures was compared over a range of stocking rates, i.e. three, four, five, six, seven and eight merino ewes per hectare, in the Rûens area of the Southern Cape. It was found that the animal production potential of lucerne pastures was higher than that of medic pastures. This was attributed to the higher amount of available green pasture material during summer and the higher average legume content of the green material throughout the year on the lucerne pastures. Curvilinear relationships were apparent in most cases between production per animal and stocking rate on both pasture types.
Journal articles from the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) African Journal of Range and Forage Science as well as related articles and reports from throughout the southern African region.