Livestock Producers Harvest Efficiency During Grazing

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Making the best use of one’s grazing resources is always top-of-mind in the livestock production world. As a result, a few producers have started to intensively manage their pastures during summer grazing, according to Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food Forage Development Specialist Lorne Klein.

They’re doing that by moving their electric fences at intervals of two days or less.

“This level of management tends to happen in the higher rainfall areas of the province where forage production is relatively high," say Klein. "It also tends to be done by producers grazing large numbers of livestock in a single group: for example, where there are between 300 to 600 steers, or 250 cow/calf pairs. In these cases, the time and cost of intensive management can be economically feasible.”

Klein explains that not all of the grass or forage produced on a pasture is actually consumed by the grazing animals. As grazing periods become longer, more forage is wasted due to manure-fouling, trampling and camping. The percentage of a pasture's production that is consumed by livestock is called the utilization rate.

Research shows that, in a continuous season-long grazing system, only 35 to 50 per cent of the forage grown in a season is actually consumed by grazing livestock. During three- to four-day grazing periods, however, utilization can be increased to 65 to 70 per cent, and grazing periods of two days or less can achieve utilization rates of 85 to 90 per cent.

“These utilization rates represent a significant difference in harvest efficiency,” Klein points out. “For example, suppose a perennial forage grass/legume stand produces 3,000 pounds per acre through the growing season. A utilization rate of 45 per cent would result in 1,350 pounds per acre being grazed. A utilization rate of 70 per cent would result in 2,100 pounds per acre being grazed.”

For comparison purposes, a group of animals could be grazed on 103 acres rather than 160, he adds.

“This represents a significant difference in land requirements, and is one of the reasons why producers are adopting management-intensive grazing systems more and more,” Klein concludes.

For more information, contact:

Lorne Klein
Forage Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 848-2382