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Pasture Management
and Livestock Production; the Endless Debate |
This article is published with the kind permission of its author Judy Richardson. Although it focuses on the South African scene, the topics discussed here have relevence to any farming business battling to balance animal performance with pasture improvement. It also describes the broader appreciation Holistic Management® brings to farm decision-making In February this year I was privileged to have the opportunity of spending several days in the company of Dick Richardson (Holistic Management® certified educator) and Mark Bader (specialist in Livestock Nutrition - Free Choice Enterprises, USA). I decided to take the opportunity to interview them both to get their opinions on various Pasture Management and Livestock Production issues to hopefully get more balance in our minds as to what is best when. Are these two issues always at loggerheads? 1. What are the most important aspects of ensuring that grazing is ecologically, financially and socially sound? Dick: Having the right animal at the right place, in the right condition, on the right plane of nutrition for the right amount of time, drinking clean water and receiving the right supplement. The Aide Memoire for Holistic Management® Grazing Planning takes all this into account. Mark: The most important issue is only grazing the top third of the plant so that it is always in a vegetative state. In other words, by only eating the top third of a plant, there is enough plant matter left to collect sunlight to regrow so that you can grow more tonnes of grass per hectare and run more animals per hectare. In addition, there is more energy in the top third of a plant, which ensures optimum animal performance, and the cost of the gain is less. Ecologically, promoting a particular species by keeping it in a vegetative state will oppress the less desirable species. 2. Do you feel there is an appropriate time for using animals as tools and therefore stressing them by making them eat stuff they wouldn’t usually eat? Dick: Yes, there certainly is. If, in terms of your holistic goal, you need to create a shift in the ecosystem processes, livestock can be used as tools (animal impact and grazing) to create the effect you want. But the timing of the use of these tools is critical. For example, you could slim down heifers that are over fat by using them as landscaping tools prior to calving to achieve ecologically improvement in specific spots at specific times. I feel very strongly though, that using stock as tools so that it in anyway limits their productivity or efficiency (even if you use supplements to neutralise the negative effects) when you are in any situation other than a resource (energy) conversion weak link you are slipping up badly. Short bursts of impact not affecting productivity or efficiency are to be encouraged though. I would like to remind you that addressing a product conversion weak link is only possible with money. Therefore maximum financial efficiency of production at these times is critical for the whole. Mark: Absolutely NO – from a financial point if you stress animals, performance decreases through loss of body fat, it puts breed back at risk and depresses performance of the calf. You always have to pay for it in the end. Ecologically you need to be careful that you are not removing organic matter that should rather be used as litter to feed soil organisms and cover for soil surface as this will result in a sterile soil. 3. In a dry spring and early summer such as the one we have just had, what is best - speed up or slow down the stock moves? Dick: Slow down is my automatic reaction. The slower you can go the longer every plant gets to recover with what little rain there is. But often your difficulty early in the season is that you cannot slow down properly or enough as there has not been enough biomass production to sustain the longer graze periods. This is especially evident when stock numbers are a little high and/or the drought reserve was incorrectly calculated for the last non-growing season plan. Mark: You need to do whatever it takes to just eat the top third. This maintains high animal performance through a high plane of nutrition, and keeps the plants in a vegetative state. You also keep the soils shaded (as opposed to covered), which protects the organisms even though they won’t be active as there is insufficient moisture. On the next selection take the next top third – so slowly reduce plane of nutrition. It is important to focus on the animal and not just on the plant. 4. Conversely do you speed up when growth speeds up? Dick: If you are close to the middle or lower end of the brittleness scale you should do so immediately from the animals’ perspective to optimise productively due to high bulk and lignin production. If you are on the brittle end and you have many camps per herd, then you could ignore it. With few camps you also need to react less to fast growth. The medium number of camp situations is where, in really brittle environments, real effort must be made to avoid overgrazing by staying too long or returning to quickly. Mark: Yes, you need to eat the top third of the plant and speed up because otherwise grass growth will reach sexual maturity, which is less vegetative and reduces forage production. You may need to move faster and faster because the grass behind is recovering very quickly. 5. Why does burning pasture improve performance? And if you had to burn, how and where would you do it? Dick: Nutrition on burnt pasture is higher than on unburned pasture for two main reasons: a) the burn makes many minerals previously tied up in ungrazed material available again. These minerals are licked up or picked up directly or indirectly via the new growth. b) burning will obviously allow the plants to grow from scratch again and then grazing them at a more nutritious or palatable age is once again possible. I would only really consider using the tool of fire in high rainfall, medium to low brittleness areas firstly. Then only when you are in a production conversion weak link and wish to improve stock performance while producing less bulk feed. The only method of burning I feel that should be considered is small patches (matched to herd size) just before (day before or the same day) that the animals go into a paddock, and only when there is sufficient moisture and heat for growth. This will result in high animal impact on the new burn and an adequate recovery period before the animals return to optimise performance without too much damage to the plants on the previously burned patches. These areas tend to have good morning dews too. So burning as early as possible in the morning, I feel, would also limit the burning of the litter bank. Mark: When you burn old pasture you ash the plant material (soil organisms not there to do it) making minerals available to the next grass plant and fertilising the soil. The new grass that grows is high in protein so you get huge growth in livestock until excess protein becomes a limiting factor – which happens after about 50 days on lush green grass (depending on the protein content of grass). At this stage you will need energy. I personally, would not recommend burning – rather use animal impact because if you burn you sterilise the soil and kill the organisms that are the intermediate between organic material and inorganic soil. The decision depends on whether it is for short term gain (burn) or long term gain (animal impact). 6. In winter / non-growing season – what is the best way to utilise the available feed? Dick: Use all the available area once. With many paddocks and therefore very short graze periods through to the first opportunity for possibly having had effective growth. If it then hasn’t grown, you move into a planned drought reserve which would be taken in exactly the same manner and stretched to the last opportunity for having had effective growth. Mark: You need to plan so that half or three quarters of the available pasture will go to the animal. The rest must be knocked down for the soil organisms. You need to take a third at a time so that the plane of nutrition goes down slowly. This is where it would be beneficial to use a supplement to improve the digestion of the cellulose (food source). You need to promote cellulose digestion which can increase feed efficiency by 40%. You need to determine the most cost-effective way to achieve this. By providing an effective supplementation you can carry 40% more stock or the same stock for 40% longer with increased animal performance and feed saving. But to determine the most cost effective supplementation: 1. Need to first determine cost of that grass 2. Look at animal performance – by feeding energy you make more grass available 3. Look at animal performance itself 4. Determine what you can pay to achieve this. 7. In what way would you feel one can best match animal requirements to pasture nutrition availability in a cow/calf or cow/ox production situation (especially when to breed)? Dick: I feel that it is important to calve down when you can guarantee feed availability and will with some flexibility be able to allow for a high plane of nutrition at bulling time, which coincides with the peak of lactation. To me this suggests calving in the later half of the growing season and bulling at the end of the growing season and early non-growing season. Weaning would then be at the start of the growing season. This would allow for maximum flexibility during bulling and good bulk available during calving so as to not result in nutritional bottlenecks, and guaranteed nutrition through the bridge period (calving to bulling). The cow will then produce milk to feed the calf on a supplement through the remaining non-growing period and drought reserve until growth begins. The calf is weaned onto growing pasture and can grow like a bomb cheaply without a winter set back and be bulled at 15 months. The cow picks up condition easily to calf in good condition for high re-conception percentages. Oxen produced in this way will be marketable as A’s or AB’s off the pasture at peak price times. Mark: In a cow/calf operation the crux is the pasture availability, not the time of year. So it depends entirely on the environment. The factor to be most aware of is the period that lush green grass is available. If the grass available is only green for 30 days then the animal is able to use the protein as energy without any detrimental side affects and breed up is good. But if the grass is green for more than 60 days then a protein excess is a real danger. This reduces mineral intake and has all sorts of consequences. If cows have been on lush green grass for more than 50 days before calving this protein excess and increased potassium will result in large calves which create calving problems, break down of udders (from the potassium excess) and an increased chance of diarrhoea in calves because of the volume of milk available. Calves will also then grow at a time when milk production is decreasing and weaning weights will decrease. Extended periods of lush green pasture availability is a real danger on irrigated pastures as it negatively affects breeding. . If you are calving at the beginning of lush green there is also the danger that the calf will not be able to consume all milk available, which results in diarrhoea. It is best to try and calve 15 – 20 days before lush green so that the calf will be able to cope with the high protein period better. In sweet pasture you are unlikely to have 60 consecutive days of lush green and you can keep paddocks with mature pasture to calve in. A lot depends on the production system. If you are producing weaners then spring calving better, assuming you can plan to calve 15-20 days before the lush green starts. But if you are breeding replacements, then calving in autumn is probably more effective. The bottom line will be the climatic conditions, the state of the pasture, and the cost of feeding through winter. With ox production (assuming buying in yearlings and depending on the price) the best time to buy is approximately 30 days before greening up to give you time to get over stress and sort out any excesses before the green starts. You then need to plan to only graze the top third of the plant if possible. If the available feed is lush green (excess protein) for more than 50 days you will need to raise energy or lower protein otherwise the excess protein will reduce the rate of gain. You could supply a low protein and high energy supplement to maintain a high rate of gain and finish them on pasture. You need to supplement a balanced ration for whatever the conditions are to maximise production. But this will depend on the cost of the gain and how much you can afford to spend. It is important to remember that grass is not free. You need to add in the cost of the pasture to determine the most cost-effective approach to supplementation. 8. What is your opinion on distances to water in paddocks? Dick: I feel that water infrastructure, for larger herds, is very expensive. So as far as possible, without being ridiculous, make the animal walk to water. Terrain will obviously effect distance eg mountains or deep sand but generally 3 kms, I think, is fine. Animals need to walk to metabolise properly anyhow. Mark: The first thing to determine is the quality of the water. If the quality of the water is good then it depends on the type of animal you are planning for. A cow can drink more than a calf; bison can tank up on water for two to three days; a lot depends on the temperature; it also depends on whether the veld/grass is green. Green grass is 80% water, which reduces the amount of water required for drinking. But, assuming reasonably good water (ie cattle drink readily), mature dry pasture with negligible water content, and a cow with a small calf of about 3 months old, and without affecting production, I would be happy with 2 miles (about 3 kms) to water. Note: contrary to popular belief, most water is not good. 9. What is the optimum breeding age? Dick: Breeding at the earliest opportunity is obviously better financially, if it doesn’t cost too much. So maturity age of the specific stock, nutrition and time of year are all key issues in this matter. If one is going to feed supplements to speed this process up it must be efficient, ie return more than it costs compared to running the stock cheaper but for longer. Another positive aspect of early breeding is smaller framed cows or ewes that have a much larger genetic potential to pass on to feeder/grower progeny. Mark: Optimum breeding age for heifers would be 14 - 15 months. But they need to weigh 320kgs at that time. If you can’t get the weight, you will have to change the age. Or you can supplement to get the right weight at the right age. You need to compare the cost of feed versus cost of keeping animal for longer. Remember that pasture is not free. There is an opportunity cost involved. You also need to ensure you have the right type of animals for this level of production. 10. One has the option of either producing stock with a quicker turnover, higher input (supplementation) system or a slower turnover, low input (supplementation) production system. Where do you feel we should be going? Dick: I think this is a very personal choice and is very closely tied to the pasture type or fodder flow situation on your particular property. Various issues need to be taken into consideration. a) Flexibility: does the option you choose allow for flexibility in drought risk? b) Efficiency: is it cost effective if you put in another rand? Will you get more back for it? Optimising inputs in these situations is the key. c) What is the risk scenario? Usually the higher the turnover the higher the risk. This situation would match this rule. A drop in price of sales of R1 per kg would have very little effect on returns per Rand invested for the extensive ranchers with the slow turnover but would have a huge impact on that of the high input, high turnover producer. d) Available infrastructure – can you mix, transport and feed all this supplement? e) Finally, your holistic goal will give you the decider. Mark: It all depends on opportunity cost. What are you comparing with? Is the cost of the pasture still free? What is the interest rate? What will the supplement cost? 11. Do you think there is an optimal herd size over which animal performance will be negatively affected? Why is the experience generally that large herds lead to low conception rates? Specific areas to look at in answering this please are – bulls – hormones – nutrition. Dick: Maybe there is an optimum herd size but I feel that this optimum is not static. In other words, in every situation there is a current optimum herd size which is different to what it may be was last year and will possibly be next year. This optimum depends on many variables, for example: a) The manager’s state of mind - is he/she comfortable with this herd size? b) Is the stock comfortable with this herd size? Incremental increases in herd sizes allows the stock to adapt. There is no doubt in my mind that the vibes of the herd can be felt when you walk into the herd. They need time. c) Likewise, the state of mind of the herd minder is very important. Is he/she comfortable with the herd size? The vibes of the manager and herd minder will also carry through to the herd. d) Infrastructure - we tend to all move to larger herds too soon, before our infrastructure can handle it – especially with regard to trough size, water flow, kraal shape and design, and lick trough space and design. These issues create bad vibes in the pecking order of the herd. e) An important issue not to be over looked is the physiological state of animals when they are put into a large herd. There are times and ages when an animal is more prone to stress from the large herd. If the animal grew up in a large herd though, then it will have no trouble adapting. So when it comes to the belief that large herds lead to a drop in performance people have a point, but I feel more time is needed in each situation and things will sort themselves out. All 3 factors mentioned – bulls, hormones and nutrition - play a role. 1. Nutrition - the animals used to small herds suddenly feel they must start eating everything around them or miss out (a stretch or starve attitude). This means the animal’s ability to select is reduced and therefore the plane of nutrition is reduced. It is important to remember that even when the SDH removed is identical for a big herd and a small herd the grazing patterns and what has and what hasn’t been grazed is very different. 2. Bulls: too many bulls or too few bulls will have an effect but I would feel that this would be one of the lesser effects besides if the large herd was at very high densities with only a few dominant bulls may be? 3. Thirdly and very high on the list is hormones. I am sure that stress effects the hormone balance. Unhappy stock results in unbalanced hormone levels. We know that these animals are supposed to be non-self regulating in terms of numbers but still I am sure that if times are really bad then they just may shut themselves down and not breed. Mark: Yes I do think there is an optimal herd size but it is not the actually number of animals but the management of them. It is 100% a management issue. The larger the herd the more difficult the management. Key issues include how the animals are handled, stress from moving to a new camp. Animal impact can be stressful. Cattle know when to move from a nutritional point of view so if they are made to stay in a camp they will be stressed. Hormonal affect from perceived stress is a possibility but it is will not drop conception from 80 % to 20 %. The link between nutrition and large herds is the reason that Holistic Management has a reputation for poor animal performance (low breed up and low conception rates). In the past, the error that many Holistic Management practitioners have made is that they focus on improving the pasture and increased carrying capacity. Animal performance drops it isn’t the focus. Animals are being used as tools rather than for production. If animals are required to eat more than the top 30% of a plant this increases the level of protein in the diet. The rumen microflora then use the protein as an energy source. Too much protein results in ammonia in the blood stream, which interferes with breeding. This is the number one problem. If animals are eating lower than the top third of a plant then the amount of energy available in their diet in relation to protein is reduced. The key to remember is that livestock have a survival instinct – to live from day to day. Their only real requirement is to put on back fat to survive the lean times (energy storage) and this just requires energy. So when they graze the chose the highest energy content plants first. Protein can also be used as energy but, as mentioned already, if protein is used as an energy source for more than 50 days a protein excess (ammonia) develops and has a negative impact on animal performance. In hard times survival is the natural instinct and young animals will be left to die. Contrary to popular belief, animals are not just looking for minerals when they graze. Their first priority is energy. Secondly they look for protein because they use protein to build muscle and for breeding, and in the event of a shortage of energy they use protein as an energy source, as already mentioned. The requirement for mineral is extremely small. What we need to remember is that modern livestock operations and their focus on production defy the natural processes so we have to supplement to maintain production and reproduction. So with big herds need to ensure we provide these requirements. Therefore it is all a management thing. Another factor we need to remember with the use of Holistic Management ecological principles, when we graze properly we can increase fodder production by 2 to 4 times. This leads to an increase in carrying capacity and stocking rate which can lead to higher stress because we are forcing more animals together, etc. The bottom line is management. We need to realise that ecological improvement is not necessarily good for the animals. Financially, there tends to be resistance to spending money on supplements in extensive beef operations. But we need to be capitalists to really succeed. If you invest R1 and get R2 back then it is a good thing. If you invest R1 and only get R1 back then you have missed the boat. 12. What are the early warning indicators, to you, of stressed animals? Dick: Firstly I’d look at stress due to nutrition. a) A change in behaviour. Coming to or leaving water earlier. Remember that temperature also effects this. b) During becoming stiffer or more tight and dry. c) Animals arriving at water with a hungry look. d) Conventional fences are all pushed aside at the bottom. Secondly I would look for stress from a physiological aspect. a) Lots of bumping and knocking each other around. b) Skittishness - animals easily taking fright from people or sounds. c) Animals walk with medium to low head carriage and have their eyes out on stalks, so to speak, with movements fast and then suddenly slow. Cows staring at you or their minders a lot without chewing their cud. d) When the herd rests, If it does, only a few animals actually really chill out with faces nearly horizontal ears flicking occasionally, eyes nearly shut chewing their cud. Instead there is a high level of movement and agitation with lots of nervousness. I know I have explained this as if it is highly obvious but is isn’t always that way. It is often most subtle and can only be found by just feeling the vibes. Mark: The initial early monitoring signs may not be that obvious but: 1) If they are on a Free Choice mineral system increased mineral intake is the earliest sign. 2) Trying to move - putting pressure on fences; wanting to move. 3) Water availability (if pasture drys off water supply is even more critical). If there is insufficient good quality water then animals will show signs of stress immediately. 4) Animals congregate when stressed – predator effect; flies etc. 5) More obvious signs come next – footrot; pink eye; conception rates; weaning weights. These are too late. Then it starts costing money. The bottom line is where is your focus? Animal performance or pasture improvement? We hope that by using the Holistic Management® decision-making framework as it is truly designed will help you overcome this dilemma. Mark Bader can be contacted at fce@pcii.net Dick and Judy Richardson can be contacted at judyrich@cybertrade.co.za |