Methods of utilization of improved pasture as supplements to winter grazing

Abstract

An improved pasture composed of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), and white dover (Trifolium repens var. ladino) was used in a study of schemes of winter-season supplementation of natural pastures in the Rio Grande do Sul state of Brazil. Nine month old weaned heifers of 5:3 Angus-Zebu stock were used in the study which lasted 111 days. The following schemes of alternation at improved and unimproved pasture were used 1) one week improved, one week unimproved; 2) one week improved, two weeks unimproved; 3) one week improved, three weeks unimproved; 4) two weeks improved, one week unimproved ; 5) two weeks improved, two weeks unimproved; 6) two weeks improved, three weeks unimproved 7) continuous improved pasture. A stocking rate of two animals per hectare was used on the improved pasture and 0.7 on the unimproved. Highly significant differences (p > 0.1) in weight gains were observed among the different treatments, The animals which remained continuously on the improved pastures (treatment 7) showed the greatest gains. Among the other treatments, the greatest gains were shown when the animals remained equal or greater periods on the improved than unimproved pastures. There were no significant differences between one and two week schemes of alternation (treatments 1 and  5) when the ratio of improved to unimproved pasture remainded the same. Economic analysis showed the treatments producing the greatest gains also to be the most profitable.