Herbage Production of Red Clover Cultivars in Mixtures with Perennial Ryegrass and Prairie Grass under Grazing

jpa ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-234
Author(s):  
J. O. Scheneiter ◽  
C. J. Escuder ◽  
C. A. Cangiano
Author(s):  
J.F.L. Charlton ◽  
A.V. Stewart

In recent years, the number of pasture species and cultivars commercially available to farmers in New Zealand has increased significantly. Reasons for this include increased commercial activity in the development and supply of proprietary cultivars, and more specialisation in New Zealand's pastoral agriculture. In particular, pasture cultivars are increasingly marketed as proprietary products with associated technical support. This year there are 109 certified cultivars available, belonging to 23 grass, legume and herb species. As a result, farmers are now able to develop improved pasture feed supply, but they are somewhat confused about pasture species and cultivars, and this frustrates their aims to produce high quality animal products from productive pastures. Accordingly, the herbage seeds industry needs to work from a clear reference list, to avoid any confusion when supplying farmers and overseas clients with their seed requirements. Our list of pasture species, types and cultivars available within New Zealand aims to be that reference. Keywords: birdsfoot trefoil, brome grass, caucasian clover, chicory, clover, cocksfoot, cultivars, herbs, lotus, lucerne, pasture, phalaris, plantain, prairie grass, red clover, ryegrass, seeds, species, strawberry clover, sub clover, tall fescue, timothy, types, white clover, Yorkshire fog


Author(s):  
G.J.Rys I.M. Ritchie ◽  
R.G. Smith ◽  
N.A. Thomson ◽  
G. Crouchley ◽  
W. Stiefel

The performance of 'Grasslands Matua' prairie grass (Bromus catharticus) was compared with perennial ryegrasses under mowing or grazing in three trials conducted in the southern North Island. Production of Matua under mowing at Flock House and Waimate West was 13% and 19% greater than G.4708 and Nui ryegrass, respectively, with the extra production contributed in summer and winter. At Masterton no difference between Matua and Ariki ryegrass production occurred under grazing. A 31% increase in annual production was recorded for both Matua and G.4708 swards receiving N, compared with those sown with white clover, with the annual yield of G.4708 receiving N similar to Matua receiving no N. Less frequent defoliation increased production of Matua swards by 17% and the Matua component by 38%. Production of Nui in comparison with Matua swards was 14% lower under frequent and 9% lower under infrequent defoliation. Similar production was recorded from red clover under frequent, and infrequent defoliation for both Nui and Matua swards. A 48% lower yield of white clover occurred under infrequent defoliation of Matua swards. At Masterton a higher incidence of goitre in newborn lambs, accompanied by a 12% lower lamb liveweight at weaning, occurred on Matua- compared with Ariki-based swards. Aspects of seasonal production, fertility response, management, and animal health are discussed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. E. M. Lindström ◽  
B. E. Frankow-Lindberg ◽  
A. S. Dahlin ◽  
M. Wivstad ◽  
C. A. Watson

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. e0206571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Verwimp ◽  
Tom Ruttink ◽  
Hilde Muylle ◽  
Sabine Van Glabeke ◽  
Gerda Cnops ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
A.M. Nicol ◽  
T.N. Barry

Pasture is the primary feed source for NZ deer production with the greatest proportion grazed in situ. The quantity and quality of the pastures available to grazing deer varies markedly as a result of environmental factors and feed planning decisions by deer farmers. The grazing behaviour of deer responds to changes in pasture height and mass and the effect of pasture variables (height, pre -and post-grazing pasture mass and pasture allowance) on deer productivity are presented. These show that maximum levels of deer production from pasture will be achieved at a pasture height of around 8 cm (continuously stocked or post-grazing) although there is some evidence that for large genotypes, higher pasture availability is required. The relationship of liveweight gain of young deer with pasture availability shows marked seasonal effects. At the same level of pasture availability liveweight gain in spring is about twice that in winter, with autumn and summer intermediate. Increasing pasture availability cannot compensate for seasonal differences in liveweight gain. Furthermore, liveweight gain increases at a greater rate in spring than winter to increasing pasture availability, thus it is more important that appropriate pasture allowances are provided in spring than in winter. There is more variability in liveweight gain at a similar pasture availability in summer than in other seasons because of the greater variation in pasture quality in summer with the potential accumulation of seedheads and dead material. Alternative forage species are used in deer production for times of the year when quantity and quality of perennial ryegrass-based pastures limit productivity. Relative to weaner red deer grazed on perennial ryegrass/ white clover pasture, grazing on pure swards of red clover or chicory increased growth during autumn by 26-47% and during spring by 10-14%. The proportion of stags attaining target slaughter liveweight at 12 months of age increased from 75 to 94%. Pre-weaning growth during lactation was increased by approximately 20%. Red clover and chicory produce a greater proportion of their total DM during late summer and autumn than does perennial ryegrass/white clover pasture, and are therefore better aligned with deer feed requirements, particularly those of lactating hinds. Grazing on sulla in autumn and spring increased the growth of weaner deer by 33 and 10%, relative to pasture fed deer. Indoor studies showed that relative to perennial ryegrass, chicory was of higher organic matter digestibility, disintegrated more rapidly in the rumen with a low rumination time and had shorter mean retention time of material in the rumen. This explains differences in voluntary feed intake which were 56, 26 and 15% higher for deer grazing chicory than perennial ryegrass/white clover pastures during summer, autumn and spring respectively. Similar r esults have been found for the digestion of red clover versus perennial ryegrass by red deer. Plant density in stands of both chicory and red clover declines with time, with their lifetime under deer grazing being approximately 4 years. A mixture of both plants offers a food option as specialist forage for increasing deer growth and also fixing nitrogen. To ensure good persistence such forages should not be grazed in periods of prolonged wet weather. Best persistence is obtained when these are managed as specialist forages for increasing deer growth on a small area of the farm, (10- 20% total area), rather than being sown as a mixture with grasses over large areas of the farm. There is no specific comparison of deer production under different stocking systems and both continuous grazing and rotational grazing are used. Based on evidence and practices with other species, choice of stocking system has more to do with pasture/forage species, feed budgeting, pasture management and animal behaviour than with productivity. At high stocking densities (150 deer/ha), the grazing time of subordinate animals is reduced. Where possible, without inducing undue stress (e.g. at weaning), young deer should be grouped for grazing by liveweight. Deer production systems have a seasonal pattern of energy demand that does not match that of pasture growth in most NZ environments. This calls for manipulation of the feed demand by integration of livestock systems and/ or modification of the feed supply through conservation and supplementation. The most commonly used supplements are pasture and lucerne silage/baleage and grain. The quality (ME/kg DM) has a significant impact on the resulting liveweight gain.


Author(s):  
K.N. Tozer ◽  
G.B. Douglas ◽  
C.A. Cameron ◽  
T.J. Fraser ◽  
R.A. Moss ◽  
...  

To determine the best method of pasture establishment on non-cultivable hill country (>20o slope), four treatments were compared in one year on north and south aspects at four sites with contrasting climates and soil types. Sites were located in Waikato (1), Hawke's Bay (2) and Canterbury (1). The treatments included seed mix (grasses, legumes and herbs (GLH); legumes only (LEG)) and sowing time (spring; autumn). Six weeks after sowing, seedling establishment, as a percentage of viable seeds sown, was: i) greater on south than north aspects for perennial ryegrass (31% vs 18%) and birdsfoot trefoil (5% vs 4%); ii) greater for total sown species (14% vs 8%), subterranean clover (7% vs 4%) and red clover (25% vs 14%) in the GLH than LEG mix, but greater for white clover in the LEG than GLH mix (17% vs 8%); iii) greater in autumn than spring for perennial ryegrass (36% vs 13%) and total sown grasses (22% vs 9%) but greater in spring than autumn for lotus (6% vs 3%). Plantain established well in spring in summer-wet environments, while in summer-dry environments establishment was greater in autumn. Broadcasting seed on south aspects during autumn is likely to result in the highest establishment of sown grasses and legumes, but not necessarily of herbs. The trials were conducted in an unusually wet season. Repeating a subset of the treatments at these sites will provide a greater understanding of responses to climatic variation. Keywords: pasture renewal; pasture establishment; pasture mixtures; oversowing.


1993 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Niezen ◽  
T. N. Barry ◽  
J. Hodgson ◽  
P. R. Wilson ◽  
A. M. Ataja ◽  
...  

SUMMARYTwo experiments were conducted at the Massey University Deer Unit, New Zealand in 1990 and 1991 to evaluate the performance of lactating red deer hinds and their calves grazing conventional perennial ryegrass-based pastures, red clover or chicory. In both experiments, hind and calf performance was evaluated from 1 month post-parturition over a 2½ month summer period to weaning at 3½ months of age.In Expt 1, hinds and calves were grazed on low (5·4 kg dry matter (DM)/hd/day), medium (10·8) or high (16·4) allowances of red clover, or on a medium allowance of a conventional ryegrass/white clover sward (9·9 DM/hd/day). In Expt 2, hinds and calves grazed equal DM allowances (12 kg DM/hd/day) of perennial ryegrass/white clover, chicory or red clover.Red clover generally had higher organic matter digestibility (OMD) and higher total N than ryegrass/white clover, and when grazed at equal DM allowances, promoted higher voluntary food intake in the hinds, increased calf growth (430 v. 330 g/day) and increased hind liveweight change. Although decreasing the red clover allowance in Expt 1 slightly but non-significantly decreased hind voluntary food intake and decreased both calf and hind liveweight change, all low red clover values were still consistently higher than all ryegrass/white clover values (P < 0·05). In Expt 2, chicory was of higher OMD and ash content than red clover but N content was lower and similar to ryegrass/white clover. Chicory promoted lower levels of calf liveweight change than red clover but higher than ryegrass/white clover. Hind liveweight change on chicory was lower than on red clover and was similar to ryegrass/white clover. It was concluded that red clover offers potential as a special purpose forage for deer production and that further experimental work is needed with chicory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 170-170
Author(s):  
Romina A Rodriguez ◽  
Cornelia Grace ◽  
Mary B Lynch ◽  
Helen Sheridan ◽  
Stephen Lott ◽  
...  

Abstract Multispecies swards (MSS) for ruminants are increasing in popularity in temperate regions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of MSS containing grasses, legumes and herbs on lambs faecal egg counts (FEC) compared to a perennial ryegrass monoculture. Over two years (2015 and 2016) lambs (n = 60 per year, n = 120 in total per treatment) grazed one of four sward types. The treatments were: perennial ryegrass only (PRG), perennial grass and white clover (PRGWC), six species sward (perennial ryegrass, timothy, plantain, chicory, white and red clover; 6S) and nine species (9S) additional to the 6S were cocksfoot, greater birdsfoot trefoil and yarrow. Feces samples were collected fortnightly commencing when lambs were six weeks old and FEC were determined by the modified McMaster procedure for quantifying Nematodirus and Trichostrongylus eggs. All lambs were treated with anthelmintic at 12 weeks of age and subsequent anthelmintic treatments were administered when a threshold of 400 egg per gram (epg) was reached. The statistical analysis used was a repeated measures model in PROC MIXED of SAS. Nematodirus FEC did not differ with treatment (P &gt; 0.05). Trichostrongylus FEC was influenced by sward type (P &lt; 0.05), the lambs grazing the PRG sward displaying higher FEC, while the lambs grazing the 9S sward displaying lower FEC compared to other treatments. The lambs offered PRG required fewer days in reach the 400 epg threshold compared to the other treatments (P &lt; 0.05) that did not differ. The repeatability of FEC from one date to the next date was 21.54% and 11.85% for Nematodirus and Trichostrongylus respectively, being considered low. The correlation between FEC (Nematodirus) and ADG (weaning-slaughter) was positive (0.1377), but FEC (Trichostrongylus) and ADG correlation was negative (-0.1084). These results suggest that lambs offered the 9S treatment had lower FEC of Trichostrongylus eggs compared to PRG.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 677 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Bowdler ◽  
N. D. Casey ◽  
R. J. Moss ◽  
K. F. Lowe

Summary. Milk production from irrigated, pure stands of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne cv. Yatsyn), prairie grass (Bromus willdenodii cv. Matua) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea cv. AU Triumph) were compared with that achieved from Italian ryegrass (L. multiflorum cv. Concord) over 3 lactations of multiparous Holstein–Friesian cows at Mutdapilly in south-east Queensland. Pastures were fertilised with 50 kg nitrogen/ha . month as urea and annual dressings of 20 kg phosphorus/ha and 50 kg potassium/ha (as superphosphate and muriate of potash respectively). There were 4 pasture treatments grazed at 3 cows/ha in a 1-week-on, 3-weeks-off rotation with 2 replicates and 3 cows/treatment block. Cows grazed the pastures day and night from May to November. Over summer, cows grazed the pastures during the night and were fed supplements (silage in the first lactation, and lucerne hay in the second and third lactations) during the day because there was no shade available in the irrigation areas. In autumn, the animals were removed from the ryegrass and prairie grass pastures for 8 weeks to allow seedling re-establishment, either by oversowing (ryegrasses) or natural reseeding (prairie grass). Cows continued to graze the fescue pastures at night during autumn. All cows received a ration of 4 kg/cow of a grain–minerals mixture in the first lactation and 5 kg/cow in the second and third lactations. Milk production from perennial ryegrass was higher than from fescue in the first lactation and Italian ryegrass in the second and third lactations. Prairie grass gave similar milk production to perennial ryegrass in all 3 years. In the third year, perennial ryegrass, prairie grass and fescue gave similar milk production. Milk quality from the 4 grasses was similar except in the third lactation when the lactose content of milk from perennial ryegrass pastures was lowest. There were also small and inconsistent differences in milk component yields between the 4 grasses. Liveweight changes were small except in the second lactation when the cows grazing fescue lost weight relative to the other treatments. Mean liveweight at calving increased over the 3 lactations. It was concluded that all 3 temperate perennial grasses demonstrated useful traits for use in subtropical dairy pastures. Perennial ryegrass produced the most milk from the lowest amount of dry matter on offer. Prairie grass produced similar milk yields to perennial ryegrass, was well eaten by cattle and was self regenerating. Although fescue was slower to establish and needed more intensive management to control maturity, it was the most persistent and was the only grass to provide autumn grazing. In the second year this attribute resulted in a lower requirement for supplementary feeding. Fescue produced the highest gross margin in the second lactation and was only marginally less than prairie grass in the third. The performance of Italian ryegrass was as good as that of perennial ryegrass in the first lactation but fell substantially in the second and third lactations as the level of summer grass invasion increased.


1985 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Stewart ◽  
I. I. McCullough

ABSTRACTSilage cut twice annually (June and August) from a tetraploid red clover/grass sward and three times annually (May, July and September) from a low nitrogen (N) and high N perennial ryegrass/white clover sward was fed in proportion to dry-matter yield from each cut, over a 10-week period, each winter for 3 years to castrated male cattle of initial live weight 401 kg in year 1 and 425 kg in years 2 and 3. The silages were supplemented with 0, 1, 2 and 3 kg concentrate per head daily.Total dry-matter yield from the red clover/grass sward was similar to that from the perennial ryegrass/white clover sward (high N grass) receiving 360 kg N per ha but the digestibility, particularly of first cut material was much lower. Dry-matter production of the low N grass/white clover sward was 0·73 of high N grass sward and produced silages of similar digestibility and fermentation.Dry-matter intakes by the cattle were higher on the legume-based silages in years when clover made a worthwhile contribution to total yield, but this did not significantly improve utilization or animal performance compared with high N grass silage. Mean daily carcass gain per head on red clover/grass silage was 0·41 kg which was significantly less than the 0·61 kg on white clover/grass silage and 0·59 on high N grass (P < 0·001). Carcass output from red clover/grass silage was 618 kg/ha and 629 kg/ha from white clover/grass, both of which were significantly less than the 863 kg/ha from the high N grass silage (P < 0·001). Dressing proportion was also significantly poorer in animals fed red clover/grass silage compared with the other silage types.


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