Some effects of varying the duration, frequency and intensity of grazing on the growth of steers on veld

Abstract

In a grazing trial on open granite sandveld near Bulawayo, Rhodesia, three periods of stay in a paddock, namely, 5, 10 and 20 days, are being used in all combinations with 4 and 8 paddock units to give a range of grazing procedures. Each procedure is being tested at two stocking rates.

Steer livemass gains for the first two years are presented. During the growing season 20‐day periods of stay gave lower gains than 5‐day and 10‐day periods of stay, and 8 paddock procedures gave lower gains than 4 paddock procedures. In general, gains per steer were lower at the high stocking rate than at the low stocking rate but where glazing procedure involved 5‐ and 10‐day periods of stay in 4 paddock units, the position was reversed

During the dry season, stocking rate was the only treatment to affect animal performance. The low stocking rate resulted in better performance than the high stocking rate.

Uittreksel

In ‘n weidingsproef op oop graniet sandveld nahy Bulawayo, Rhodesië, is drie periodes van verblyf in ‘n kamp, nl. 5, 10 en 20 dae, gebruik in alle kombinasies met 4‐ en 8‐kamp eenhede, om sodoende ‘n reeks van weistelsels te verkry. Elke stelsel is ook teen twee veëladings uitgetoets.

Lewende massatoenames van osse, vir die eerste twee jaar, word aangebied. Gedurende die groeiseisoen het die 20‐dae periode laer toenames getoon as die 5∼ en 10‐dae periodes, en 8‐kamp stelsels het laër toenames getoon as die 4‐kamp stelseh. Oor die algemeen was die toenames per os laer teen die hoë veëlading as teen die laë veëlading maar wanneer die 4‐kamp sistcme die 5‐ en 10‐dae periodes van verblyf ingesluit het, was die posisie omgekeerd.

Gedurende die droë seisoen was veelading die enigste behandeling wat dierlike prestasie beïnvloed het. Die laë veëlading het beter as die hoë veëlading presteer.