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Abstract
The purpose of the grazing trials described in this paper was to provide information to aid in the development of grazing management strategies where Lehmann lovegrass has become a dominant species. Seven pastures were utilized from 1984 to 1987 for a comparison of four yearlong stocking rates to seasonal grazing rotated through three pastures. A second trial, 1988 to 1993, rotated cows and calves through all pastures at a very low stocking rate. Spot grazing created patchy grazing patterns that persisted throughout the study period on all treatment pastures, except the yearlong very heavy stocking and summer-use rotation pastures. Weaned calf production for all treatments (especially the rotated treatment) tended to decrease in the last 2 years of the 1984 to 1987 trial because cows slipped to later breeding and poorer percentage calf crops. Cows selected for limited high quality forage, especially in winter and spring, from the heavily grazed patch areas, and repeated heavy grazing reduced the potential quantity of forage produced in these patches. A two-pasture, alternate summer use, with both pastures grazed during winter and spring, is suggested as a possible grazing system to maintain favorable calf production and a sustainable range resource.
Parent Publication
Citation
Ogden, Phil R.; Smith, E. Lamar. 2003. Cow weights and calf production for pasture 12-C Lehmann lovegrass grazing trials, 1982 to 1993. In: McClaran, Mitchel P.; Ffolliott, Peter F.; Edminster, Carleton B., tech. coords. Santa Rita Experimental Range: 100 years (1903 to 2003) of accomplishments and contributions; conference proceedings; 2003 October 30-November 1; Tucson, AZ. Proc. RMRS-P-30. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 183-187.
