Changing Grazing Practices

It is good to see common sense occurring.  Ranch land needs intermittent trees toprovide intermittent shade in the tropics and to dump nutrient rich leaves onthe ground.  Cattle need to drift fromone pasturage to another as often as makes good sense to allow strong richforage recovery.

This is what they do naturally.

Seeing a herd sit in the same fieldall summer never worked too well as grass was taken too soon and as muchfreshly trampled to boot.

I suspect that the Sahel in Africa can be put under fifty percent cover from acacia,while growing full crops underneath in conjunction with forage for the dry season.  Fitting cattle into such a regime isobviously recommended.

Bad husbandry has tradition onlybehind it.

Study urges different grazing practices

by Staff Writers

New York(UPI) May 3, 2011 

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Study_urges_different_grazing_practices_999.html

Rotational grazing of cattle on Brazil'snative pasturelands could have benefits for both cattle and wildlife,U.S.researchers say.

A study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society says grazingcattle in small areas for shorter periods before moving onto other pasturesresults in a greater forage base and larger, more valuable cattle. The practicealso reduces incentives for deforestation, uncontrolled burning and replacementof native vegetationwith exotic grasses, a conservation society release said Tuesday.

The study showed the forage base of native grasses in Brazil's Pantanaland Cerrado regions was greater in areas that were rotationally grazed andproduced cattle that were 15 percent heavier.

"The results of this study show a potential win-win situation forthe Pantanal and Cerrado's ranches and wildlife," study lead author DonaldParsons Eaton of the conservation society said. "Using rotational grazingtechniques will produce healthier cattle for ranchers and help safeguardwildlife that call home to this incredibly biodiverse region."

Many areas in the region have already been converted to large-scale,non-sustainable ranching operations, replacing native forests and savannas withexotic grasses.

While producing high profits in the short term, the technique leavesbehind an impoverished, deforested landscape prone to erosion and drought thatthreatens wildlife conservation, cattle health and herd production, the studysaid.