RESOURCE
Intensive rotational grazing can improve profitability and environmental outcomes
Abstract
Intensive rotational grazing has been adopted by many farmers across southern Australia, to improve financial, environmental and personal elements of farming businesses. Often the shift to an intensive rotational grazing system has been associated with changes to livestock enterprises, stocking rate and phosphorus fertiliser application, making it difficult to determine the specific role of grazing management. An experiment was conducted on native pasture at Panuara near Orange (33˚27’S, 154˚56’E) over a three-year period (2008−10) to investigate how increasing the intensity of grazing management from continuous grazing (one paddock, 1P) to flexible 4- and 20-paddock rotational systems (4P and 20P) influenced profitability and environmental outcomes. Lamb weaning weight decreased with increasing
grazing intensity (average weaning weight 1P = 33.7, 4P = 30.6, 20P = 29.9 kg/head), but higher stocking rates were possible with 20P (average stocking rate 2009/2010 1P = 5.2, 4P = 6.0, 20P = 7.2 dry sheep equivalents/ha), due to higher feed-on-offer. Grazing system had limited influence on pasture composition, although ground cover and herbage mass were periodically higher in 20P, particularly in drier autumns (2009 and 2010). Gross margin was higher in the 20P system in 2010 when stocking rates were higher and lambs retained after weaning, but there were no significant differences in other years. Using the average experimental results from 2009 and 2010 there were positive internal rates of return (IRR) in moving from 1P to 4P and 20P systems when infrastructure was in place (18.3 and 23.9% respectively), however, IRR decreased as investment in infrastructure increased.
Read the full paper here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karl-Behrendt/publication/253651214_Intensive_rotational_grazing_can_improve_profitability_and_environmental_outcomes/links/0046352ef680baa032000000/Intensive-rotational-grazing-can-improve-profitability-and-environmental-outcomes.pdf
