Herbage availability as a stress factor on grazed Coastcross II Bermuda grass

Experiments were carried out to examine stocking rate and live weight gain (LWG) relationships for Coastcross II Bermuda grass grazed for four consecutive summer periods by young growing beef cattle. Stocking rate affected the daily LWG/animal through its influence on herbage availability. Rotational grazing showed a higher optimum stocking rate than continuous grazing. This was mainly due to the increased advantage of rotational grazing over continuous grazing in terms of herbage availability, as stocking rate increased. However, animals under rotational grazing had a lower LWG at equivalent levels of herbage availability than animals under continuous grazing. Consequently, the difference in daily LWG/ha at the optimum stocking rates was relatively small.