The large animal unit, grazing unit, and browsing unit methods for determining carrying capacity of wildlife use only metabolic weight as a factor to determine the energy requirements of game, whereas the large stock unit method uses metabolic weight and…
Grazing levels and rotational schemes need to be tailored to each individual farm or pasture, and more studies are needed on the resilience of rangelands and on separating the effects of grazing and climate. The direct short-term impact of three…
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…
Experiments were carried out to determine the potential of tropical pastures for growth of dairy replacement heifers, and to assess the need for supplementation of growing animals grazing these pastures. Grain supplementation (1,4 kg maize/head/day) increased ADG to 0,62; 0,56…
Substantial increases in milk production can be achieved using improved pastures. When grazed at lenient stocking rates ( <1,6 cows/ha) milk yields of Friesian cows was ca. 4000 L/lactation. Productivity per unit area is increased when fertilizer nitrogen is used to…
Maize crop residues were grazed at three stocking rates, viz. 6, 9 and 12 sheep/ha, for about three months. Total DM yield of the maize crop was about 7500 kg / ha, and consisted of 38,5% grain and 61,5% residues.…
The aim of this study was to evaluate the livestock production potential of Panicum maximum cv. Gatton cultivated under dry-land conditions and grazed at various stocking rates after various periods of re-growth. Treatments included a high stocking rate, fast rotation…
A direct observation technique was used to establish the foraging behaviour of Boer goats, Nguni goats, Pedi sheep and Dorper sheep. According to the Chi-square dissimilarity measure, plant-form (grass, forbs, woody) differences between the diets of goats and sheep were…
The direct short-term impact of three rates of stocking (4, 8 and 16 Small Stock Units/ha) on arid Nama Karoo vegetation (shrub/grass) was quantified in terms of dung distribution and trampling. Grazing, by mature Merino wethers took place for one…
Italian ryegrass was evaluated over four seasons at stocking rates (SR) of 20, 24, 28, 32 and 36 ewes with lambs/ha. During each of three seasons, between 19 and 24 ewes per SR were milked for 10 weeks, from three…
The aim of this study was to determine the potential of Smuts finger grass as summer grazing for sheep on two soil types at different stocking rates and fertilization levels. The four seasons during which the trial was executed, were…
The performance of 98 Merino weaner lambs at two stocking rates (55 and 68 lambs/ha), with access to either no supplementation, 250 g molasses meal/lamb/day or 250 g molasses meal plus 35 mg ionophore (lasalocid)/lamb/day, with or without a growth…
In each of three consecutive years (1987/88 to 1989/90), 108 weaner steers (average live mass = 192.5 and standard deviation = 1.9 kg) were divided into three groups of 36 steers and fed to achieve growth rates of 0, 0.3…
The object of this study was to determine the influence of different stocking rates (viz. 2, 4, 6 & 8 sheep /ha for a six-month period) on the performance of Dohne merino ewes grazing Digitaria eriantha (Smuts finger grass) pasture…
