Forage budgeting and pasture utilisation
It’s never too early to plan for the next dry season…so why not start planning now?
In this presentation, Kiri Broad (formerly Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Longreach) discusses getting organised now and not leaving the job of calculating your forage budget and adjusting paddock stocking rates too late.
Adjusting stocking rates to meet current feed supply, animal requirements, pasture utilisation and ground cover targets is considered best management practice.
A forage budget will help you decide if it is safe to carry more stock, to carry the same number for longer, or if there is not enough pasture to safely carry the number you have for the length of time you want.
Best management practice in the grazing industry is about implementing grazing fundamentals that are most effective at achieving a productive, profitable and sustainable grazing business.
You can watch the full recording or use the playlist below to jump to the start of a particular section within the presentation. 40:24 minutes; published 3 May 2018 by FutureBeefAu.
Playlist
- Forage budgeting: Balancing supply and demand
- Forage budgeting – Introduction
- The big picture – Grazing land condition
- Land condition – two components
- Grazing land condition – rolling ball model
- Long Term Carrying Capacity
- Short-term carrying capacity
- Why do a forage budget?
- Adult Equivalents (AE) – comparing apples with apples
- How much will an animal eat?
- Increase in intake due to supplementation
- Completing a forage budget
- How much pasture left for grazing?
- Assessing yield – Option 1
- Assessing yield – Option 2
- Calculating yield from samples
- Calculating a forage budget
- Timing of forage budgeting
- Forage budgeting and animal production
- Resources to assist with forage budgeting