Introduction
The beef industry is the largest sector of the Irish Agricultural sector. In Ireland grassland accounts for 91% of agricultural land. Grazed grass is currently the cheapest feed source available for beef cattle in Ireland. The utilization of grass by grazing should provide a sustainable livestock system as grazed grass is the cheapest source of nutrients for the animal. It is 60% of what an animal will eat in its life but only 30% of the cost. As said grass is the cheapest feed available to the animals so to get the most from the grassland the grass growth must be monitored regularly and stocking rates must be adjusted.
Grazing Systems
Grazing management is when the grazing habits of animals on pastures are controlled. Good grazing management requires young, fresh leafy grass at a vegetative stage of growth available to grazing animals at all times. The aim is to graze for 220 to 240 days per year.
An efficient system of rotational grazing allows the farmers achieve this. There are various systems available including Paddock Grazing, Strip Grazing, Block Grazing, Set Stocking, Creep Feeding, leader follower system, Zero grazing and Mixed Grazing.
The diagram below shows that grass doesn’t have a steady growth curve throughout the year, there’s a peak in May with surplus grass. The grazing method chosen helps to make the most efficient use of grass at all times of the grazing cycle.
Paddock Grazing
This is a form of rotational grazing. It is considered the best method of grazing. It involves the farmer dividing grazing areas into 20-25 paddocks. The paddocks depend on the size of our herd. Every day cows will graze one paddock. This method is based on the idea that each tiller has three actively growing leaves at an...
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...gement of grass must be taken. On farms where grassland management is poor, rising beef prices will be eroded by rising costs.
The chart below shows the comparison between silage, concentrates and grazed grass. It proves that grass is the cheapest feed available.
Live wt gain/d (kgs) Est. carcase gain/day Feed costs/day Cost/kg carcase (€)
Silage & 6kgs conc/d
Ad lib conc
Grazed grass 1.0
1.3
1.0 0.68
0.92
0.65 2.00
2.98
0.25 2.94
3.24
0.38
Conclusion
Grazing management is one of the most important factors for farmers to get right. It is the cheapest form of feed available as seen in the costs section, so the right method must be chosen. Grass management for farmers in Ireland is a yearly challenge as the weather is so unpredictable. I conclude that a rotational grazing system such as strip or paddock grazing would make the best out of the grassland.
References:
In today's society, organic food is a giant new thing in which food is produced without any chemicals. In other words, the product must be 100 percent natural. A major food source of the American people is meat, and the way that it is produced today is a major issue. In feedlots, where cattle are fed grain to grow before being slaughtered, the conditions are terrible and horrifying. Cattle are confined to a limited amount of space and not allowed to roam freely. Also in these cattle growing yards, the risk of disease is much higher in these animals than out on the open range grazing on the grass. Beef critics say that there are no cattle breeds that posses the amounts of marbling present to make a good steak. It is a true statement to say that these critics are very indeed wrong. Also, Many people also do not know that that the meat from cattle that are fed grain, is high in fat content and has too much marbling. Grass-fed beef is much leaner than grain-fed beef, has less fats, and is produced all naturally. Therefore, grass-fed beef is much healthier and safer to eat than grain-fed beef.
Joel Salatin is a 57 year old farmer who has been farming full time since 1982 on his farm “Polyface” which is located in Swoope, VA, where he is somewhat of a local legend in farming. “The farm services more than 5,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with salad bar beef, pastured poultry, eggmobile eggs, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey and forestry products using relationship marketing” (Salatin, Polyface.com). Mr. Salatin utilizes a unique method of farming, a fact which makes him so profoundly interesting. The style in which he farms his land is termed “mob grazing”. Mob grazing is the process in which different animals are rotated at different times throughout the farms’ fields. He is an advocate not just for the human well being but for the world’s ecological sustainability and the continuance of growth.
Grazing Cattle as Being Less Efficient than Growing Crops "The beef in just one Big Mac represents enough wheat to make five loaves of bread. " This just shows that growing wheat is more efficient than grazing cattle as the five loaves lasts, on average for a family of four, about three weeks whereas a Big Mac only lasts one person a matter of ten minutes, if that! In this essay I am going to discuss whether or not grazing cattle is less efficient than growing crops. There are many perspectives to this argument. From a biologists point of view, plant foods are far more energy efficient than animal products because when you eat meat, a vast amount of energy is lost through the food chains, whereas when you eat plant foods such as wheat, no energy is previously lost because plants are the producers of the food chains.
Speed, in a word, or, in the industry’s preferred term, “efficiency.” Cows raised on grass simply take longer to reach slaughter weight than cows raised on a richer diet, and for a half a century now the industry has devoted itself to shortening a beef animal’s allotted span on earth… what gets a steer from 80 to 1,100 pounds in fourteen months is tremendous quantities of corn, protein and fat supplements, and an arsenal of new drugs. (71)
"The Importance of Livestock." CGIAR News. Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, 1997. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
The farm uses a cycle of animals, which include cows, chickens, turkeys, bunnies, and pigs, in order to keep the land fertile which allows for little use of external human made input. Polyface farm also takes hours of work everyday to upkeep unlike factory farms where it’s mostly automated. The farm also makes use of forested areas and other non-farmed resources, which forces them to protect that land from being cut down to receive those benefits. However, organic farming’s limiting factor is human population growth and the resources needed by the growing population.
Traditional agriculture requires massive forest and grassland removal to obtain land necessary to farm on. Deforestation and overgrazing has caused erosion flooding, and enabled the expansion of deserts. But with drainage systems, leveling, and irrigation provided by the Green Rev, all this terra deforming will unlikely happen again. We can retain clean air and lessen the global warming effect caused by deforestation.Many people argue that a revamp in agriculture will be way too expensive and unrealistic especially for those poor farmers in third world countries. However many times, they exaggerate the price.
The people who want to take away public land grazing do not take into consideration all the time and work the ranchers put in to make the land better. They are constantly riding the pastures, making sure that the pastures are being used properly and that there is no overgrazing taking place. Also, the ranchers make sure that ponds are kept in quality condition and if they are not, it is their job to get the ponds dug out or whatever it takes to make the ponds better. The costs of the repairs are at the expenses of the ranchers. Ranchers do a lot of other things like put up electric fence to insure rotational grazing, cut trails to make paths easier, and more to improve the quality of the land (Smith).
Sustainable ranching can be helpful in maintaining grassland conditions. Even so, overgrazing is a huge issue that continues to rise as ranching increases to feed the growing population. If I were the land manager in charge of 500,000 acres of public grassland, the first step I would take in assessing the land’s condition would be to take soil samples and examine the amount of erosion that has occurred over the past decade. In addition, I would assess the condition and abundance of plant life in the area. Invasive weeds and shrubs are a sign that the land is being over worked and causing a decrease in native species. Therefore, the amount of invasive species can point to the amount of abuse this land has seen over the past decade. Lastly the
(b) Temperate grasslands are also best suited for grazing livestock. Three guidelines for grazing livestock more sustainably in this biome would be: graze animals that are native to the specific region while considering temperature, rainfall, and sunlight, graze different species to increase biodiversity, and set a limit on the population of grazed animals so overgrazing doesn’t
British Charolais Cattle Society. (2012). Charolais. Retrieved December 10, 2013, from British Charolais Cattle Society: http://www.charolais.co.uk/
In chapter 6 they discuss a technique that is similar to CA which is conservation tillage which sets out to reduce erosion by maximizing the amount of crop residue that is left on the soil surface and by maintaining soil structure useful to infiltration rather than runoff.
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
Livestock grazing or herding is a human activity that has been taking place for thousands of years in Africa. Pastoral lifestyles emerged in Africa about nine thousand years ago with the arrival of domesticated herbivores like goats, sheep, and aurochs from Asia. Pastoralism thrived in its early stages in Africa because these ...