A comparison between a rigid rotational grazing system for dairy cows and a system in which grazing alternated with cutting

Abstract

SUMMARY Two experiments were made with dairy cows in 1969 and 1970 to compare two grazing systems. Treatment A was a rigid rotational system and B was a system in which cows always grazed on an area which had been cut 4 weeks earlier for conservation. For both treatments the stocking rate was 6·2 cow/ha and fertilizer N was applied at a rate equivalent to 2·5 kg/ha per day. Individual records of milk yield, milk composition and live weight were kept, the quality of herbage available was estimated weekly, and individual intakes were estimated by faecal index methods at approxi- mately monthly intervals. In 1969 the cows remained on the same treatment throughout the season and in 1970 a reversal design was adopted. The quantities and quality of herbage available per cow were generally similar under both treatments. There were no significant differences in feed intake, or animal production between the treatments. High yields of 11900 kg milk and 28 000 Meal ME per hectare were recorded.