How to easily use the leaf stage to make grazing decisions with your pastures and how to automate? скачать в хорошем качестве

How to easily use the leaf stage to make grazing decisions with your pastures and how to automate?

In this video, I'm going to show you the easiest way to use the leaf stage of your pastures for maximising quantity and quality without going out into the paddock and counting leaves. It's called the leaf stage. The leaf stage is all about counting the number of leaves that have appeared or emerged and then understanding your round length based on your target leaf stage at grazing. So, why is the leaf stage practical? Well, it can give you a snapshot of what's going on in your pasture and help you choose the best speed for your grazing rotations. In other words, you can set your grazing rotation speed based on the leaf appearance rate of your pastures. Of course, this is all else being equal such as stocking rates and other demands on the grazing platform, but that is for another video. You want to graze at the leaf stage that optimises both pasture quality and quantity. Balancing the quality vs quantity of the pasture is an ongoing challenge and changes seasonally, depending on the time of year. It can all sound a little complicated, but honestly, we have a tool that counts the leaves for you, and I'll talk about this a little later in the video. First, let's use ryegrass as an example. If you're interested in other species, we'll touch on these later in the video. How to maximise the quantity of ryegrass pastures with the leaf stage? A ryegrass plant grows 3-full leaves in its lifecycle before the first-formed leaf starts to decay and a 4th leaf starts to emerge. The goal here is to graze at no more than the 3-leaf stage. Beyond this, wastage of your pasture occurs as the oldest leaf begins to die. The maximum grazing interval is the 3-leaf stage. Grazing consistently before your reach the 2-leaf stage harms the longevity of your plants. Let's chat about the background as to why. During the formation of the 1st leaf, the plant allocates energy for new leaves. During the formation of the 2nd leaf, the plant stores energy in its roots and replenishes its water-soluble carbohydrate reserves. These reserves are used as an energy source for regrowth after grazing when there are no leaves to photosynthesise energy. Grazing consistently before the 2nd leaf will diminish the life of your plants to restore energy in the root system for future growth. Therefore, the minimum grazing interval for a productive pasture is at the 2-leaf stage. The next question is on optimising your pasture quality. How to maximise the quality of ryegrass pastures with the leaf stage? Grazing intervals less than the two-leaf stage can lead to high protein and low NDF levels. This feed quality sounds like feeding gold. The issue is that there is a trade-off between quantity and quality. You can't have both at maximum. So, as your plant matures and grows more leaves, the protein and energy density reduce and NDF increases. There are times of the year when you can adjust your target leaf stage at grazing to balance the quality and quantity, and this is where things get interesting. What are the recommended leaf stage targets at varying times of the year? First, I will talk about my management strategies and will pitch this mainly at growing a ryegrass-based sward. Let's start during spring. In the spring and early summer, depending on climatic conditions or if you have irrigation, targeting a leaf stage closer to two leaves than three is ideal. Grazing at the minimum grazing interval allows you to optimise quality for the quantity of pasture growth. Also, it helps keep pastures in a cleaner state as they turn reproductive, which is when quality goes out the window. In summer, under irrigation, when pastures have turned the corner and are now vegetative, you can set your grazing intervals around the two to two and a half leaf stage. Without irrigation, you would target the 3-leaf stage to give the plant optimum care and maximise quantity, given that quality will not be much of an issue given the lack of biomass. In Autumn, you are best to start extending the grazing interval as growth rates drop and days to leaf appearance increases substantially. I would set the minimum grazing interval at two and a half leaves with targets set on three leaves at grazing as the round extends during Autumn. Then for the last season of winter. Set your sites on a grazing interval at the 3-leaf stage. During winter, your pasture quality at three leaves is fine for quality. Aiming for quantity is more concerned to ensure that your farm is ready for the growing season ahead. What about other pasture species that aren't ryegrass? If we graze ryegrass between the two and a half to 3-leaf stage, then we can look at grazing: Phalaris and Cocksfoot at the four to 5-leaf stage Kikuyu at the four and a half leaf stage Prairie (or brome) at the four-leaf stage. And also, keep in mind to graze annual ryegrass at a similar pace to perennial. However, with annual ryegrass, you can push the quantity further without damaging the quality too much. https://pasture.io