SELECTIVE versus NON-SELECTIVE grazing. • There is confusion between SEVERE grazing and OVERgrazing. Overgrazing is related to the time a plant is allowed to recover after severe grazing. Continuous SELECTIVE overgrazing at low animal impact is the problem with conventional management that has to be addressed. • There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that non-selective grazing results in a lower level of nutrition and poorer body condition. There is also no doubt about the fact that improved grass utilisation occurs (higher stocking rate) and that plant species composition changes in favour of more productive (higher stocking rate) and more nutritious plants (alleviates poor condition). • Most protagonists of intensive grazing advocate “grazing the top third of plants” to allow animals an improved nutrient intake. What is the chance of my cattle only eating the top 1/3 of ALL grass species and leaving 2/3s behind?..ZERO Notice that even under UHDG they leave most of the very unpalatable Palens grass and graze the rest of the species almost 💯 pct... There is no way that grazing the top third of all plants in a diverse community of plants can be achieved, unless animals are trained or bred to do so. Any animal will graze selectively if given the choice. Therefore, instead of grazing the top third they will selectively graze a third of the material on offer - some individual plants will be grazed to a varying degree and some will be left ungrazed. The ultimate result is better body condition at the expense of stocking rate and species composition. • A far better option is to address body condition via genotype (high relative intake), rumen supplementation (minerals, protein, urea and probiotic), synchronising production with natural nutrition (calve, breed and wean during the period of best nutrition) and shorter grass recovery (higher nutrient concentration) at critical times. In regard to a shorter recovery period this applies more to low octane grazing. Deliberately shortening the recovery periods must be done with the provisos of grazing “non-selectively” and alternating these intensively grazed areas with long recovery in the long term. Non-selective “overgrazing” in combination with high animal impact and alternate longer recovery results in good species composition and maximum profit / unit of land. There is a serious disconnect in the Holistic Management group between cattle and grass. References: Johann Zietsman and Jaime Elizondo ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jeuRyDLnPsw.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HJinY9-FBic.html profitableranching.com/Profitable_Ranching/THE_Book.html
