Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T21:58:39.257Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A note on the effect of sheep grazing on the yield of grass swards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

I. R. Richards
Affiliation:
Fisona Limited, Fertilizer Division, North Wyke Experimental Station, Okehampton, Devonf-p2†
K. M. Wolton
Affiliation:
Fisona Limited, Fertilizer Division, North Wyke Experimental Station, Okehampton, Devonf-p2†
J. D. Ivins
Affiliation:
Fisona Limited, Fertilizer Division, North Wyke Experimental Station, Okehampton, Devonf-p2†

Extract

Herbage yield obtained from grass swards is influenced by the presence of grazing animals (Brockman, Rope & Stevens, 1971a, b; Holmes, 1968; Shaw, Brockman & Wolton, 1966). The net effect of grazing in a particular situation depends on the balance between the effects of excretal-N return, which tends to increase yields (Brockman & Wolton, 1963) and those of treading and other sward damage, which tend to reduce yields (Edmond, 1970). This net grazing effect on yield can be measured by comparing yields of cut and grazed swards under management that is in all other respects identical (Shaw et al. 1966). Available data have been examined to obtain quantitative estimates of the net effect of grazing and of the changes in these effects that occur with changes in sward N supply.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brockman, J. S. (1969). The relationship between total N input and yield of cut grass swards. Journal of the British Grassland Society 24, 8997.Google Scholar
Brockman, J. S., Kope, C. M. & Stevens, M. T. (1971a). A mathematical relationship between nitrogen input and output in cut-grass swards. Journal of the British Grassland Society 26, 75–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brockman, J. S., Rope, C. M. & Stevens, M. T. (1971b). The effect of the grazing animal on the N status of grass swards. Journal of the British Grassland Society 26, 209–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brockman, J. S. & Wolton, K. M. (1963). The use of nitrogen on grass/white clover swards. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18, 713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edmond, D. B. (1970). Effect of treading on pastures using different animals and soils. Proceedings of the Eleventh International Grassland Congress, Surfers Paradise, pp. 604–8.Google Scholar
Holmes, W. (1968). The use of nitrogen in the management of pasture for cattle. Herbage Abstracts 38, 265–77.Google Scholar
Richards, I. R. (1975). Nitrogen under grazing responses to fertilizer nitrogen and the role of white clover. British Grassland Society Occasional Symposium, no. 8, Aberystwyth, 1975 (in the Press).Google Scholar
Shaw, P. G., Brockman, J. S. & Wolton, K. M. (1966). The effect of cutting and grazing in the response of grass/white clover swards to fertilizer nitrogen. Proceedings of the Tenth International Grassland Congress, Helsinki, pp. 240–4.Google Scholar