A decision tool for calculating herbage mass and metabolisable energy requirements of growing cattle and sheep

Abstract

Decisions about feeding livestock on pasture are complicated because of the large number of ingestive and digestive factors affecting pasture intake. As a result, pasture allowance, because of its simplicity, has evolved as a commonly used basis for feeding rules by scientists. This method has not been widely adopted by farmers, however, because it is not able to account for the effects of either pasture quality or herbage mass, both of which are frequently limiting to animal performance. A computer model, "QuickFeed", was therefore constructed, in association with the West Waikato Feed Quality Study Group, to predict intake and performance of growing cattle and sheep on pasture. QuickFeed encapsulates a large amount of scientific information to give instant predictions of the outcomes of grazing duration and supplementation decisions on livestock performance, thereby assisting precise decision making for everyday grazing management. Keywords: allowance, computer model, decision support, herbage mass, livestock feeding, ME, pasture intake, pasture quality