Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LVIII
Written by Yalçın BOZKURT, Mevlut TURK, Sebahattin ALBAYRAK, Stepan VARBAN
In this study, it was aimed to evaluate two grazing systems for the performance of beef cattle grazing on artificially established pastures under the West Mediterranean climate conditions. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted at university farm in Isparta province located in the west Mediterranean region of Turkey in 2012 and lasted for 70 days. A total of 20 Holstein breed beef cattle with an average of 6 months old were assigned equally to two grazing pastures which were composed of Medicago sativa L. (20%) + Bromus inermis L. (40%) + Agropyron cristatum L. (30%) + Poterium sanguisorba (10%). Two pasture areas with a 3 ha in size were established artificially next to each other and designed as one with zero grazing (ZG) and the other one with rotational grazing, using electrical fencing system (RG) to determine the grazing performance of beef cattle. Biomass available for grazing was also monitored. It was found that there were no effects of grazing types on the performance of the animals. The total weight gains of the animals were 66 and 69 kg for ZG and RG respectively at the end of the experiment. Similarly, there were also no statistical significant differences in daily live weight gains (DLWG) of the animals. DLWGs were 0.954 and 0.996 kg for ZG and RG respectively. Consequently, both type of grazing systems can be recommended for beef cattle production in the region. However, it should be taken into consideration that there was a tendency for the animals perform better in rotational grazing system on artificially established pastures in the West Mediterranean climate conditions.
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Artificial Grassland
