Pastoral Livestock Production Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering New Zealand pastoral livestock production, including grass growth, animal breeding cycles, and pasture mass management.

Pasture-based livestock production systems

Systems that can be intensive or extensive and use pasture as a renewable feed source for grazing livestock.

Herbage quality and quantity

The two main constraints to animal production in pasture-based systems.

High production pasture digestibility

Active green growth with a digestibility of $75-80\%$ and an energy content of $10.8-11.6\,MJ\,ME/kg\,DM$.

Weight loss digestibility

Pasture consisting of dry stalks with a digestibility of $45-50\%$ and an energy content of $5.7-6.5\,MJ\,ME/kg\,DM$.

Short-day breeder

A seasonal breeder, such as sheep, goats, and deer, that cycles based on decreasing day length.

Long-day breeder

A seasonal breeder, specifically horses, that cycles based on increasing day length.

Polyestrus

Continuous breeders that are non-seasonal, such as cattle, pigs, and poultry.

Gestations length of sheep

Approximately $147$ days.

Gestation length of cattle

Approximately $9$ months.

Winter forage crops

Crops planted in spring or early summer and grown in summer or autumn to be grazed during the winter deficit.

Pasture mass

Also known as pasture cover, measured in units of $kg\,DM/ha$.

Intake calculation

$\text{Pre-grazing cover} - \text{Post-grazing cover}$.

Pasture utilisation

The amount of pasture eaten relative to the amount of pasture grown.

Sheep pre-grazing targets

Pasture covers ranging from $1100$ to $1500\,kg\,DM/ha$.

Sheep post-grazing targets

Pasture covers ranging from $800$ to $1000\,kg\,DM/ha$.

Dairy cow pre-grazing targets

Pasture covers ranging from $1900$ to $2100\,kg\,DM/ha$.

Dairy cow post-grazing targets

Pasture covers ranging from $1500$ to $1600\,kg\,DM/ha$.