Production and Economics of Grazing Steers on Rye–Annual Ryegrass with Legumes or Fertilized with Nitrogen

• Published in: Crop science Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 1931 - 1939
• Main Authors: Butler, Twain J, Biermacher, Jon T, Kering, Maru K, Interrante, Sindy M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison, WI Crop Science Society of America 01-07-2012; The Crop Science Society of America, Inc; American Society of Agronomy
• Subjects: Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; average daily gain; Biological and medical sciences; Body weight; Cattle; cool season grasses; Economics; Fertilizer application; Fertilizers; Forage; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grasses; Grazing; income; Legumes; Lolium multiflorum; nitrogen; nitrogen fertilizers; Pasture; Pastures; peas; Pisum sativum; planting date; rye; Secale cereale; soil; steers; stocker cattle; stocking rate; Trifolium vesiculosum; Vicia villosa; Legumes; Monocotyledones; Farming animal; Gramineae; Steers; Angiospermae; Lolium; Herbaceous plant; Spermatophyta; Economic aspect; Nitrogen
• ISSN: 1435-0653; 0011-183X; 1435-0653
• DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2011.11.0611

Cool-season legumes have potential to replace N fertilizer in annual cool-season grass pastures, thus improving returns to producers. The objective of this 3-yr study was to compare the performance and economics of stocker cattle (Bos spp.) grazing rye (Secale cereale L.)–annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) under two N systems. Paddocks were planted in early September 2008 through 2010 and contained rye–annual ryegrass with 112 kg N ha(−1) (fertilized so that a total of soil residual N plus fertilizer N would equal 112 kg N ha(−1)) (RR-N) or contained a rye–annual ryegrass with annual legume mixture (arrowleaf clover [Trifolium vesiculosum Savi], field pea [Pisum sativum L.], and hairy vetch [Vicia villosa Roth]) (RR-Leg). Steers (307 ± 55 kg initial body weight) were weighed every 28 d and stocking rates were adjusted based on forage mass with put-and-take steers. Forage mass, forage allowance, and stocker average daily gain (ADG) and total gain (TG) were measured every 28 d. Results show similar performance between RR-N and RR-Leg systems in grazing days (average 367 d ha(−1)), ADG (average 1.065 kg per head d(−1)), and TG (average 390 kg ha(−1)). While the 3-yr average total cost associated with the RR-N system (US$569.88 ha(−1)) was greater than the RR-Leg system ($550.57 ha(−1)), there were no differences in gross revenue (average $815.91 ha(−1)) or expected net returns (average $255.68 ha(−1)) between systems. Annual legumes could be a viable replacement for commercial N fertilizer in rye–annual ryegrass pastures although adoption may be limited due to ease of N fertilizer application.