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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2016

Abstract

Large areas of cultivated grassland are annually abandoned and no longer used for production in Norway. Such areas will over time be encroached by shrubs and trees, which is regarded as undesirable. We assessed plant community development, pasture production, herbage quality and pasture utilization by sheep and heifers of a grassland that has been unmanaged for 12 years. e experiment was run for two consecutive years. Sheep grazed the whole area for one month in spring and autumn. During the summer, the area was assigned to three replicated treatments: (1) control with no management; (2) grazing heifers; and (3) grazing sheep with off€spring. The stocking rate was 1.8 LU ha-1, in both b and c, for a duration of one month. The area was left resting for a month aer treatment and before autumn sheep grazing. Pasture production and herbage intake was estimated using grazing exclosure cages. Herbage consumed during summer period was on average 211 g DM m-2 and the pasture utilization was 55%. The annual consumption and utilization was 336 g DM m-2 and 62% in the grazed treatments and 28 g DM m-2 and 15% in the control, respectively. Total annual pasture production was on average 72% higher in the grazed treatments compared to the control. Tere was no diff€erence between the grazed treatments on annual production, herbage intake or pasture utilization. Grazing stimulated herbage production, and such abandoned grasslands are valuable forage resources.

Abstract

LEgislation in Sweden and Norway requires that Dairy cattle have outdoor acess in summertime. PAsture utilization can be challenging with high-yielding cattle abd karge herd-sizes. Tehrefore, many farmers choose to offer their cows Access to an exercise- and recreation area only, rather than a full Production pasture. However, is an exercise paddoc as attractive as Production pasture for the cow? We compared part-time production and exercise grazing in an automated milking system, with outdoor acess in the morning (4.5 h) and the evening (4 h). The Production pasture group (P)was offered fresh Production pasture daily and given a Limited silage ration night-time. The exercise pasture group (E) was given Access to a small exercise paddoc and were fed silage ad libitum 24 hours. Milk yield dit not differ significantly: 36.1 kg for P and 36.0 kg for E. However, behaviour differed, with 5.5 (P) and 2.6 h(E) spent outdoors, and 3.7 h (P) and 0.6 h (E) grazing time. In conclusion, while milk-yields were similar between the Groups, lower ammounts of supplementary feed were needed for cows on treatment P, who also spent longer hours putdoors and grazing.