Short grass pasture
The short grass pasture is one of the four common pasture systems in Europe today, but with the rotating pasture it mainly shapes the image of grassland use. The term short grass pasture was coined by the Swiss agricultural researcher Peter Thomet , professor at what is now the Swiss University of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences in Berne Zollikofen for the field of grassland management, forage production and preservation and milk production, who recommends this form of pasture especially for dairy cow husbandry. The terms intensive standing pasture and mowing pasture are also used as synonyms . The aim of the pasture system is to obtain as much milk as possible directly from grass, because grass is by far the cheapest fodder compared to hay (effort required to mow and bring in), silage , with self-produced fodder (e.g. fodder beet ) and even more purchased concentrate. While for a long time the ever increasing increase in milk yield per cow, which uses concentrated feed, additives, and in some cases also drugs and hormones, was seen as the only way to economic milk production, Thomet's system moves away from high performance per cow, which is expensive, and towards foregoing high performance, but is economical because of the far lower costs. The short-grass pasture starts as early as possible in the year, is maintained for as long as possible and exerts a high pressure on the grass for offspring due to the large number of animals. In detail, the system is carried out as follows:
seed
When sowing a short grass pasture, make sure that a suitable seed mixture is used. UFA 440 and 480 are optimal here , but UFA481 should be used in higher altitudes. Choosing the right location must also be done carefully. A good location is characterized by evenly distributed, high precipitation (from approx. 900 mm annual mean). The place should be as topographically homogeneous as possible and offer a long vegetation period, so that little additional feeding of the animals is necessary.
Pastures
When grazing, you should pay attention to an early start to pasture and start pasture from the beginning of March. See also the Care section. The size of the pasture should be continuously adapted to the animal population and an average lawn height of 5–8 centimeters should be provided. To ensure this, the lawn height must be checked several times a week, especially if you are new to the short-grass pasture system. About 3 measurements per hectare of grazed land, spread over the entire area, should be sufficient. The measuring points are to be chosen absolutely randomly, hot spots as well as spots that have been eaten away . If the average of all measurements shows that the sod is too low , the area must be increased. If the grass population becomes too high, the grazing pressure must be increased by grazing more animals or reducing the pasture area. However, it is essential to avoid excess food - even with hot spots.
Care should be taken to knock over all grazed areas within a week. Besides, watering places for the grazing animals must not be neglected. In order to ensure optimal use and usability, the pasture area can also be grazed at night. Fear of kick damage, especially in spring, is rather unfounded.
A rounding of the pastures is helpful.
Sections of the grazing season
Pasture
The pasture begins with the start of vegetation, often at the beginning of March. The aim is to stimulate the tillering of the grasses, while at the same time browsing the upper grasses and unwanted weeds such as dock. In this phase the entire surface should be bumped . In the pasture there is still very little forage available. This pasture section is also used for the slow feed changeover. As soon as the growth is sufficient, the supplementary feeding is stopped and the spring grazing begins.
Spring pasture
From the middle to the end of April, no more feed should be fed, as the most productive phase of the grassland begins here. The existing stock or the area is to be adjusted and the increase monitored closely. During this time, 5–7 cows per hectare should be kept in order to obtain the right grazing pressure. From around July one speaks of the summer pasture.
Summer pasture
The growth is less, about 2/3 of the total area is now grazed with 3-4 cows / ha. From the beginning of July, dry periods can usually be expected, so there must still be space available that you can fall back on if necessary. You shouldn't feed, but rather change the available area or stocking strength.
Autumn pasture
Starts around early September to late October. Now the entire area is grazed. If necessary, it can now also be fed. However, one must not lose sight of the growth of the pasture. If the pasture is eaten cleanly by November, no further maintenance measures are necessary.
maintenance
- Keep weeds under control
- other pasture maintenance: as much as necessary, as little as possible (minimum = maximum)
- Against matting, for example, aggressively groom ostrich grass in summer
- Liming
- with large gaps: overseeding
- Mowing excess forage (hot spots)
If grazing with the right intensity and stocking size, maintenance is not necessary. Above all, it is important that the pasture begins in good time. Most unwanted plants are eaten in the early stages of growth or are not yet poisonous. This means that plants such as dock , buttercups and chervil can be effectively combated with high grazing pressure early on.
fertilization
When fertilizing a short grass pasture, the following must be observed:
- moderate but regular
- three to four times 30 kg N / ha
- Use Mg ammonium nitrate to compensate for excess potassium
- in spring about 30 cubic meters of manure per hectare
- Use phosphorus in a readily soluble form
- Fence out the manure area for one week or apply manure with a manure injector
- Apply commercial fertilizer when rain is imminent
- Areas on which the animals deposit a lot of manure and urine (e.g. resting places) cannot or should no longer be fertilized.
Parasites
- increased risk of gastrointestinal worms and lung worms
- Vaccinate young animals in consultation with the veterinarian
- The short grass pasture and the rotating pasture are equally at risk for parasites .
classification
The global grassland area (also called grassland) corresponds to the forest area and is twice as large as the global arable area. The economic use of this area takes place mainly through livestock farming. As far as this is done by keeping the animals directly on the area, this is done through different grazing systems. Research is being carried out into the question of the optimal use of grassland in agricultural faculties by chairs for grassland management .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Grassland and pasture use - forage management and animal nutrition - Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture - LfL. In: lfl.bayern.de. Retrieved January 3, 2019 .