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Production and Economics of Steers Grazing Tall Fescue with Annual Legumes or Fertilized with Nitrogen
Author(s) -
Interrante Sindy M.,
Biermacher Jon T.,
Kering Maru K.,
Butler Twain J.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci2011.11.0610
Subject(s) - biology , grazing , festuca arundinacea , forage , agronomy , zoology , sativum , vicia villosa , cover crop , poaceae
Use of cool‐season forage legumes may decrease production costs and improve returns to beef cattle ( Bos spp.) producers. The objective of this 3‐yr field study was to compare the performance and economics of stocker cattle grazing tall fescue { Festuca arundinacea Schreb. [syn. Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort] ‘Texoma MaxQ II’} under two N systems. Paddocks (0.81 ha) were either a tall fescue with 112 kg N ha −1 (fertilized so that a total of soil residual N plus fertilizer would equal 112 kg N ha −1 ) (TF‐N) or contained a tall fescue with annual legume mixture (arrowleaf clover [ Trifolium vesiculosum Savi], hairy vetch [ Vicia villosa Roth], and field pea [ Pisum sativum L.] (TF‐Leg). Steers ( Bos taurus ; 282 ± 67 kg initial body weight) were weighed every 28 d during each grazing season, and stocking rates were adjusted based on forage mass with put‐and‐take steers. In each 28‐d grazing period, forage mass, forage allowance, and stocker average daily gain (ADG) and total gain (TG) were measured. Results show a greater number of grazing days (429 and 334 d ha −1 , respectively; p = 0.03) were associated with the TF‐N system than the TF‐Leg system while animal performance (ADG of 0.70 kg per head d −1 ; p = 0.61) and TG (296 and 237 kg ha −1 ; p = 0.10) were similar. The 3‐yr average total cost with establishment and gross revenue were similar between the TF‐N (US$460.67 and $691.16 ha −1 , respectively) and TF‐Leg systems ($466.79 and $553.33 ha −1 , respectively). However, the TF‐N system showed a tendency toward greater expected net return than the TF‐Leg system ($224.35 and $92.67 ha −1 , respectively; p = 0.08).