Pasture Management

• Grasses, legumes, weeds - 3 types of pasture/forage plants
• Bunch or tufted, Stoloniferous, Rhizomatous - 3 types of grasses
• Megathyrsus maxium " Guinea grass" - PERENNIAL, TUFTED GRASS WITH A SHORT, CREEPING RHIZOME
• Guinea grass - THE STEMS OF THIS ROBUST GRASS CAN REACH A HEIGHT OF UP TO 2M
• 6-25% - Guinea grass protein
• Brachiaria mutica " Para grass" - A PALATABLE SPECIES MAINLY USED FOR ITS HIGH QUALITY FORAGE
• Brachiaria mutica " Para grass" - A FAST-GROWING GRASS, IT CAN BE GRAZED OR USED IN CUT-AND-CARRY SYSTEMS, EITHER TO BE DIRECTLY FED OR TO MAKE HAY OR SILAGE.
• Tripsacum laxum " Guatemalan gamagrass" - A ROBUST, STRONGLY RHIZOMATOUS , TUFTED AND LEAFY PERENNIAL GRASS THAT CAN FORM LARGE BUNCHES
• Pennisetum purpureum " Napier grass" - A MAJOR TROPICAL GRASS. IT IS ONE OF THE HIGHEST YIELDING TROPICAL GRASSES
• Pennisetum purpureum " Napier grass"- A ROBUST, RHIZOMATOUS, TUFTED PERENNIAL GRASS. IT HAS A VIGOROUS ROOT SYSTEM, DEVELOPING FROM THE NODES OF ITS CREEPING STOLONS
• Brachiaria lata " Brachiaria" - FAST-GROWING , ANNUAL, TUFTED, ERECTASCENDING GRASS. LEAF BLADE IS COARSE, BROADLY ROUNDED OR CORDATE AT THE BASE
• Brachiaria lata " Brachiaria" - USED AS FODDER AND PALATABLE FOR RUMINANTS.
• Legumes - Family Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs and trees having fruits
• legumes - Bears nodules on the roots that contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria, including important food and forage plants
• Stylosanthese humilis " Townsville stylo" - A LOW GROWING ANNUAL (SOMETIMES PERENNIAL), PROSTRATE TO ERECT LEGUME. IT CAN BE SOWN IN PURE STANDS OR MIXED WITH GRASSES. CUT-AND-CARRY, HAY & SILAGE
• Clitoria ternatea " butterfly pea" - A VIGOROUS TWINING, TRAILING AND CLIMBING PERENNIAL LEGUME. A COMMONLY CULTIVATED WITH GRASSES. HIGH QUALITY, PROTEIN-RICH LEGUME, “TROPICAL LEGUME”
• Arachis pintoi " pinto peanut" - A STOLONIFEROUS PERENNIAL CREEPING LEGUME.
• Arachis pintoi " pinto peanut" - MOSTLY USED AS A PERMANENT PASTURE IN INTENSIVE GRAZING SYSTEMS AND IN VERY SHADED SITUATIONS UNDER PLANTATION CROPS.
• Pinto peanut - seeds require a well-prepared seedbed and should be sown 2-6cm deep.
• Pinto peanut - spread by stolons and mainly for pasture legume
• Leucaena leucocephala " Ipil-ipil" - FAST GROWING, EVERGREEN, THORNLESS SHRUB. LONG-LIVED PERENNIAL LEGUME ONE OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY AND MOST PALATABLE FODDER TREES OF THE TROPICS
• ipil-ipil - Forage Management —> Lightly grazed in the first year after seedling —> heavily grazed after the second year.
• Macroptilim atropurpureum " Siratro" - TRAILING, CLIMBING OR TWINING
• Macroptilim atropurpureum " Siratro" - THE FIRST TROPICAL PASTURE SPECIES IMPROVED BY BREEDING PRODUCTIVE AND PALATABLE FORAGE LEGUMES.
• Siratro - is sensitive to overgrazing
• Siratro - Utilization —> Mainly sown in mixed legume-grass pastures. Cut for cut-and-carry Use for fallow crop
• Gliricidia sepium " Madre de cacao" - MEDIUM-SIZED TREE. CUT-AND-CARRY FORAGE. HIGH QUALITY CONTENT THAT ALLOWS IT TO COMPLEMENT LOWQUALITY TROPICAL FORAGES.
• Made de cacao - Utilization —> Intercropping in part because they fix nitrogen in the soil and tolerate low soil fertility.
• Grasses - Family Graminae (Poaceae) with about 10,000 species and between 650 and 785 genera of which only 12 to 15 genera of tropical grasses are widely used in sown pastures.
• Creep grazing - Smaller animals are allowed to go (creep) from one pasture to another though openings in a fence.
• Continuous Grazing System - use of 1 field for an entire grazing season. The pasture is not divided into sub-pastures or paddocks. Livestock are allowed access to all the pasture area at any given time.
• Rotational Grazing System - Generally means dividing the pasture into sub-pastures typically called paddocks. Each sub-pastures being grazed and rested in turn. Intensive Rotation Grazing system
• Grazing management - Means controlling grazing animals on pasture.
• Grazing management - Total process of organising livestock to make the best use of the pastures grown.
• The most economical way of producing milk from dairy animal and good quality of carcass from beef breeds is to feed them with - good quality forages.