Introduction

Leading farmers are now gathering and analyzing a lot of information in managing their grazing systems.  They are assessing their pastures condition, weighing animals, monitoring production, and using feed planning to help them farm more efficiently and profitably.  However, information soon becomes redundant if it is not used, and knowing which information to gather, and how to use it, is a key requirement for profitable and sustainable management of grazing systems in southern Australia.

As an agriculture graduate, you may well end up in a job where you are helping farmers who are already at this level, or helping other farmers come up to this level.  Therefore, it is important that you have a sound understanding of the principles upon which good grazing management decisions are based, plus a practical knowledge of some of the management rules of thumb and planning tools that can be used to apply and interpret farm monitoring information.  The aim of this assignment is to give you some of that understanding and knowledge.

This assignment is based on the problem-solving approach that you will be familiar with by now.  You are required to develop feed plans for farmers somewhere in Victoria.  The aim of the feed plan is to help the farmer make grazing management decisions that will make best possible use of pasture in the animal production enterprise that the farmer proposes to operate.  Your task includes providing feedback and advice to the farmer about those grazing management decisions.

Information and resources on the LMS

Information is available via Assignments: Grazing Management assignment on the LMS.

There are five main parts to this assignment:

•   The Problem Description screen, which presents key information relevant to the problem,

•    Tutorials – there are seven tutorials, containing information on:

-    A general introduction to grazing management (“What is grazing management?”);

-    A description of some of the common goals of grazing management (“Objectives of grazing management”);

-    Information about the role of grazing method in efficient use of pasture (“Grazing Method”);

-    Information about feed planning on pasture, and the planning tools that can be used (“Feed planning on pasture: Feed profiles”, and “Feed planning on pasture: Feed budgets”);

-    Information on how to manage rotational grazing systems (“Managing grazing rotations”); and

-    Comments on some of the factors that lead to successful, or unsuccessful, use of feed planning (“Using planning tools”).

•   The Pasture Growth and Pasture Quality database.  These contain published data for the monthly growth rates (Growth database) and metabolisable energy contents (Quality database) of pastures in different regions in Victoria.  You will need data for the region to complete your analyses.

•    ME Calculators.  This allows you to calculate the monthly energy demand for livestock through an annual cycle.

•    Feed profiles. Spreadsheet you will use to analyse feed supply and demand in your assigned problem.

When you first open ‘Feed Profile’ spreadsheet for your problem, you should save it to your computer area/ computer/ memory stick, and always use your saved spreadsheet to enter the relevant pasture growth rates, pasture energy contents, stocking rates and calculated energy requirements/ME production targets.