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Integrating diverse forage sources reduces feed gaps on mixed crop-livestock farms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2017

L. W. Bell ,
A. D. Moore  and
D. T. Thomas
L. W. Bell*
Affiliation:
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, PO Box 102, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia
A. D. Moore
Affiliation:
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
D. T. Thomas
Affiliation:
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA 6913, Australia
*
†E-mail: Lindsay.Bell@csiro.au
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Abstract

Highly variable climates induce large variability in the supply of forage for livestock and so farmers must manage their livestock systems to reduce the risk of feed gaps (i.e. periods when livestock feed demand exceeds forage supply). However, mixed crop-livestock farmers can utilise a range of feed sources on their farms to help mitigate these risks. This paper reports on the development and application of a simple whole-farm feed-energy balance calculator which is used to evaluate the frequency and magnitude of feed gaps. The calculator matches long-term simulations of variation in forage and metabolisable energy supply from diverse sources against energy demand for different livestock enterprises. Scenarios of increasing the diversity of forage sources in livestock systems is investigated for six locations selected to span Australia’s crop-livestock zone. We found that systems relying on only one feed source were prone to higher risk of feed gaps, and hence, would often have to reduce stocking rates to mitigate these risks or use supplementary feed. At all sites, by adding more feed sources to the farm feedbase the continuity of supply of both fresh and carry-over forage was improved, reducing the frequency and magnitude of feed deficits. However, there were diminishing returns from making the feedbase more complex, with combinations of two to three feed sources typically achieving the maximum benefits in terms of reducing the risk of feed gaps. Higher stocking rates could be maintained while limiting risk when combinations of other feed sources were introduced into the feedbase. For the same level of risk, a feedbase relying on a diversity of forage sources could support stocking rates 1.4 to 3 times higher than if they were using a single pasture source. This suggests that there is significant capacity to mitigate both risk of feed gaps at the same time as increasing ‘safe’ stocking rates through better integration of feed sources on mixed crop-livestock farms across diverse regions and climates.

Keywords

energymodelsimulatedemandsupply
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 12 , Issue 9 , September 2018 , pp. 1967 - 1980
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

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