Question

why does poor pasture affect the number of animals in the herd?​

Answer 1

Answer:

a poor pasture affects the number of animals in the herd as if there is very little good grass to eat the number of animals reduce.

Explanation:

Answer 2

Explanation:

Forage crops provide 54 percent of the feed consumed by livestock in the United States. Pastures furnish 36 percent, harvested forages contribute 18 percent and the balance of livestock feed is obtained from concentrate feed including grain and protein supplements.

As expected, the importance of each kind of feed varies with the type of livestock. Sheep and goats obtain greater than 80 percent of their nutrition from forage, while 73 percent of beef cattle nutrition is from forages. Forages make up 51 percent of horses’ diet. New and changing management practices in the dairy industry allow forage to be anywhere from 20 to 80 percent of a cow’s diet at any time in her life. Lengthening the grazing season by using practices such as stockpiling forage or planting annuals for forage can greatly reduce production costs for a wide variety of livestock species. To be profitable, producers have an increased dependency on forages, grazing and pastures.

Pastures can be a useful source of forage on property that is unsuitable for other crops. The amount of pasture needed depends on pasture quality, animal size and type, season and species of forage in the pasture. Early

spring growth from half of one acre may be adequate to feed young heifers, dry cows, low milk producers or beef stockers. July and August heat may depress forage growth to a level where 50 percent more acreage is needed to feed the same animal.

The ideal rotational grazing system consists of 1 to 2 days of grazing with 20 to 30 days of rest for each field or paddock. This requires 16 to 20 paddocks and will provide high- quality pasture needed by growing animals and dairy cows. Ideally, intensive grazing closely resembles the harvesting of hay and is thus close to ideal for forage plant physiology. A less intensive grazing system consists of 5 to 10 days of grazing with the same 20 to 30 day rest period for the paddock. This less intensive system will not maximize paddock production, but will lower the management level and provide adequate quality forage for beef cows, dry cows and stocker cattle.