Corn intercropping strategies for extended winter grazing of beef cattle

通过在秋末/冬季将肉牛留在牧场来延长放牧季节已被许多草原生产者采用，因为与禁闭饲养牛相比，这大大减少了劳动力和饲料成本。现在，该行业正在进一步推动这一模式，包括在秋冬季节利用新植物物种替代雌性和背景牛的扩展放牧策略。由于牛通常在夏季吃草/豆类饲料，而在秋季/冬季质量急剧下降，因此高质量的储存饲料对于维持动物生产力至关重要。玉米提供了挡风屏障和充足的能量，帮助奶牛度过寒冷的冬季。然而，其有限的粗蛋白质含量限制了动物的活重增重率和能量效率，因此限制了这种冬季放牧制度对奶牛和营养需求高的生长牛的适用性。与牛肉和饲料行业合作，并使用一系列农艺、动物和经济分析，我们的多学科科学家团队将确定玉米与高蛋白饲料间作的潜在可行性，以增加这些混合林分的营养价值，供加拿大西部冬季条件下深秋/初冬放牧的肉牛使用。间作玉米的农艺管理实践调查将提供灵活的选择，以增加整个草原的采用。由于人们对间作、作物-牲畜一体化和再生农业的兴趣日益浓厚，这些新的放牧战略将增强加拿大牛肉生产的长期弹性、适应性、竞争力和盈利能力，从而增强粮食安全。参与该项目的支持合作伙伴包括马尼托巴省牛肉生产商、马尼托巴省饲料和草地协会、肉牛研究委员会、阿尔伯塔省牛肉生产商、萨斯喀彻温省养牛人协会、萨斯喀彻温省饲料委员会和联合饲料协会。

Extending the grazing season by maintaining beef cattle on pasture in late fall/winter has been adopted by many Prairie producers as it significantly reduces labour and feed costs compared to feeding cattle in confinement. The industry is now positioned to push this paradigm further to include extended grazing strategies utilizing novel plant species for replacement females and backgrounded cattle in the fall/winter. As cattle typically graze on grass/legume forages in the summer that sharply decline in quality in fall/winter, a high quality stockpiled forage for extended grazing is crucial to maintaining animal productivity. Corn provides a wind break and abundant energy that helps cows through cold winter months. However, its limited crude protein content restricts animal rate of liveweight gain and energetic efficiency, therefore limiting the suitability of this winter grazing system for both cows and growing cattle with high nutrient demands. Partnering with the beef and forage industry, and using a range of agronomic, animal and economic analyses, our multidisciplinary team of scientists will identify the potential feasibility for intercropping corn with high protein forages to increase the nutritive value of these mixed stands for beef cattle grazing in late fall/early winter under western Canadian winter conditions. Investigation of agronomic management practices for intercropping corn will provide flexible options to increase adoption across the Prairies. Due to the growing interest in intercropping, crop-livestock integration, and regenerative agriculture, these new grazing strategies will enhance the long-term resiliency, adaptability, competitiveness, and profitability of Canadian beef production to enhance food security.Supporting partners involved in this project are Manitoba Beef Producers, Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association, Beef Cattle Research Council, Alberta Beef Producers, Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, Saskatchewan Forage Council and Union Forage.