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What is a pasture?
What is meant by pasture lands?
What is the difference between pasture and forage crop?
What is the vegetation of tended pasture?
Why are pastures important in agriculture?
What is the difference between natural pasture and artificial pasture?
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs (non-grass herbaceous plants).
PASTURE can be defined as an area of land covered with forage grasses and legumes used for feeding livestock such as cattle, sheep and goats. FORAGE CROPS can be defined as grasses and legumes deliberately planted and managed for the purpose of feeding livestock.
- Pastures Are Ecosystems
- Pasture Food Webs
- Diverse Pasture Plants
- New Plant Species and Cultivars
- Pasture Management
An ecosystem is made up of animals, plants, bacteria and other microbes as well as the physical and chemical environment they live in. Understanding this complex interplay of living and non-living components is vital to pasture management and raising healthy, productive livestock.
Like other ecosystems, pastures are part of a food web. Pasture grasses are primary producers – they make their own food through photosynthesis. Chlorophyll (the green pigments) within the plants’ leaves absorb energy from sunlight. That energy is used to process carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil into oxygen and glucose (carbohydr...
Pasture is often made up of a mixture of plants including grasses, legumes and herbs. Pasture species tend to be perennial, meaning they grow all year round. Specific cultivars are chosen to suit the local growing conditions. For example, plantain and chicory tend to grow well in warm, dry summer conditions when other species such as ryegrass are n...
Pasture species have changed over time. When New Zealand farmers discovered that native grasses were not suitable for grazing animals like cows and sheep, they imported English grasses and clovers. Over the decades, research and development has provided information about the types of plants that best fit seasonality, soil type, regional climate and...
Although pastures are ecosystems with their own food webs and complex dynamics above and below the ground, they are actually managed ecosystems. Farmers manage pasture plant species, stocking rates, fertiliser applications, irrigation, grazing rotations and much more. Good pasture management is incredibly important for optimal production of the lan...
Whether a producer is part time or commercial, good pastures are profitable. They can provide an economical source of livestock feed, reduce labor requirements, build soil tilth and fertility, reduce erosion, and reduce invasions of noxious and poisonous weeds.
Apr 15, 2021 · The term pasture, actually, it refers to an area of land that’s covered in a range of species of quite low-growing forage that livestock can graze. And it is not one species, it’s a community of species. Kieran McCahon. If you have a look around, you’ll see different colours.
Owners should be aware of the fundamental characteristics of the most basic pasture plants, which plants are the most or least desirable, and how to identify them in a pasture setting. Most grasses and legumes are easy to identify in a hay production system or when they are allowed to go to seed ripening and the floral structures are present.
Mar 9, 2023 · Natural pasture is an area of land that is used for grazing animals. This can include pastureland that is managed by a farmer or rancher, as well as natural areas such as meadows, prairies, and grasslands.
