The Rural Voice, 1988-09, Page 103IMPROVING THE
BACK FORTY
Des Macaskill
is intensively
managing 150
head of cattle,
300 Angora
goats, and 800
Lettelle sheep
on 3,000 acres in
the interior of the
drought -stricken
South African
plain.
by Dee Kramer
o you are looking at the back
forty — which looks quite a
mess. What with the dande-
lions, quackgrass, and Canada Thistle,
you are wondering if with a bit of
management you could get a higher
quality feed out of the pasture for your
cattle.
The answer is yes. At the Elora
Research Station, Dr. Ann Clark from
the University of Guelph has achieved
700 pounds per acre per year and daily
gains of 3.2 pounds per head with in-
tensive pasture management and rota-
tional grazing on Class 1, tile -drained
soil that normally grows corn silage.
And Des Macaskill, on 3,000 acres
in the drought -stricken interior of
South Africa, on a heavy clay soil, is
intensively managing 150 head of
S
NEW APPROACHES
TO PASTURE MANAGEMENT
cattle, 300 flourishing Angora goats,
and 800 Lettelle-type wooled sheep.
His herd of Bonsmara cattle — a
synthetic breed — has an overall
calving of 95 per cent, and at 205 -day
weigh -ins, he averages 572 pounds for
his males.
PASTURE MANAGEMENT
Pasture management is becoming
increasingly popular. In Canada, a
third of farm land is in pasture. And
the recently established Canadian
Forage Council has a mandate to im-
prove the profile of forage and pasture
in agriculture.
Dr. Clark, an agronomist in the
Crop Science Department of Guelph,
has worked tirelessly on getting the
council onto its feet. She believes
strongly that having cattle graze on
perennial pastures could be an answer
to many of the problems plaguing
agriculture.
She lists among those problems
the decline in soil quality from com-
paction and degradation, horrifying
statistics for soil erosion, manure
problems, fertilizer contamination of
the waterways, biocide pollution,
pressure from animal rights groups
which object to intensive confinement,
and the Tong -term health effects of the
use of antibiotics for confined live-
stock.
The experiment at the Elora
Research Station has been looking at
the ideal grass -legume mix and at
stocking rates. From the assessment
26 THE RURAL VOICE