The Rural Voice, 1998-08, Page 38Researcher Jim Johnston looks over the flock in one of the paddocks at the New Liskeard station. The pastures are
intensively grazed and the sheep are moved into new paddocks to give the old ones time for regrowth during mid-season.
Pasture grazing for sheep
Recent studies at the New Liskeard Agricultural Research Station show pasture
grazing for sheep lowers labour and machinery costs.
Story and photos by Jim Patrick
ost sheep producers want to
M
get extra weight on their
lambs at the lowest possible
cost — pasture grazing can lower
both labour and machinery costs.
But what is the best method of
using pasture?
Jim Johnston, a researcher at the
New Liskeard Agricultural Research
Station is recommending two
systems, continuous grazing early in
the season and switching to a rotation
of the paddocks about mid-season
when the producer can use the tender
new re -growth, rich in protein, to add
weight to lambs.
34 THE RURAL VOICE
"Where one's land base or land
costs are high, short duration
rotational grazing should be used to
increase lamb output per hectare,"
said Johnston.
However, he warns those who
want to use intensive stocking of
young lambs in small paddocks, "A
high level of management must be
practised to control coccidia and
other parasite problems."
Johnston has been managing the
New Liskeard flock since 1994,
shortly after he received his M.Sc. in
pasture management from the
University of Guelph. The flock is
the only one in Ontario in which
research into applied sheep
production is done under the auspices
of the University of Guelph.
The New Liskeard station is
currently evaluating new forage
species along with breeding sheep
and other projects connected with the
university.
When setting up feeding trials, the
research team tried to make the test
as realistic as possible.
"The pasture was over 10 years
old and dominated by bluegrass,
bromegrass and quackgrass. We did
this after talking with sheep