Abstract
Here we describe the livestock performance and baseline productivity over a two-year period, following the establishment of the infrastructure on the North Wyke Farm Platform across its three farmlets (small farms). Lowland permanent pastures were continuously stocked with yearling beef cattle and ewes and their twin lambs for two years in three farmlets. The cattle came into the farmlets as suckler-reared weaned calves at 195 ± 32.6 days old weighing 309 ± 45.0 kg, were housed indoors for 170 days then turned out to graze weighing 391 ± 54.2 kg for 177 days. Therefore, it is suggested for predominantly grass-based systems with minimal supplementary feeding that target live weight gains should be 0.5 kg/day in the first winter, 0.9 kg/day for summer grazing and 0.8 kg/day for cattle housed and finished on silage in a second winter. The sheep performance suggested that lambs weaned at 100 days and weighing 35 kg should finish at 200 days weighing 44 to 45 kg live weight with a killing out percentage of 44%. Good levels of livestock production are possible with grass and forage-based systems using little or no additional supplementary concentrate feeds.
Highlights
Livestock production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions [1]
The question is what are reasonable targets when concentrate supplementation is minimal for the weaned calves in each of the production phases after weaning: their first winter; the yearling cattle which graze in the following spring-summer and the cattle which require to be housed again for a second winter?
Smil [4] discussed how environmentally sensitive methods of meat production are possible, including systems based on truly sustainable grazing, feeding of forages rotated with food crops and maximum use of crop and processing residues—when combined with moderation of meat consumption
Summary
Amongst a wide range of possible mitigation strategies to either reduce total emissions or reduce emissions intensity is achieving higher productivity, for example, through breeding or through intensive housing and concentrate feeding. The question is what are reasonable targets when concentrate supplementation is minimal for the weaned calves in each of the production phases after weaning: their first winter; the yearling cattle which graze in the following spring-summer (some of which may achieve finished condition and are sold) and the cattle which require to be housed again for a second winter?. Smil [4] discussed how environmentally sensitive methods of meat production are possible, including systems based on truly sustainable grazing, feeding of forages rotated with food crops and maximum use of crop and processing residues—when combined with moderation of meat consumption. Rearing livestock on non-human edible forages and Agronomy 2019, 9, 101; doi:10.3390/agronomy9020101 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy
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