The evaluation of pastures and grazing management in terms of livestock production

Grazing research in South Africa has been largely pasture oriented and consequently there is still a need to fully evaluate many of our more important pasture types and grazing management practices in terms of livestock production so that efficient pasture‐based feeding systems can be constructed. In order to do this it is necessary to design grazing trials in which the main emphasis is on the animal. An important consideration in trials of this kind is the control of experimental error by careful selection and blocking of animals, applying effective animal weighing procedures and manipulating certain aspects of experimental design. In addition, quality and quantity of herbage consumed should be measured, while the use of continuous grazing and a variable stocking rate as research tools may be particularly effective in certain circumstances. Information provided by these techniques in well integrated field trials for pasture evaluation in terms of livestock production is likely to be of great general value to the livestock industry as a whole.