A comparison of pasture and fodder crops for the production of slaughter lambs in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (PWV) area.

Abstract

A number of pasture and fodder species were evaluated for the production of mutton with weaner lambs. Animal performance and meat production under three stocking rates, which were classified as light, medium, and heavy, were obtained with the aim of identifying best pasture/fodder for every season. The pastures/fodders included were Lolium multiflorum cv. Midmar and Triticum x Secale pastures under irrigation. Avena sativa and Vicia dasycarpa pasture mixture and maize crop residues under rainfed conditions and Medicago sativa and Digitaria eriantha hay for the winter months. The spring pastures were L. multiflorum cv. Midmar, Lolium perenne cv. Nui and Dactylis glomerata cv. Hera under irrigation, while the summer pastures included Digitaria eriantha var. eriantha and M. sativa cv. Cuf 101 pastures under rainfed conditions and Cynodon dactylon cv. NK37 under irrigation. Of these, the Midmar pasture for the winter and spring, maize crop residues for the winter, Hera for the spring and Cuf 101 for the summer seemed to be the best pasture of those tested in their season of use, from an animal production point of view.

Keywords: afrikaans; animal performance; animal production; avena sativa; cynodon dactylon; dactylis glomerata; digitaria eriantha; fodder; hay; lambs; lolium multiflorum; lolium perenne; maize; meat production; medicago sativa; pastures; performance; rainfed condition; seasonal production; south africa; stocking rate; stocking rates; university of pretoria; vicia dasycarpa