Grazing and management

Grazing and Management

1. Don’t allow stock sudden, unrestricted access to brassica crop

Sudden access to brassica crops can upset the balance of rumen microbes, resulting in animal health challenges such as scouring and rumen acidosis. A gradual transition to a new feed source is required.

Start by grazing the crop for no more than one to two hours per day.
Ensure plenty of long-stem fibre supplements (baleage, silage, hay and/or straw) are available to stock.
During transitioning, increase feed allocation of brassica crops in small 15-20% increments every two days, building up to a maximum allowance over at least 10-14 days.

A full rumen is required before animals are shifted onto crops.

2. At all times, give livestock access to fresh water

Although the water content of brassicas is high, it is recommended that livestock has access to fresh water at all times.

Limited water intake causes livestock dry matter intake to decline.

3. Feed extra fibre prior to and while grazing brassica crops

Forage crops are highly digestible and do not contain much ‘effective fibre’. Offer livestock a source of fibre while grazing crops, and ensure the supplementary fibre is of good quality.

Feeding extra ‘effective fibre’ means:

More chewing and increased salivation to help maintain rumen pH.
Slower flow of feed through the rumen and gut for a more effective rumen fermentation.
Increased cud chewing to support good digestion, which in turn helps to prevent gorging, facilitates rumen microbes adjustment to the feed and, maintains normal rumen function.

Crop management

Maturity Dates

It is important that crops are only grazed once the cultivar has reached its specified maturity date.

Flowering/Bolting

Flowering or bolting (elongated stem) crops can potentially lead to animal health issues. Contact your Veterinarian or Agent for advice if flowers or bolters are present in your crop prior to grazing.

Dry Matter(DM) Yield Assessment

Assess the amount of feed on offer (kgDM/ha) to calculate feed allocation and/or stocking rate.
Always take a DM% when calculating crop yield and never use book values - assuming DM% can significantly over or under estimate feed value.

Grazing management

Crop Allocation

Avoid increasing the crop allocation per animal if you observe poor utilisation of crops and/or animals appear to be losing condition or not gaining weight.

Feeding Management

When break feeding, long narrow breaks offer livestock more space to graze than square breaks.
This encourages crop utilisation and even grazing of bulb and leaf (turnip), or stem and leaf (forage rape and kale).

Cleancrop management guide

1. Don’t allow stock sudden, unrestricted access to brassica crop

2. At all times, give livestock access to fresh water

3. Feed extra fibre prior to and while grazing brassica crops

Crop management

Grazing management

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