Advantages of multi-species grazing.

Adding another species of livestock to a cattle operation can have some definite benefits. Whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages depends upon your situation and purposes, climate and forage growth, etc. Some of the advantages include more efficient use of pasture plants and more weed control (since different species of livestock prefer different plants), control of brush when browsers are included in the species mix, more parasite control (since most species of internal parasite are host specific and cannot complete their life cycle in the wrong animal), and more income per acre if you can accommodate more animals on your pastures. Some of the disadvantages include possibilities of disease transmission from one species to another under certain conditions, and the need for more facilities, labor and management in some situations.

Some people who raise horses have discovered the advantages of using cattle rotationally with horses. With horses alone, even in a good rotational pasture management system, you end up with tall areas that are never grazed. The horses keep returning to their favorite grasses and overgraze them, leaving other plants untouched. If there are weeds in those areas they go to seed and spread over more of the pasture. You either have to mow those parts of the pasture or graze them with cattle after the horses, to make sure weeds or thistle patches don't take over the field.

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With some types of unwanted plants, sheep or goats will do an even better job of utilizing the "weeds" than cattle. "If you use multiple species grazing, there will be some animals--whether cattle, sheep or goats, that would eat those plants," says Dr. Burt Staniar, Pennsylvania State University. Then they won't go to seed and may eventually die out because most of them are annuals or biennials. This type of weed control is more effective, efficient and environmentally-friendly than use of herbicides.

The same is true for parasite control. "Generally you have different parasites in different species. They can't mature in the wrong host. Thus you can break the life cycle of most parasites by using multi-species grazing," says Staniar. This works best if you use the different species rotationally and separately. When the cattle worm eggs hatch, for instance, and the larvae move onto grass plants to be eaten, if they are eaten by a sheep for instance, those larvae won't survive to mature and lay more eggs. And when the plant regrows after being eaten by one species, the parasites are no longer on that plant and it is safer for the other species to eat. This can be a good companion strategy to deworming, since many of the common parasites are becoming resistant to these drugs.

Cattle and sheep have traditionally been used together and do well at more completely utilizing a pasture than either species alone, since cattle tend to prefer grass and some legumes while sheep prefer legumes and then forbs and grass. Sheep will eat some weeds that cattle won't. Cattle will eat some of the taller, more mature plants that sheep don't like. Due to their different plant preferences they make better use of the entire pasture.

When goats are added to the mix, or used with cattle, there is even more diverse use of plants, since goats prefer forbs and brush, then grass, before they'll touch legumes. Goats will also eat brush as high as they can reach, standing on their hind legs to trim back willows and other woody invaders of pastureland. Goats are now being used in many regions for brush and weed control. They can be very beneficial in helping reclaim pastureland that has gone to brush and/or weeds. In some instances ranchers are fencing them onto areas that need brush/weed reduction and in large range areas herds of goats are sometimes moved around on specific areas by herders.

As stated by Kevin Sedivec, North Dakota State University Rangeland Management Specialist, cattle eat mostly grass while sheep and goats eat weeds and forbs. They all have different grazing habits. Goats eat high, while sheep and cattle eat low. Goats and sheep can do well on plants that cattle won't touch, turning "waste" plants into meat and milk. In Sedivec's area of North Dakota, ranchers can add one sheep or 1.5 goats per cow to most pastures without adjusting cattle numbers. If undesirable plants like leafy spurge make up more than 40 percent of a pasture, he says you can add two sheep per cow or two to 2.5 goats per cow.

The biggest advantage of multispecies grazing is in large unimproved pastures like rangeland, rather than in a lush improved, cultivated pasture that has been planted to tame grasses. The stocking rates of any species in a multi-species mix will depend on the pasture or rangeland having a variety of plants--grass, forbs, brush. If pastures are just a monoculture of tame grass plants, the animals would all be competing for the same forage.

In rough country, sheep and goats can be very compatible with cattle to provide greater utilization of forage. Sheep and goats will tend to use steeper, rockier land where cattle generally prefer not to go. Multi-species grazing on some pastures can enable you to increase your livestock production by 25 percent or more. Some ranchers who utilize Angora goats on rangeland produce extra income with the meat and mohair from the goats. In some geographic regions goat meat can be very profitable in a niche market, to sell to the ethnic trade during the times of year that correspond with the holidays of different cultures. There are a number of cultures that traditionally eat sheep and goats rather than beef.

Adding another species or two in a cattle operation usually requires some extra labor and expense, such as more secure fencing to contain sheep or goats. In many instances you can simply add a strand of electric wire. You also need to make sure the water troughs are low enough for sheep to drink, or add some stepping blocks around the troughs so the animals can climb up higher.

If you don't want to own the sheep or goats, or don't want the labor involved in lambing or kidding, another option is to lease pasture to someone who has sheep or goats--then they take the animals home again.

One caution: if sheep are grazing with your cattle, be careful to not use a mineral mix that contains copper. The levels of copper found in commercial mineral mixes for cattle are too high for sheep and can be toxic. If you plan to add another species to your cattle operation, do your homework. It also pays to start small and learn from experience as you go. It takes more management, but can be a great benefit to your land and pastures in the long run, and may add to your income if you do it right.

An example of different grazing behavior and feed utilization: Cattle and horses graze differently

Horses and ruminants are very different in how their G! tracts function, and their selection of plants. "Horses can do better than cattle on a high fiber, low quality forage," says Burt Staniar, Assistant Professor of Equine Nutrition, Pennsylvania State University. "This is mainly true when the animals have unlimited areas to graze. An example often given is comparing zebra and wildebeests in Africa. The equine has a more rapid rate of passage through the tract; he doesn't need to lie around and chew the cud to reprocess feed like a ruminant does. The horse is generally less efficient than the ruminant in extracting nutrients and energy from feed, but makes up for this with greater intake; he is able to eat more or less continually," says Staniar.

Since the equine digestive tract does not get every last bit of good out of the food they eat, horses eat more to make up for this inefficiency. Thus they can get by on low quality forage because of the rapid rate of passage through the gut, allowing them to eat a lot of it, eating all day long.

By contrast, the cow can load up on feed in a shorter time and then spends time processing it. She can't eat as much total feed in 24-hour period. If you put a cow and a horse in a situation where they have only low quality forage available, the cow will not do as well because she can only take in so much -the amount that fills the rumen--and can't consume any more. This is especially true when forage quality is low (short on protein) because a certain level of protein is needed for rumen microbes to function properly for fermentation and fiber breakdown. Without enough protein to "feed" the gut bugs, rumen digestion slows and food passage is delayed--and the cow can't eat enough to maintain her nutrient requirements.

"The horse has the ability to keep taking in more feed. The cow can't meet her nutrient requirements because quality and quantity both are too low. The horse has a more rapid rate of passage and has more chance to still meet his requirements. In Africa they found that the wildebeest was the first grazing animal to move away from an area in dry seasons when feed became limited, and the zebra could stay because he was able to continue to utilize what was there--even if it was dry and overly mature," says Staniar.

BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS

IDAHO

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Author:	Thomas, Heather Smith
Publication:	Countryside & Small Stock Journal
Date:	Aug 26, 2010
Words:	1584
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