With an increasing demand for the production of quality meat and other sources of animal protein, especially given society’s recent focus on increasing the amount of protein included in their daily nutrition, the pressure is on livestock producers to deliver.

For Kobus Bester, breed director at the Simbra Cattle Breeders’ Society of Southern Africa, generational farmer and owner of Vleisberg Simbra near Ventersdorp, North West, this has led him to coming up with alternative production practices to intensify the productivity of each hectare of grazing land and produce well-fed cattle, all without degrading the natural resources.

Bester uses 34,5ha for crop production to meet the daily feeding needs of his Simbra herd. The Simbra was developed by hybridisation of the Brahman and Simmentaler breeds with the goal of producing a hardened cattle breed of good meat quality, and one that was fit for the South African climate.

Over the past eight years, Bester has experimented with high-density grazing, a non-traditional form of livestock management that mimics the way in which large numbers of game, such as wildebeest, migrate over huge areas of land like the Serengeti in Tanzania and only return to their previous spot once the grazing has recovered.

High-density grazing

In contrast to the traditional grazing methods of moving livestock from one big camp to another, high-density grazing entails the grouping of high numbers of livestock to graze small areas of land over short periods.

When determining the stocking density, Bester says he considers the number and size of the cattle, as well as the status of their production and reproduction.

One of the benefits of high-density grazing is that high numbers of livestock in small camps provide a relatively uniform distribution of dung and urine throughout the area. They also trample the dung, urine and leftover plant material onto the soil surface.

This is in contrast with traditional grazing systems in which dung and urine tend to accumulate near the resting or water points.

The combined effect from dung, urine and hoof action is known as ‘animal impact’, which is beneficial for nutrient cycling, soil carbon levels, plant biodiversity, and the production of quality biomass.

Lucerne added to the system

Before Bester implemented high-density grazing, he had to identify ‘problem’ areas to address. He found that although higher yields were obtained by single-year crops like maize, they needed to be re-established every year.

The three months that passed between establishment and grazing, along with the output decline prior to re-establishment, resulted in a non-utilisation period of up to five months.

This usually put financial pressure on Bester because, for that period of non-utilisation, he had to purchase additional feed resources.

Consequently, he began to cultivate the feed crop lucerne to supply additional feed to his cattle that freely graze on natural veld, while decreasing his dependency on external resources.

He chose lucerne because not only is it a perennial, drought-resistant legume that commonly grows in the summer and provides high-quality forage, but it’s also beneficial in that it increases soil organic matter, improves the overall structure of the soil and forms nitrogen reserves in the soil.

However, he quickly realised that free grazing of lucerne crop fields caused widespread frothy bloat among his herd, a digestive disorder that can cause their death and yield losses of meat production.

Frothy bloat is a condition that is commonly caused by the overgrazing of legumes in a grazing system, and an animal’s susceptibility towards bloat is dependent on its ruminal conditions before grazing.

Although lucerne is a beneficial legume when used in a mixed grazing system because of its high-quality forage and high yield, the monocultural production thereof and a herd of cattle’s extensive grazing on it can be detrimental.

Therefore, to optimise land value and maximise animal production, Bester increased the quality of dry matter production and improved the persistence of pastures by intercropping high-forage crops, such as chicory and ryegrass, in combination on 10ha of natural veld, a basic pasture with minimal nutritional value.

Due to the forage quality of chicory, it has played a beneficial role in the livestock production system as it supplies protein with a higher content of natural minerals than lucerne. Additionally, the inclusion of chicory in Bester’s ryegrass pasture has improved the soil fertility, as it excels in the accumulation of herbage nitrogen.

The cattle are also supplied with a nutritional forage crop that has a higher protein and mineral content.

Farming with nature

The switch from traditional to high-density grazing made Bester more conscious of farming in harmony with nature. Healthy soils deliver good-quality pastures, but this depends on the soil’s fertility. Soil fertility can be measured by the amount of available nitrogen in the soil, which is commonly fixed by legumes like lucerne and chicory.

Since his move from monocultural production to a mixed cropping system, Bester has noticed that his soils are supplied with available nutrients after each season. Another factor that previously impacted his soil’s fertility, Bester points out, was the conventional tillage practices he applied before switching to no-till.

He adds that, every time a farmer tills the soil, they destroy the carbon bank built up in the soil, and countless other good things.

Among the ‘other good things’ are beneficial insects, especially dung beetles. To facilitate the activities of these and other organisms involved in nutrient cycling, the use of chemicals should be kept to a minimum – a lesson learnt the hard way, says Bester.

The primary benefits he observed from the application of high-density grazing are better production because of the nutritional value of grazing pastures, easier handling of cattle, and improved reproduction. His cattle are healthier and more productive as a result.

Challenges

The challenges Bester has encountered with high-density grazing include the need for increased management skills; additional labour costs and effort to manage the herds and grazing areas; and a reliable electricity supply for proper irrigation, which is interrupted by load-shedding.

It was necessary for him to install a solar energy system to irrigate his fields.

A final word of advice from Bester to any farmer considering high-density grazing is that you need to know what you’re in for right from the start. Producers should be careful not to take more out of the soil than what is put back naturally. “If you understand the requirements of healthy soil, you can easily adapt your practices to enhance the richness of the soil.

“Animals are what they eat, therefore quality pastures are required to raise healthy, high-performance cattle, especially if your focus is production and reproduction. Trial and error are needed during this conversion process, but a little bit of patience, trust and confidence in what you are doing will take you far,” says Bester.

Email Kobus Bester at kobus@hanrik.co.za.