A Dynamic Approach to Grazing Management Terminology

Abstract

Expressions such as stocking density, stocking rate, grazing pressure, herbage allowance, grazing intensity and stocking pressure have long been used to describe animal-pasture systems. These expressions describe relationships among the basic variables of animal demand, forage quantity, pasture area, and grazing duration. Our objective was to develop a dynamic, mathematical framework of expressions summarizing all of the meaningful relationships among these variables. The resulting expressions have dimensional validity, and are useful in describing dynamic animal-pasture systems. The expressions should also prove useful in future efforts to model these systems.