All Grass Beef

Abstract

Although many British beef cattle on 18-month systems consume 500–1000 kg of concentrates, consideration of their energy requirements and of the energy value of conserved forages indicates that beef production on grazing and forage alone is technically feasible.

A trial was conducted to compare the lifetime performance of a total of 72 Sussex x Friesian steers and heifers, born in either autumn or spring, fed grass silage ad libitum with no supplement or with 2–3 kg barley/day during the winter period and grazed during summer.

The supplement resulted in small but significant increases in daily gain of 0.055 kg/day and of 6.9 kg in carcase weight. Costings indicate that the all grass and forage treatment would yield the greater margin per head, under a wide range of cost/price structures.

This trial is seen as a physical model of one of many possible “all grass” beef systems. A mechanistic model is required to identify the most appropriate system for a specific farm.