Herbage growth models as aids for managing intensively grazed grassland in Western Europe

Abstract

Estimates of variation in herbage growth are presented to demonstrate the problems which unforeseen variation can create for management of intensively grazed grassland in temperate Western Europe. The role of growth models in predicting herbage availability as a component in feed budgeting is described. Herbage growth models share a common structure and produce output in response to weather conditions; others also take account of soil properties. Growth models can be applied as aids to grassland management either as 'stand alone' models or can be an integral part of a decision support system and used to predict outcomes from whole farming systems. Although the reliability of models has been well demonstrated in many instances, their value to farmers as an aid to managing grassland intensively needs to be re-enforced.

Keywords

• grasslands
• feed budgeting
• herbage growth models
• Western Europe