Furthermore, contract grazing is a common arrangement in which a landowner grazes cattle that are owned by someone else for a specified price of weight gain, but it represents a different set of economic conditions to those which apply when cattle are bought and sold by the landowner. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to determine economic optimum stocking rates, taking into account the effect of stocking rate and final animal weight on selling price, and assuming contract grazing. Data from a stocking rate experiment on annual ryegrass were used for the analysis. With moderate N fertilization, N concentrations approaching 30 g kg-1 are realistic at boot stage in the Midwe st. In situ studies in Kansas have shown that potential extents of ruminal N degradation for gamagrass harvested at boot stage are very competitive with those of high-quality legumes, but degradation occurs at slower rates.
Daily gains are likely to be reduced as days on pasture increase.
Mounting evidence suggests that gamagrass grown in the Midwest demonstrates better quality characteristics than that grown in the Southeast. Curing periods of 3-5 days are often required to reach safe storage moisture levels resulting in substantial incidence of rain damage in many parts of the U.S. Avoidance of rain damage, which reduces hay quality by reducing digestibility, increasing fiber concentrations and reducing organoleptic quality, can be accomplished by hastening the field curing process or by harvesting the crop at elevated moisture levels. Field curing rates can be increased by the use of tedding, by inclusion of grass in legume hay crops, by using mechanical or chemical conditioning treatments and by other means. Artificial drying after harvest can allow baling at even higher moisture levels, up to about 350 g kg -1 .