## 3 Results
### Climate and Soil Conditions  
Monthly averages of meteorological variables and the climatological normal for the experimental site are presented in Figure 2. Incoming solar radiation, Rg, showed the expected seasonality for this subtropical region, with monthly mean values in December (\(\sim\)300 W m\({}^{-2}\)) being almost three times higher than those in June (\(\sim\)100 W m\({}^{-2}\)) (Figure 2a). The maximum hourly peaks of \(\mathrm{R_{g}}\) at noon on clear days reached approximately 1200 W m\({}^{-2}\) in summer and 550 W m\({}^{-2}\) in winter. The highest air temperatures were recorded between December and March, with an hourly maximum of 39.5 \({}^{\circ}\)C. The lowest temperatures were recorded between July and September, with an hourly minimum of \(-\)2.8 \({}^{\circ}\)C, with \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Warm Season**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**No. of Days**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Pasture**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Cattle**} \\ \cline{3-6}  & & **Average Height (cm)** & **Total Dry Mass (kg ha\({}^{-1}\))** & **Leaves (\%)** & **Average Occupancy (kg LW ha\({}^{-1}\))** & **Weight Gain (kg LW ha\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \hline
23/10/2015–22/03/2016 & 152 & 22.7 & 4197.2 & 40 & 885.9 & 136.8 \\
29/09/2016–30/03/2017 & 183 & 33.2 & 4951.1 & 40 & 923.4 & 146.4 \\
25/10/2017–22/03/2018 & 149 & 30.4 & 4777.0 & 35 & 1262.4 & 119.2 \\
29/09/2018–19/03/2019 & 172 & 29.2 & 3428.8 & 55 & 826.3 & 154.8 \\
06/11/2019–21/03/2020 & 137 & 29.2 & 2858.6 & 45 & 822.7 & 95.9 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Parameters of natural pasture growth, stocking, and weight gain of cattle grazing on the experimental site in the Brazilian Pompa biome during the warm season. -frequent frost occurrences. May through September had an average temperature below the climatological annual mean, while in the other months, the temperature was higher (Figure 2b). The average monthly temperature in spring and summer remained above the climatological normal, especially in March, which registered \(\sim\)3.5 \({}^{\circ}\)C above the average. In autumn and winter, the climatic variability was greater than in spring and summer; in June 2019, the temperature was 5.7 \({}^{\circ}\)C higher than the climatological average, while in June 2016, the temperature was 2.5 \({}^{\circ}\)C below the climatological average. Frost events also varied between the years, with only 4 events recorded in 2017 but 18 events in 2019, although this year was not the one with the lowest average air temperature (Table 2). The monthly average soil temperature at 0.05 m depth was generally up to 1 \({}^{\circ}\)C lower than the air temperature (Figure 2d). The annual climatological precipitation for the study region is 1797 mm. The year 2015 recorded the highest precipitation, with 551 mm (31%) above the climatological value, while 2020 recorded 702 mm (39%) below the climatological average (Table 1). The Figure 2f shows that precipitation is well distributed throughout the year without characterizing a dry or wet season. In 2020 and 2021, the La Nina phenomenon occurred, which explains the low precipitation in the study area [48]. The vapor pressure deficit (VPD) significantly varied between the months and years, with higher values in the summer and lower ones in the winter (Figure 2c). The precipitation variability affected the soil water content (SWC), with extremes of 0.10 and 0.35 m\({}^{3}\) m\({}^{-3}\) throughout the study period (Figure 2e). [PERSON] et al. [49] estimated that SWC below 0.19 m\({}^{3}\) m\({}^{-3}\) represents the dry soil condition at this experimental site. In all years, the period from May to October was considered wet except for May 2020. Although most of the summer months were also considered wet, 2020 and 2021 had periods of dry soil when the monthly average soil temperature was higher than the air temperature, especially in 2021.