Controlled Grazing of Virginia's Pastures
Authors: Harlan E. White and Dale D. Wolf, Virginia Cooperative Extension Agronomists; Department of Forages, Crop, and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech.
Publication Number 418-012, July 1996
Glossary
Definitions of Grazing Terms Used in this Publication*
- Continuous stocking
- A method of grazing livestock on a specific unit of land where animals have unrestricted and uninterrupted access throughout the time period when grazing is allowed.
- Controlled grazing
- Not an "officially" accepted term. In this publication it refers to the degree of "control" applied by the manager to grazing animals by developing grazing systems utilizing appropriate grazing methods.
- Creep grazing
- Allowing young animals to graze areas that their dams cannot access at the same time.
- First-last grazing
- Utilizing two or more groups of animals, usually with different nutritional requirements, to graze in sequence on the same land area.
- Grazing method
- A defined procedure or technique of grazing management designed to achieve a specific objective(s). One or more grazing methods (such as rotational stocking or creep grazing) can be utilized within a grazing system).
- Grazing pressure
- Relationship between the number of animal units or forage intake units and the weight of forage dry matter per unit area at any one point in time; an animal-to-forage relationship.
- Grazing system
- A defined, integrated combination of animal, plant, soil, and other environmental components and the grazing method(s) by which the system is managed to achieve specific results or goals.
- Rotational stocking
- Grazing method that utilizes recurring periods of grazing and rest among two or more paddocks in a grazing management unit throughout the period when grazing is allowed.
- Stocking density
- Relationship between the number of animals and the specific unit of land being grazed at any one point in time (animal units at a specific time/area of land).
- Stocking rate
- Relationship between the number of animals and the grazing management unit utilized over a specified time period (animal units over a described time period/area of land).
- Strip grazing
- Confining animals to an area of grazing land to be grazed in a relatively short period of time, where paddock size is varied to allow access to a specific land area
*Terminology for Grazing Lands and Grazing Animals. Forage and Grazing Terminology Committee.
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