Where we are at with deferred grazing research – and how you can play a part

<p>Deferred grazing is a management tool to:</p> <p></p><ul><li><strong>Maintain pasture quality from mid-spring onwards</strong>. It involves dropping some paddocks out of the rotation, typically from the end of October until after seed-set, to optimise grazing pressure on the remaining paddocks and maintain pasture quality.</li><li><strong>Rejuvenate pastures</strong>. Energy reserves are replenished, root growth is increased and reseeding enables seedling recruitment.</li><li><strong>Provide drought feed</strong>. There is a large bank of accumulated (often low quality) feed at the end of the deferred period.</li><li><strong>Enable autumn pasture recovery</strong>. Grazing deferred paddocks at the end of summer allows covers to build up on the paddocks that are not deferred.</li></ul><p></p> <p><br></p> <p>Prepared for On Farm Support, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and Bay of Plenty Regional Council</p>