Integrated Grazing of Goats with Sheep or Cattle on Continuously Grazed Pasture

Oroups of ewes (10) and their twin lambs were grazed on sown ryegrass• white clover (Lolium perenne L.-Trifollum repens L.) pastures maintained at a sward surface height of 4 or 8 cm and a further group grazed with yearling goats (in a proportion of 1/3 ewe plus lamb live weight) also at fi cm. A second concurrent experiment consisted of 3 similar treatments using young cattle with sward surface heights of 8 and 12 cm. Results over the 140-day grazing period showed that allhough the diet selected by sheep and cattle grazed with goats contained more green grass leaf (5-11 percentage units) and less seedhead (2-7 percentage units) than when they grazed alone at the higher sward height, the diet quality was not as high as at the lower sward height. Live-weight gain per head of sheep and cattle was greater on the higher sward height but was not affected by the presence of goats. Live-weight gain/ha was greatest at the high sward height for sheep or cattle grazed alone. It was concluded that although the changes in diet composition of sheep and cattle co­grazed with goats were not large enough to affect animal production, goats could be substituted at a ratio of 5.5:1 for ewes with twin lambs and 7 .6: 1 for young cattle.