Animal and economic performance of alternative bermudagrass-based stocker cattle forage grazing systems

Determine animal performance and eco-nomic net returns for 6 bermudagrass-based pasture graz-ing systems in the US Southern Great Plains. Animal performance data from a 4-yr split-plot grazing study conducted in south-central Oklahoma were used to evaluate 6 bermudagrass-based stocker cattle grazing systems: bermudagrass forage with 112 kg N/ha (100 lb/acre) and a feed supplement under continuous stocking (BNSC), bermudagrass forage with 112 kg N/ha and a feed supplement grazed in a 28-d rest rotation (BNSR), bermudagrass forage without N fer-tilizer with a feed supplement under continuous stocking (BSC), bermudagrass forage without N fertilizer with a feed supplement grazed in a 28-d rest rotation (BSR), ber-mudagrass forage interseeded with grazing-tolerant alfalfa under continuous stocking (BAC), and bermudagrass for-age interseeded with grazing-tolerant alfalfa grazed in a 28-d rest rotation (BAR). Enterprise budgets and mixed effect models were used to estimate means for measures of animal performance and net returns. Total gain was greater in the BNSC system (324 kg/ha) than the BNSR and BAR sys-tems with gains of 307 and 299 kg/ha. Interseeded alfalfa with rotational grazing (BAR) had the greatest net re-turn of $44/ha ($18/acre). The next-best system was BAC with a net return of −$56/ha. The conventional systems (BNSC and BNSR) had low net returns due to fertilizer and supplemental feed costs, and rotational systems (BSR and BNSR) had low net returns due to greater water, fenc-ing, and labor costs. The bermudagrass systems with interseeded alfalfa performed better eco-nomically than the conventional bermudagrass systems. The alfalfa rotational system was more economical than conventional continuously stocked systems because giving alfalfa time to recover from preferential grazing, extended its stand life.