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Rotational Grazing of Smutgrass-Infested Bahiagrass Pasture
The viability of using grazing beef cattle and herbicides to control giant smutgrass will be examined. Beef cow-calf pairs will graze a bahiagrass pasture with approximately 80% smutgrass cover. Rotational and continuous grazing strategies will be compared. Each grazing strategy will be run in replicate. Ten acres will be crossed-fenced into 4-2.5 acre paddocks with electric fencing. The stocking rate for rotational grazed areas will be 1 cow per acre. Paddocks will be grazed for 1 week and rested for 3 weeks. The stocking rate for the continuous grazed (10 acre) areas will be 1 cow per acre. Cow body condition and weight will be recorded at the beginning, middle and end of the grazing period.
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Nongrazed smutgrass quality
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Smutgrass and bahiagrass quality rotational grazing
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Animal performance under under rotational grazing
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