The critical fall harvest period for alfalfa in interior British Columbia
abstract
(Abstract not available.)
additional topic keywords
alfalfa, cutting management, fall harvest period, winter injury, yield
(Abstract not available.)
alfalfa, cutting management, fall harvest period, winter injury, yield
BC Forage Council 2011 annual general meeting.
bcfc, forager
Low cost and abundant fossil fuels have driven the U.S. beef industry toward greater dependence on feed grains as the major feedstuff for finished beef cattle production. Further, it has led to a centralized beef cattle feeding and processing system concentrated in the High Plains states. Low cost fuel and mechanization of harvesting of forages allowed cow-calf producers to calve in late winter, which produced older heavier calves in the fall. The stocker industry evolved as a cushion between the cow-calf producer, stabilizing the flow of cattle into the feedlots and resulting in a steady flow out of the feedlots, through the processing plants, and into the retail market. In the future, other domesticated species and biofuel demands will out bid beef cattle for feed grains and transportation cost of live and processed beef cattle will increase. As a result, a greater proportion of our finished beef supply must come from foragebased diets harvested by grazing beef cattle and the final product will be processed nearer to the consumer to lower food miles and total cost of the finished product. Improving forage quality, extending the grazing season, selecting beef cattle that are efficient converters of forages into body weigh gain, and developing sustainable forage-based grazing production systems will be imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Crop Science, volume 51, issue 2, pages 410-419
Discussions of diversified farming systems (DFS) rarely mention rangelands: the grasslands, shrublands, and savannas that make up roughly one-third of Earth's ice-free terrestrial area, including some 312 million ha of the United States. Although ranching has been criticized by environmentalists for decades, it is probably the most ecologically sustainable segment of the U.S. meat industry, and it exemplifies many of the defining characteristics of DFS: it relies on the functional diversity of natural ecological processes of plant and animal (re)production at multiple scales, based on ecosystem services generated and regenerated on site rather than imported, often nonrenewable, inputs. Rangelands also provide other ecosystem services, including watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation, and tourism. Even where non-native or invasive plants have encroached on or replaced native species, rangelands retain unusually high levels of plant diversity compared with croplands or plantation forests. Innovations in management, marketing, incentives, and easement programs that augment ranch income, creative land tenure arrangements, and collaborations among ranchers all support diversification. Some obstacles include rapid landownership turnover, lack of accessible U.S. Department of Agriculture certified processing facilities, tenure uncertainty, fragmentation of rangelands, and low and variable income, especially relative to land costs. Taking advantage of rancher knowledge and stewardship, and aligning incentives with production of diverse goods and services, will support the sustainability of ranching and its associated public benefits. The creation of positive feedbacks between economic and ecological diversity should be the ultimate goal.
Ecology and Society, volume 17, issue 4, pages 1-26
diversification, ecosystem services, ranching, rangelands
List of varieties in forage trials.