Unravelling the Influence of Adaptive Grazing Management with Multiple Paddocks on Cattle Production in Semiarid Rangeland

作者：Justin Derner, David J. Augustine, Lauren M. Porensky, Liwang Ma, David L. Hoover, John P. Ritten, Hailey Wilmer, Sean P. Kearney · 发表于：Rangeland Ecology & Management · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1016/j.rama.2026.03.004 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology、Rangeland and Wildlife Management、Pasture and Agricultural Systems

Adaptive, multi-paddock (AMP) grazing often involves a form of rotational grazing at high stocking densities with short grazing periods (days to weeks) during the growing season followed by a longer (months) nongrazed time for vegetation regrowth. Despite positive ecological benefits resulting from AMP, livestock production and resultant economic returns are reduced in semiarid rangelands, prompting this investigation into the conditions associated with differences in livestock weight gains under different grazing strategies in these rangelands. We used data from the decadal (2014–2023) Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management (CARM) experiment in the semiarid shortgrass steppe of the western Great Plains. For all 6 years (2014–2019) when CARM experienced the highest stock density (10-fold greater than traditional season-long grazing; hereafter TRM), CARM steers had lower grazing season weight gains and beef production than TRM steers (mean reduction of 13.2%). When CARM stock density was reduced 50% (still 5-fold greater than TRM) in 2020–2023, mean weight gains and beef production across the 4 years were just 1% lower in CARM than TRM. In the year with near normal forage production (2021), weight gains and beef production were 10% lower in CARM than TRM, but we did not observe differences between CARM and TRM when forage was limiting in 2 drought years (2020 and 2022), nor when forage production was extraordinarily high (2023). Our findings indicate grazing management pr...