Green beef

The following is an analysis of the Argentinean Grazing system. Argentina produces the best beef in the world and what is best their method involves 100% organic, zero carbon print raising method for the cattle. How could this be possible? By smart planning and correct resource allocation. The best part? The manure left behind by the cattle fertilizes the soil to plant any kind of crops that can be in turn used to be harvested and the left overs to feed the cattle the following year. Creating a natural cycle that makes Argentinian beef the greenest one on earth!

In the Pampa Region the most popular alfalfa grazing system for beef production is the so called
“7x35” because it results from a combination of an average of 7 days of grazing (GP) and 35
days of resting (GF), which means a total grazing cycle in a year is of 42 days. The 7x35 system is simple, effective and cheaper than others that are based on higher number of paddocks. To organize the system, the pasture is divided into 6 grazing strips o paddocks, which are grazed in turns, following a regular schedule. During spring and the beginning of summer, when alfalfa is
growing very rapidly, succession of paddocks can be altered in order to maintain forage quality
sufficiently high. The escaped paddocks are generally used for hay production. On the other
extreme of the systems scale is the so-called “1x35”, that combines 1 day of GP and 35 days of
GF, and gives a total grazing cycle of 36 days. This system, which divides the pasture into 36 1-
day grazing paddocks, is more intensive than the 7x35 system and offers more flexibility for
escaping strips so as to keep highly enough forage quality; on the other hand, it requires more
infrastructure (mainly fences) and personnel attention. Due to the latter, the 1x35 system is only
exceptionally used in the Pampas for beef operations.

Using slightly different combinations of GF and GP, some other grazing systems ranging in
between the two previously described have been proposed. For example, Kloster et al. (15)
compared a 2x34 system (18 paddocks) with the traditional 7x35 system in an experiment carried out at INTA Marcos Juarez. Using the same grazing pressure for both systems, they found that the 2x34 system produced 11.2% (p<0.05) more kg of beef ha-1 than the other. According to the authors, the total grazing cycle of 36 days (2+34) in the first system produced 12.3% (p<0.01) more forage yield than the 7x35 system (total cycle of 42 days), allowing a 12.9% (p<0.01) increase in the stocking rate and thus producing a higher amount of beef per unit area.

An alternative grazing system is the so called “leaders” (L) and “followers” (F), in which two
groups of animals are formed in order to alternatively graze the same paddock: group L enters
first and consumes the upper half of the canopy, after which enters group F and grazes the
remaining forage in the paddock. Each group of animals is conformed based on nutritional
requirements relating to category, developmental stage, productivity level or species. A key point
in the use of the LF system is to manage forage allowance in order to avoid important feed
restrictions in the F group. In that sense, Redmon (19) suggested that the L group should consume
no more than 1/3 of the initially available forage and Blaser (2) took that level up to 50%. In
Argentina, Kloster et al. (16) did not find any difference in beef production per hectare between a
6x35 and a LF (3 days for each group) system. Nevertheless, the use of LF could be useful in
helping to handle the excess of forage in spring/summer, and provided there is a possibility of
forming groups of animals with different nutritional requirements.

After analyzing this simple method that requires no other investment than fencing the property one must wonder why this is not being done in the US.
It is something to think about when we are aproching a time in history where farmers, consumers and Gas companies will be competing for the same grain to feed live stock, people and produce bio fuels.