Livestock response to multispecies and deferred-rotation grazing on forested rangeland

Performance of cow-calf (Bos taurus) and ewe-lamb (Ovis aries) units was co mpared under multispecies versus single-species grazing and deferred-rotati on versus continuous stocking during a 10-year grazing trial. Treatments we re arranged in a 3 species (cattle, sheep, or both species) by 2 grazing me thod (deferred rotation or continuous) factorial using a randomized-complet e block design with 2 blocks. All animals were individually weighed at init iation, mid-point, and termination of each grazing season. Livestock specie s and grazing method did not interact for any dependent variable (P>0.05). Average daily gain (ADG) was greater (P<0.05) when calves were alone than w hen mixed with sheep (1.04 vs 1.01 kg day(-1), respectively), but ADG of la mbs was greater (P<0.05) when mixed with cattle than alone (0.25 vs 0.23 kg day(-1), respectively). Cow and ewe ADG were unaffected (P>0.05) by animal species mixture. Production of progeny (gain of calves and lambs) and tota l production (gain of progeny and dams) per ha was greater (P<0.05) using s heep or mixed species than cattle (17.8, 17.8, and 11.2 kg ha(-1) respectiv ely, for progeny, and 22.4, 24.5, and 17.6 kg ha(-1) respectively, for tota l). Calves grew faster (P<0.05) under continuous than deferred-rotation gra zing (1.04 vs 1.01 kg day(-1)). Ewes gained more rapidly (P<0.05) during th e second half of the grazing season under deferred-rotation than continuous grazing (0.049 vs 0.023 kg day(-1)). Multispecies or sheep grazing appeare d more appropriate than cattle for this environment. Deferred-rotation graz ing appeared superior for sheep performance, but continuous grazing allowed greater calf performance.