By default, animal enterprises are distributed evenly on the farm based on their energy (hence feed) requirements and the availability of food.
To change the animal distribution for each enterprise, click on Animal distribution when in the Animals Tab:
Defining the relative productivity of Pasture Blocks
Choose the relative productivity from the options in the dropdown menu. Productivity is the rate at which pasture is grown, not the total amount produced. Relative productivity describes each blocks rate of production relative to each other. For example if one block is 1 and another is 2, the second block produces at a rate that is twice the first block. It doesn’t matter whether actual numbers are entered, it is simply a relative value and so 2 is allocated twice as much as 1. This could equally be 2000 versus 1000.
If you have no measurement of pasture yields i.e. block productivity is unknown, use no difference or yield based on soil and fertiliser.
Where relative productivity is likely to be different (e.g. irrigated vs. dryland, flat country vs. hill country), relative productivity differences should be entered based on credible information (e.g. measured or farmer knowledge of pasture yield assessment, grazing days and/or stocking rate).
- No difference between blocks: All blocks provide a similar yield and animals are rotated based on their feed requirements.
- Relative pasture yield (from soil and fertiliser): Animals are rotated based on their feed requirements, but there is a difference in yield between blocks. The model calculates this difference in yield based on soil and fertiliser inputs.
- Relative pasture yield: Provides an option to enter relative yields for each block if known. This is where the user wants to override the model estimations of yield.
- Grazing days: Provides relative values for number of days animals are grazed. This is used when animals aren’t necessary allocated based on feed but rather some management practice or rotation.
- Pasture assessment: Where an assessment of the pasture on each block has been taken, you can enter the results of that to describe the difference in relative yield.
- Animal assessment: Where animals that have different intake are placed on different blocks then this can be used to adjust the relative intake applied to each block. e.g. flats 14su/ha and hills 7 su/ha.
The last four options essentially do the same thing. They allocate different percentages to blocks based on some measurements entered by the user. The options are provided so that they make sense to the user.
Defining the % of pasture eaten by each enterprise on each block
Choose the appropriate option for how you define the percentage of pasture eaten by each animal enterprise from the drop down menu. If enterprises graze different blocks, use “Based on animals present”. Only use “User defined” if there is a specific need to model animal grazing that is not based the animal’s feed requirements.
- Same as ratio of total animal intake: Model will allocate enterprises evenly across blocks based on their total energy requirements. Use this when enterprises are not assigned to particular blocks on the farm. All enterprises graze all locations based on requirements and availability.
- Based on animals present: Assign different enterprises to different blocks. The model will allocate ME intake for each enterprise based on the blocks that they have been assigned only. Use this when enterprises graze specific blocks and they graze based on requirements and availability. Deselect the boxes associated with the animal enterprise to show they do not graze on that block:
- User defined: Can assign enterprises to blocks and set percentage of pasture grazed for each enterprise. The model will allocate intake to each enterprise based on these percentages. Use this when enterprises graze specific areas but pasture is not allocated based on feed requirements of each enterprise. Should only be used in rare situations where animals do not graze based on feed requirements. This is likely to be experimental.
Distribution details
Specifying grazing Months
Monthly allocation of enterprises to blocks can be overridden using grazing months. This should not be used to describe every movement of animals on a monthly basis based of feed requirements because the model already accounts for this movement.
It should only be used as a broad representation of animal movements where it is a conscious farm management practice (rather than feeding requirements) that you wish to model, for example, moving a class of animal off a particular block for a season such as winter.
If enterprises are restricted to small areas for short periods of time (month on, month off) the model will struggle to balance feed requirements across the farm and so not provide a reliable result or in some cases provide a feed allocation error. The model is trying to analyse the effect of larger system changes, not small changes to animal rotations.
Water Connectivity
To show if cattle have access to streams on that block, check the appropriate box in the water connectivity column.
If mitigation options for deer fence-line pacing have been implemented, then check the appropriate box in the water connectivity column.
If deer wallows have been hydrologically isolated from streams, a possible mitigation option, then check the appropriate box in the water connectivity column.
Production
To show if the block is used for finishing (beef, deer, merino), check the appropriate block in the production column.