Diet selection and liveweight performance of steers on Stylosanthes hamata-native grass pastures

Abstract

Diet selection in S. hamata-native grass pastures was studied over 25 months at Lansdown, north Queensland, In oesophageally fistulated steers. The results were uscd to interpret the relationship between winter rainfall and liveweight gain of steers on pastures with and without S. hamata. Steers selected green grass leaf early in the wet season (December-February), but preferred S. hamata in March when stem elongation and flowering occurred in the native grasses. They then continued to eat a high proportion of legume during the dry season until rain fell. At Lansdown, this may occur from 4 to 23 weeks after the pastures hay off. After the rain, the steers ignored the large bulk of mouldy dry legume, selecting instead both green and dry grass. Seed and green leaf of S. hamata made their greatest contribution to the diet at the end of the wet season when retained on the standing plant and easily accessible to cattle. Small amounts of seed and dried leaf were licked off the ground before rain fell. The nitrogen content of the diet in the S. hamata-native grass pastures rose to a peak in April and did not fall below 1.0% during the study. The level in July was twice that recorded for the native pasture. Cattle gained weight during the wet season at a similar rate for all pastures. After March steers on S. hamata-native pasture continued to gain weight longer onto the dry season than those on native pasture in three out of four years. Much of the additional weight gains of steers on S. hamata were lost with the advent of winter rain, especially at the high stocking rate from which the perennial grass component had been lost. The value of S. hamata cv. Verano in the greatly differing climatic environments existing in northern Australia is considered.