Performance of weaned lambs on irrigated hybrid forage sorghum and paspalum-white clover pasture

Abstract

Weaned Dorset x Border Leicester-Merino lambs were rotationally grazed at 62, 86 and 11 1 lambs per hectare on irrigated areas of either hybrid forage sorghum or paspalum-white clover pasture. No differences in quantity of available forage were measured between the forages but the protein content of the paspalum-white clover pasture, at 11 per cent, was 49 per cent higher than that of Sudax. Protein content of both pastures increased with increased stocking rates. The range in growth rate of the lambs between the lowest and the highest stocking rates was from 68.4 to -5.8 g per day for paspalum-white clover and 43.9 to -27.7 g per day for Sudax. The biological and economic potential of each forage type is discussed.