Leaf to stem ratio under high stocking rates
When we graze tall all the time there is shade and if done all the time this shade to the growing points leads to some of them dying, when this happens we start to get wider inter plant spacings which is undesirable.
We can get very large plants with wider plant spacings but we want high production of leaves per square yard not high production per plant.
This is the same as beef production per acre not beef production per animal or the same as high corn production per acre not high corn production per plant.
If we take off 10-20 % and trample the rest (if forages are low fiber due to environment and the don't spring back up) it means that we need to come back 5 to 9 times faster which also means that the most desirable species will be re grazed before they recover completely. If, on the other hand, we don't increase stocking rate so we can afford to selectively graze only 10-20 % of the grass on offer we are missing on possible profits that a higher stocking rate wo
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