SOME ESTIMATES OF THE AREAS OF PASTURE FOULED BY THE EXCRETA OF DAIRY COWS

Abstract

Observations were made of the areas of herbage receiving the faeces of grazing dairy cattle and of the areas and relative palatability of herbage whose growth was affected by faeces and urine. The average area covered by faeces was 7·3 sq. ft./cow/day. Faeces dropped during grazing had a negligible affect on the utilization of herbage at that grazing, but each dung‐pat probably affected the growth and palatability of an area of herbage about six times as great at the next grazing. The area of herbage whose growth was affected by urine was equal to that affected by faeces, but unlike faeces, urine improved the palatability of the herbage to dairy cows. The data were used to calculate approximate areas of herbage likely to be affected by excreta at different levels of stocking, and it appeared that excreta return plant nutrients to a given pasture acreage more quickly than some other estimates suggest.