Summary

Research into the feeding value and use of pasture has concentrated mainly on plants and animals outside the context of the pastoral system. From this consider-able fund of information, assumptions have been made regarding species and practices for the pastoral system, but few have been experimentally tested in that system. Where grazing experiments have been done, the annual animal production figures do not always confirm the assumptions. There would thus seem to be a need for greater active collaboration between plant, animal and grazing system investigators. Studies in depth as to the precise effect on the functioning of the whole system of various species and practices over a range of stocking rates should help define the influence of various plant and animal characteristics and mechanisms on animal productivity. At a few locations, at least, such conjoint studies within the same experiments would seem warranted. I