The wet winter months are a risk period for damage to pasture under grazing systems in New Zealand. The use of stand-off pads
and alternative forages and grazing systems may alleviate these risks, but may also impact on the performance and welfare of
cattle. This experiment compared four wintering systems for growing beef calves (9–11 months old, n=103) in terms of growth
rate and welfare of calves, and damage to pasture. Treatments were a forage crop of oats, set-stocked grazing on pasture, breakfed
on pasture, and break-fed on pasture with use of a concrete feedpad and wood-shavings stand-off area when the soil was wet.
Liveweight gain was greatest (P