2.2. Simulating the effects of additional home-grown feed
The additional feed made available in simulations was entered
via the pasture growth input data screen in UDDER, and had the
same nutritive value attributes as the pasture already included in
the model. In effect, the feed could have come from other sources,
such as a crop, with the proviso that it can be either direct grazed
or conserved as silage if feed supply exceeds feed requirements in
spring/early summer. In every case, the additional feed made available
equated to 10% of the total annual pasture herbage accumulation
of the Base scenario, i.e. approximately 620 and 780 kg DM/ha
for Terang average and top 10% farms respectively, and 735 and
905 kg DM/ha for Ellinbank average and top 10% farms
respectively.
The 10% figure was chosen arbitrarily; with the intention of
adding sufficient extra feed to make a meaningful difference to
farm management and performance (the range shown above
equates to between 62 and 90 extra tonnes of dry matter per year
for a 100 ha farm), without adding so much that the system could