21-021-MIE
Volume 2004, Issue 4
GRAZING MANAGEMENT IN CANADA

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Highlights

The FEMS data show that for beef and dairy farms with grazing cattle:

• In Canada , 69% of the largest operations had some form of rotational grazing, whereas approximately 80% with gross farm receipts of less than $100,000 adopted this practice.
  
• Amongst the provinces, Alberta had the highest share adopting rotational grazing for all revenue classes above $50,000. Ontario tended to have the lowest share throughout all farm sizes.
  
• The amount of grass "carry over" broadly increases with farm size.
  
• Irrespective of size, around 30% re-seed their seeded pasture every five to ten years. Only a very small proportion re-seed more frequently than every three years, or less frequently than every 15 years.
  
• The share that reported full or partial implementation of grazing beneficial management practices (BMPs) tended to increase with increasing farm size. However, the share of the largest farms reporting being unfamiliar with grazing BMPs for their region stood at almost one third.
  
• For Canada as a whole, the share of pasture land represented by native pasture tends to increase with increasing farm size.
  
• The stocking rate (number of cattle per acre of land) is highest in Central and Eastern Canada . In these areas there is also a notable increase with farm size.