Nutritionally, bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) is marginal for young growing animals. In Florida, goat ranchers are more likely to buy expensive commercial rations than develop and utilize higher quality pastures. Such rations improve liveweight gain but may negatively impact profitability. Information on liveweight gains of goats on grass pastures and forage-based options for improving performance are scarce. Leguminous browse in grass pastures could enhance goat production and improve profitability. During the summers of 2003 (140 d) and 2004 (224 d), we compared average daily gains (ADG) and liveweight gain of newly-weaned Boer x Spanish goats grazing bahiagrass (CONTROL), bahiagrass with soybean (Glycine max) which provided 50% of daily protein requirement (SBM), or bahiagrass and Leucaena leucocephala cv. K636 (LEUC). All goats received one-third of their daily energy requirement through a mixed ration. Goats were stocked at 22 goats/ha on CONTROL and SBM, respectively, and 11 goats/ha on LEUC. Over the two summers, goats consistently grew faster on LEUC than on SBM and CONTROL (59.2 and 98.3 g/d for LEUC, 30.7 and 61.7 g/d for SBM, and 23.3 and 59.0 g/d for CONTROL in 2003 and 2004, respectively). Total liveweight gain was similar for all treatments (94.0, 96.7, and 73.6 kg/ha in 2003, and 273.8, 280.9, and 268.6 kg/ha in 2004 for LEUC, SBM, and CONTROL, respectively) due to the lower stocking rate on LEUC. Thus, performance of goats grazing bahiagrass and leucaena was comparable to that of goats receiving protein supplementation at 50% of daily protein requirement. Browse legumes could form the basis of productive grazing systems for meat goats in south Florida.
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