ABSTRACT
Evaluation of a beef cattle and a sheep production system in the Ñuble Andean foothills. I. Primary and secondary production

Ignacio Ruiz N.1, Germán Klee G.2, Patricio Soto O.3, Amarilis Ulloa N.3
 

At the foothiils of the “Cordillera de Los Andes”, in the province of Ñuble, a beef cattle and a sheep production system were evaluated during three consecutive seasons. For both systems the main feeding source was a sub-clover pasture.
The following parameters were measured: meat production/hectare/year for bovines; meat-wool/ha/ year for sheeps also, for the bovine system the available dry matter in the pasture was measured.
In the beef cattle system, live weight output per hectare showed a progressive increase through the perriods (87.0, 110.3,and 135.5kg L.W./ha/year,successively). Thesheepsystem produced 91.5, 139.7, and 202.3 kg L.W./ha/year, in the successive periods. Between the first and third cycle, wool production varied from 13.8 to 25.2 kg/ha/year.
Pasture availability under grazing reached a maximum value of 1 ton D.M./ha in the spring; during the winter months, values were below 0.5 ton D.M./ha.

Keywords:
1 Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA), Casilla 5427, Santiago, Chile.
2 Subestación Experimental Humán, (INIA), Casilla 767, Los Angeles, Chile.
3 Estación Experimental Quilamapu (INlA), Casilla 426,ChiIlán, Chile.