Pasture management refers to the planned establishment, use, and renewal of pasture to maximise feed supply, pasture persistence, and animal performance while protecting soil and plant health. Good pasture management in New Zealand’s beef grazing systems means growing the right pasture species in the right place, and grazing them at the right time and intensity so that pasture regrows quickly and maintains high nutritional value. This relies on understanding pasture dry matter (DM), measured as kg DM/ha, which is used to quantify feed supply, intake, and demand across the farm.
Beef cattle in New Zealand graze a wider range of pasture types than dairy cattle, reflecting the diversity of land classes and farming systems across the country. On flat, fertile lowland farms, pastures are typically based on perennial ryegrass and white clover, with cultivars selected for yield, persistence, seasonal growth pattern, and tolerance to pests and grazing. On North Island and South Island hill country, pastures are more variable, often including browntop, Yorkshire fog, and other lower-fertility species alongside improved grasses and clovers. High country farms in the South Island may rely primarily on tussock-based or oversown hill pastures. Pasture composition reflects topography, altitude, rainfall, and soil fertility — and the type of cattle enterprise the land supports.
On lower, more fertile country, specialist pasture species such as chicory, plantain, and legumes including red clover and lucerne are increasingly used for finishing cattle. These species offer higher metabolic energy and digestibility than ryegrass-white clover pastures, and support faster live weight gains during summer and autumn when ryegrass growth slows.
Pasture cover refers to the quantity of grazeable pasture present across a farm at a given time, expressed as kilograms of dry matter per hectare (kg DM/ha). It is a core measure used to inform feed allocation decisions and support animal performance, particularly during periods of high feed demand such as the lead-up to calving, at weaning, and during finishing.
Once established, pasture is managed through grazing rotations or rounds, which determine how long cattle graze a paddock and how long it rests before being grazed again. Rotation length is adjusted to match pasture growth rate (kg DM/ha/day) with herd feed demand. Rotational grazing is widely regarded as best practice in New Zealand beef systems for its demonstrated benefits to pasture productivity, pasture quality, and animal performance.
A key operational principle is leaving an appropriate post-grazing residual — the amount of leaf left behind after grazing — which supports rapid regrowth and maintains the vigour of desirable pasture species. Cattle graze by wrapping their tongues around foliage and tearing rather than cutting, so they tolerate longer, ranker feed more readily than sheep, but still benefit from managed grazing to prevent both overgrazing and pasture going stemmy and losing quality.
Grazing too short (overgrazing) weakens plants, reduces pasture utilisation, slows regrowth, and can shift species composition toward less desirable species. Grazing too lightly (undergrazing) allows pasture to become too long and fibrous, lowering digestibility and protein content, increasing selective grazing and wastage, and slowing subsequent regrowth.
On hill country farms, cattle are often used strategically to control surplus pasture growth after weaning and to maintain pasture quality for sheep, or to graze rank pasture that sheep will not readily eat. Deferred grazing — resting 10–15% of the farm from mid-spring through to late summer or early autumn — is used on sheep and beef farms to allow desirable pasture species to reseed and increase tiller density, improving pasture persistence and providing a standing feed reserve for dry summer periods.
While most beef cattle in New Zealand are raised predominantly on pasture, supplementary feeding plays an important role in managing seasonal feed deficits and supporting animal performance at critical times.
The level of supplementary feeding varies considerably by farm type and production system. Breeding cow herds on hill country typically use minimal supplementation, with hay or silage provided during severe winter periods or to cows in poor body condition in the lead-up to calving. Finishing cattle on lowland farms have higher nutritional demands and are more commonly offered supplementary feed to maintain or accelerate live weight gains.
Common supplementary feeds used in New Zealand beef systems include:
Feed planning centres on matching stocking rate and supplementary feed supply to the farm’s pasture growth curve, with calving, weaning, and finishing events timed to align with periods of peak feed availability.
Contract grazing is commonly used in beef systems to manage feed demand across the production year and to shift stock between farm types in the tiered beef production system. Common arrangements include:
Contract grazing introduces biosecurity risks from moving live animals across farm boundaries and requires clear agreements around animal identification, NAIT compliance, animal health responsibilities, and feed allocation.
Unlike the dairy sector, where DairyNZ classifies farms into five formal system types based on supplementary feed use, there is no equivalent standardised classification system for New Zealand beef farms. However, Beef + Lamb New Zealand classifies commercial sheep and beef farms into eight farm classes based on land type, topography, stocking rate, and production system. These classes are widely used for benchmarking and research purposes.
The eight B+LNZ farm classes relevant to beef production are:
Most beef farms in New Zealand fall across Classes 3–6, with breeding systems concentrated in the harder hill country (Classes 3–4) and finishing systems on lower, more productive land (Classes 5–6). The tiered nature of the system — where breeding farms in the hills supply store cattle to finishing farms on flatter country — means that pasture management decisions on any one farm are closely connected to the broader movement of cattle across farm types and regions.
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