Sustainability is a ‘buzzword’ often used within and outside of the agriculture industry. Southeastern beef cow-calf and stocker operations often utilize management practices which embody the core definition of sustainability to improve land resource, economic, and social viability. In forage-based production systems, year-round management practices are generally viewed by the scientific community in terms of production and economic responses. However, the continual global shift in emphasis on sustainable practices creates an opportunity to view these practices through a different lens. Goals of grazing-based beef systems often include optimizing the number of grazing days per year, reducing hay and supplemental feeding period duration, and strategic supplementation during grazed forage availability gaps. Methods for increasing the grazing season length per year may include stockpiling, inclusion of multi-species mixtures, increasing species diversity on farm, and optimizing stocking strategies. Outside of associative effects of feed supplementation are potential ancillary benefits of supplementation on the plant-animal-soil interface. As an example, feed-through fertilization influences forage growth production responses and stocking density modulation in grazed beef cattle systems. The role of mineral supplementation and ionophore inclusion in beef cattle diets is well documented from an animal performance perspective, but to a lesser extent on how using these practices may influence forage or soil response variables. Stacking management practices may elicit positive animal performance responses, while potentially reducing outside inputs into the system. The question then becomes if this is economically viable compared with a more traditional forage-based system. From a research perspective, systems-level studies are more prevalent than in the past, but funding models require scientists to evolve and lead with the sustainability message rather than from a production viewpoint. Valuing management practices from an ecosystem services view is a potential area of opportunity for researchers, industry and farmers to highlight strengths of forage-based beef cattle production systems from a consumer perspective.

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5 以饲料为基础的肉牛系统农场层面的管理实践及其对可持续性的影响

可持续性是农业行业内外经常使用的“流行语”。东南部肉牛、犊牛和饲养场经常利用体现可持续发展核心定义的管理实践来改善土地资源、经济和社会活力。在以饲料为基础的生产系统中，科学界普遍从生产和经济反应的角度看待全年管理实践。然而，全球对可持续实践的重视不断转变，这创造了一个从不同角度看待这些实践的机会。以放牧为基础的牛肉系统的目标通常包括优化每年的放牧天数、减少干草和补充饲喂期的持续时间，以及在放牧饲料供应缺口期间进行战略性补充。增加每年放牧季节长度的方法可能包括储存、纳入多物种混合物、增加农场物种多样性以及优化放牧策略。除了饲料补充的关联效应之外，补充还对植物-动物-土壤界面产生潜在的辅助效益。例如，饲喂施肥会影响放牧肉牛系统中的草料生长生产反应和饲养密度调节。从动物生产性能的角度来看，肉牛日粮中矿物质补充剂和离子载体的作用已得到充分记录，但在较小程度上说明了使用这些做法如何影响饲料或土壤反应变量。堆叠管理实践可能会引起积极的动物表现反应，同时可能减少系统的外部输入。接下来的问题是，与更传统的基于饲料的系统相比，这在经济上是否可行。从研究的角度来看，系统级研究比过去更加普遍，但资助模式要求科学家以可持续性信息而不是从生产角度来发展和领导。从生态系统服务的角度评估管理实践对于研究人员、工业界和农民来说是一个潜在的机会领域，可以从消费者的角度强调以饲料为基础的肉牛生产系统的优势。