Characterizing and simulating a rotational grazing strategy
Résumé
The management of dairy production systems based on rotational grazing and maize-concentrate feeding requires a complex lookahead decision making procedure to elaborate a seasonal strategy that is sufficiently robust to uncertainty. In this paper, the problem is characterized rather precisely as finding for the late winter to early summer period an appropriate combination of commitments concerning the fields allocated to grazing, those kept just in case of need, the time profile of maize-concentrate distribution, the nitrogen fertilization policy and the field rotation policy. A simulation tool designed to evaluate tentative man-made strategies under given climate scenarios is described.