Description
Grazing management anticipation. Can the DSS Pâtur’Plan helps farmers? The main objective of the meetings organised two times, in 2017 and 2018, was to help farmers to better anticipate grazing management and to learn to use Pâtur’Plan, a farm level DSS. Each, meeting had 10 to 14 participants, predominantly dairy farmers but also extension services, advisors and agricultural college teachers. The first part of this P&SM, in the morning, was dedicated to understanding why anticipation and flexibility are key aspects of the success of grazing, with a researcher conference and intense exchanges with the participants. A visit to the grazing platform of the INRA experimental farm served to support the proposals of the conference, and to practice grass height measurements with plate meter. In the afternoon, the participants learned how to use Pâtur’Plan (http://www.orne-conseil-elevage.fr/orne-nos-innovations/paturplan.html) using their own farm situation as example. They started by defining the platform (number of paddocks, area, type of grasslands, etc.), the herd characteristics, the actual grass availability and to develop the seasonal grass growth curve using the weekly information received. They then learned to simulate, to adapt different scenarios for the next month-6weeks and to evaluate the consequences of their decisions. At the end of this meeting, they were able to use Pâtur’Plan and to produce an anticipated grazing plan. At the end of the meeting, the software Pâtur’Plan was offered to the participants, convinced that it will be useful to them.
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