Early spring defoliation patterns can condition the sward for mid-season growth by promoting leafier herbage with fewer reproductive tillers.
The sward type within which each animal was grazing was also recorded.
There is a clear vision of how commons should look; this is the short sward that maintains its 'green hue', which is neat and ordered.
On bare soil 39% of both the dung-covered and buried seeds germinated, in perennial grass swards 24-43%, and under tree canopies 10- 24% respectively.
At the time of sowing, there were marked differences in the amount of bare ground and sward height due to the fencing and cultivation treatments.
This management created strips for each sward type which were either immature and relatively short, or mature and relatively tall.
He followed this with experiments in which stocking rate was shown to have major effects on animal production from grazed swards.
The swards were cut four times per year.
