Heifer Performance in Meadow Fescue Pasture Systems

A two-year study from 2023 to 2024 at the University of Wisconsin Marshfield Agricultural Research Station compared Holstein heifer performance across three meadow fescue pasture systems. The experiment, conducted by David Jaramillo, evaluated systems with nitrogen fertilizer, clover inclusion, and a non-fertilized control on 0.8-hectare pastures. Data is contained in an 88.3 KB XLSX file.

Use Cases

• Compare average daily gain or body weight changes of heifers between the MF+N, MF+Clover, and MF systems.
• Analyze pasture yield or forage biomass data from the 10 paddocks per pasture system over the two-year period.
• Correlate nitrogen application rate (157 kg N/ha/yr) with heifer performance metrics in the MF+N system.
• Evaluate the economic or environmental impact of legume inclusion versus synthetic fertilizer use based on system-level output data.

Strengths

• Data originates from a controlled, randomized complete block design experiment.
• Covers a defined two-year temporal range from 2023 to 2024.
• Specific fertilizer application rate (157 kg N/ha/yr) is provided for one treatment.

Limitations

• Dataset is very small at 88.3 KB, indicating limited scope and likely low row count.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single research station in Marshfield, Wisconsin.
• Specific column names, sample data, and row counts are unknown, limiting initial assessment.

Provenance

Source

David Jaramillo, University of Wisconsin Marshfield Agricultural Research Station.

Collection Method

Field experiment using a randomized complete block design with rotational stocking on subdivided pastures.

Time Range

2023-2024

Freshness

Data is recent, covering 2023-2024, and the record was last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA.