| The relationship between grazing intensity, livestock productivity, and financial parameters of medium and large sized cow-calf ranches of Nuevo Leon, Mexico during a dry year (1996) was evaluated. Ranch size (medium = 150-250 AUYs and large = more than 250 AUYs) and grazing intensity (Moderate = 50% use and heavy 70-90% use) were the principal factors in this study. Twelve cow-calf enterprises fit a completely randomized statistical design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement and three observations per treatment. The treatments were: medium size-moderate grazing (MM), medium size-heavy grazing (MH), large size-moderate grazing (LM), and large size-heavy grazing (LH). Data were collected during scheduled interviews with ranch owners. On a per cow basis, the MM and LM treatments averaged 85.75%, 85.75%, and 84.15% for pregnancy, calving, and weaning crop rates, respectively. These values were significantly higher (p {dollar}<{dollar} 0.05) than those associated with MH and LH treatments where the pregnancy rates were 68.8%, calving 68.3%, and weaning crop 64.9%. Weaned weight per exposed female (EF) for MM and LM treatments averaged 170.48 kg, significantly different (p {dollar}<{dollar} 0.05) from the average of heavy grazing treatments (130.38 kg.). No significant differences among treatments were found for steer and heifer weaning weights. Variable costs incurred by ranches with heavy grazing pressure were {dollar}82.50 per cow while ranches with moderate grazing pressure averaged {dollar}50 (p {dollar}<{dollar} 0.05). MM and LM treatments earned (returns to land, capital, and risk) an average of {dollar}132 per cow, which was significantly different (p {dollar}<{dollar} 0.001) from the {dollar}49 per cow earned on average in MH and LH. Heavy grazing intensity in a dry year drastically reduced rangeland conditions. This affected the reproductive capacity of the herds. Poor calving and calf crop rates decreased gross returns and returns to land, capital, and risk of the cow-calf enterprise. On the other hand, ranches that used a moderate grazing intensity achieved financial stability because they produced acceptable calving and weaning rates and were able to keep production costs low. The returns to land, capital, and risk earned by ranches with moderate stocking rate was double the returns earned by ranches that used a heavy grazing pressure. |
