Ecological, biophysical and production effects of incorporating rest into grazing regimes: a global meta-analysis

1. Grazing can have considerable ecological impacts when managed inappropriately, however livestock production is a significant contributor to global food security and the removal of land from production is not always a viable option. Grazing management practices that incorporate periods of planned rest (i.e. strategic-rest grazing) may be an alternative that could achieve ecological and animal production outcomes simultaneously.
2. We conducted a meta-analysis of global literature to investigate how strategic-rest grazing mediates ecological (i.e., plant richness and diversity), biophysical (plant biomass and ground cover) and production response variables (animal weight gain, animal production per hectare-1) compared to continuously grazed or ungrazed areas.
3. We show that rest periods are important to grazing sustainability and production. Overall, total ground cover and animal production per ha-1 were significantly greater under strategic-rest grazing than continuous grazing mana...