Factors affecting the body condition score
of N'Dama cows under extensive range management
in Southern Senegal

Ezanno, Pauline; Ickowicz, Alexandre; Bocquier, François

doi:10.1051/animres:2003002

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…In the sub-tropical climate the N'Dama cows have a much longer average breeding interval (e.g. 2.3 years) and age at first calving is around 5 years (Ezanno et al, 2003). As the constraints in the sub-tropical climate are higher than in temperate zones there is a natural separation between pregnancy and lactation.…”

Section: Effects Of Feeding Practices In Producing Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the constraints in the sub-tropical climate are higher than in temperate zones there is a natural separation between pregnancy and lactation. Reproduction occurs when cows have dried off for almost 1 year so that they can slowly replenish their body reserves and then, only when feeding conditions are improved (rainy season), they become able to support a new productive cycle (Ezanno et al, 2003). Furthermore, contrary to the intensively bred cattle of temperate climates the decision to cull a cow does not depend on its fertility.…”

Section: Effects Of Feeding Practices In Producing Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustainability of ruminant agriculture in the new context: feeding strategies and features of animal adaptability into the necessary holistic approach

Bocquier

García

2010

Animal

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There are numerous recent studies highlighting sustainability problems for the development of ruminant production systems (RPS) while facing increasing human food necessities and global climate change. Despite the complexity of the context, in our view the main objectives of the ruminants' physiologist should be convergent for both industrialized (IC) and developing countries (DC) in a common and global strategy of advancing knowledge. In DC, this means improving the efficiency of RPS, taking into account the unique possibility of using rangelands. For IC settings, RPS should be revisited in terms of autonomy and environment-friendly feeding and managing practices. Assuming that competition for feed/food use is still a crucial criterion, future ruminant feeding systems (FeSyst) should preferably focus on lignocellulosic sources. According to biome distributions, and the recent increases in volumes of crop residues and their by-products, the annually renewed volumes of these biomasses are considerable. Therefore, we need to redesign our strategies for their efficient utilization at the local level. For this purpose, digestion processes and rumen functioning need to be better understood. The renewed vision of ruminal digestion through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is also a key aspect as it is an environmental demand that cannot be ignored. With regard to other ruminants' physiological functions, accumulated knowledge could be mobilized into an integrative approach that puts forward the adaptive capacities of animals to face variability in quantity and quality of supplied feeds. Basically, the reduction of inputs that were traditionally used to ensure FeSyst will need more flexible animals. In that sense, the concepts of homeostasis and teleophorhesis need to be updated and adapted to domestic species and breeds that were until now largely excluded from the dominant productive systems. In conclusion, a more holistic approach of research targets is required in which physiological functions and farmers' practices must converge and respond to each particular situation in an integral, dynamic and flexible conceptual perspective. From a scientific point of view, both for ICs and DCs, a broader range of experimental scenarios should be explored in order to arrive at innovative practices and solutions that respect environmental, ethical and economical issues. The clear challenge is to in evaluate the sustainability of RPSs. This includes, in our opinion, a strong interaction with other disciplines (multi-and trans-disciplinary conception), thus structuring new relevant indicators for the evaluation sustainability.

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Section: Effects Of Feeding Practices In Producing Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effects Of Feeding Practices In Producing Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability of ruminant agriculture in the new context: feeding strategies and features of animal adaptability into the necessary holistic approach

Bocquier

García

2010

Animal

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“…management methods [72]. Thus, in an extreme situation, in South Senegal (Kolda), the reproductive pattern of N'Dama cows is characterised by great intervals of time between reproductive events, with an average age at first parturition of 5 years and an average calving interval of 2.3 years [39]. On the contrary, in herds in a temperate climate, reproduction patterns are often close to the theoretical biological limits of the species: calving interval close to one year or even 3 lambings in 2 years in a suckler sheep flock.…”

Section: The Effects Of the Nutritional Status Of Females On Their Sumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These balances lead to variable reproduction rhythms and long time steps. The analysis of these patterns [39] shows that reproduction is only effective when a sufficient body condition coincides in time with favourable nutritional conditions. Another important element in these Sub-Saharan pastoral systems is the decision to cull females that not always directly depends on their ability to reproduce, since a live animal is considered as a financial capital to be maintained as a priority and at the lowest cost.…”

Section: The Effects Of the Nutritional Status Of Females On Their Sumentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive abilities of the females and sustainability of ruminant livestock systems. A review

Blanc

Bocquier²,

Agabriel

et al. 2006

Anim. Res.

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-In a systemic approach, the breeder can be considered as the decisional component of the livestock system, whereas animals are usually depicted to be part of its biotechnical component. The animal itself is a biological system whose ability to survive, grow, reproduce and cope with the environnement and livestock practices play a major role in the ability of the livestock system to sustain. In such a conceptual representation of the system, the reproductive females draw a peculiar attention since they determine in a great part the productivity and the durability of the system through their abilities to maintain their own production level (milk production, numeric productivity) and to save their reproductive efficiency (repeated pregnancies and lactations) over years. Considering the animal level and its lifespan, it is clear that the abilities to adapt rely on behavioural and physiological regulatory processes. The study of the biological mechanisms involved in the adaptation to undernutrition is particularly interesting since regulatory processes implied in energy metabolism may interfere directly or indirectly with the reproductive function, and consequently, with the durability of the livestock system. A biological significance of such relationships between nutrition and reproduction is given that they allow the female to be informed about the associated risk of entering a productive process facing the uncertainty of the nutritional context. Although the general mechanisms implied in the ability to adapt to the underfeeding constraint are conserved among ruminants, the thresholds (or priorities) may largely differ according to the breed within the same species. Hence, in order to evaluate the ability of the ruminant livestock systems to perpetuate in hard environments (maintaining their production levels) or to assess sustainable objectives (opening bushy landscapes by increasing grazing pressure), animals' inherent adaptive potentialities have to be well known. Résumé -Capacités adaptatives des femelles et durabilité des systèmes d'élevage. Synthèse bibliographique. Dans une représentation systémique du système d'élevage, l'éleveur incarne la composante décisionnelle du système, tandis que l'animal constitue, avec la ressource, sa composante biotechnique. L'animal lui-même peut être considéré comme un système biologique soumis à un environnement contraignant, dont les aptitudes à survivre, croître, se reproduire et s'adapter jouent un rôle fondamental dans la pérennité du système d'élevage. Les femelles reproductrices tiennent une place particulière dans cette représentation car non seulement elles déterminent une large part de la productivité du système par leur propre niveau de production (production laitière, productivité numérique), mais elles en assurent également sa reproductibilité au cours du temps (investissement reproductif). A l'échelle de l'individu et de sa durée de vie, les modalités d'adaptation reposent sur des processus de régulations comportementales et physiologiques. De tels pro...

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“…Data have been stored in a relational database especially designed for herd follow-ups (with animal identification) in tropical extensive farming systems (Juanè s and Lancelot, 1999). Recorded information have already been analyzed in other contexts (Faugè re et al, 1990a and1990b;Clé ment et al, 1997;Lesnoff, 1999;Lancelot et al, 2000;Ickowicz and Mbaye, 2001;Ezanno et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of crude annual parturition rate estimates in a small-holder African ruminant farming system

Lesnoff

Lancelot

2009

Animal

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Many parameters have been proposed for evaluating livestock reproduction performances in tropical farming systems. In tropical free-ranged and small-holder systems, where reproduction cycles cannot be individually observed without expensive field surveys, one of these parameters is the average number of parturitions ( h) expected by reproductive female, if the female spends the whole year in the herd. A frequent approach for estimating h is to use the ratio h c 5 m/T, so-called 'crude annual parturition rate', where m is the observed number of parturitions and T is the total time of presence of the reproductive females in the herd during the year. The bias encountered when h is estimated by h c was evaluated in this paper. Six methods of estimation were used, where T was the exact observed time of presence ( h c1 ) or approximated by monthly, quarterly, halfyearly and yearly averages or final size of the reproductive herd size ( h c2 to h c6 ). Data came from long-term follow-up of cattle and small-ruminant herds (with data recorded at animal level) in extensive agro-pastoral systems in Senegal. In general, h was correctly estimated by h c1 . Nevertheless h c1 was sensitive to competing risks (e.g. deaths, sales and slaughtering of reproductive females) and was seriously biased when intensive withdrawals of females occurred before or during the parturition peak. Reliability of crude rates progressively decreased from h c2 to h c6 , corresponding to the degradation of information used for approximating T. This decrease was much lower for cattle (for which all methods had acceptable reliability) than for small ruminants. Among the compared methods, the lower reliability was observed for h c6 that we do not recommend for small ruminants. Methods h c5 and h c6 are currently used in rapid cross-sectional retrospective surveys based on the recall of the farmers on the demographic events which occurred in the herd over the last past 12 months. The study has showed that such surveys and estimates h c5 and h c6 can generate seriously biased results. More globally, annual parturition rates can be highly variable depending on the 12-month periods considered. Annual parturition rates estimated on short-term data, even with precise herd follow-up surveys, must be considered cautiously.

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Factors affecting the body condition score of N'Dama cows under extensive range management in Southern Senegal

Cited by 29 publications

References 28 publications

Sustainability of ruminant agriculture in the new context: feeding strategies and features of animal adaptability into the necessary holistic approach

Sustainability of ruminant agriculture in the new context: feeding strategies and features of animal adaptability into the necessary holistic approach

Adaptive abilities of the females and sustainability of ruminant livestock systems. A review

Evaluation of crude annual parturition rate estimates in a small-holder African ruminant farming system

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