Grazing behaviour of Miranda donkeys in a natural mountain pasture and parasitic level changes

Couto, M.; Santos, A. S.; Laborda, J.; Nóvoa, Miguel; Ferreira, L. M. M.; Carvalho, Luís Madeira de

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2016.01.005

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…In the dairy equine farming system, pasture should be always available for its positive effect on animal welfare and milk quality [79]; however, when jennies are milked, grazing time and quantiqualitative availability of grazed areas are limited, as also observed for dairy mares [70]. According to preliminary results on the grazing behavior of Miranda breed jennies in mountain pastures, Couto et al [101] observed that the activities in searching and prehension lasted, on average, 16 hours per day with a preferential intake of herbaceous species. However, up to 30% of the intake was represented by shrubs, probably because of a low grass availability.…”

Section: Feeding the Dairy Donkeymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, up to 30% of the intake was represented by shrubs, probably because of a low grass availability. This suggests the interesting role of these autochthonous donkeys in preserving the pasture areas from degradation and fire risks [101]. It is also worth considering that grazing time does not significantly affect the daily dry matter intake of donkeys at maintenance, when they also have free access to preserved forages [102].…”

Section: Feeding the Dairy Donkeymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Equine Milk Production and Valorization of Marginal Areas—A Review

Miraglia

Salimei

Fantuz

2020

Animals

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The equine dairy chain is renewing the interest toward horse and donkey breeding for the production of milk with potential health promoting properties. The dairy equine chain for human consumption could contribute to the rural eco-sustainable development for the micro-economies of those areas threatened by marginalization. As a part of the whole equine industry, and its possible impact in the modern and future society, the main traits of the equine dairy enterprise are reviewed with a special focus on management of animals and milk. Equine milk compositional and nutritional peculiarities are described as also related to milk hygiene and health issues. Scientific and technical aspects of the feeding management are considered in the frame of the emerging dairy equine enterprise, where pasture is an essential element that allows to match production goals for horses and donkeys, biodiversity preservation, as well as landscape safeguard.

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Section: Feeding the Dairy Donkeymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Feeding the Dairy Donkeymentioning

confidence: 99%

Equine Milk Production and Valorization of Marginal Areas—A Review

Miraglia

Salimei

Fantuz

2020

Animals

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“…In Portugal, in grazing equids, individual parasitism is characterized by a high parasite infection level and by high parasite biodiversity, including highly pathogenic species [ 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gastrointestinal Parasitism in Miranda Donkeys: Epidemiology and Selective Control of Strongyles Infection in the Northeast of Portugal

Sousa

Anastácio

Nóvoa³

et al. 2021

Animals

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In Portugal, equine parasitism in pasture animals is characterized by high parasitic burden and high helminthic biodiversity; both factors are potentially pathogenic for their hosts. The decrease in the number of donkeys over the last years in Portugal, their importance in rural lowland and mountain ecosystems and pastures and the scarce information regarding their parasitism led to this research, which aimed to evaluate the parasitological status of a Miranda donkey breed population, a native breed mainly located in the northeast of Portugal. This study provides better knowledge of their gastrointestinal parasitism, particularly strongyles, and the assessment of a targeted selective treatment (TST) as an alternative control approach of their parasitism. A longitudinal observational study was developed during a period of five years in a population of 62 Miranda donkeys. At first, strategic deworming of these animals was performed every semester, but this was progressively replaced by a TST approach according to the levels of Eggs per Gram (EPG). This new deworming strategy was conducted in association with a regular parasitological monitoring of the animals every three months, being dewormed with ivermectin when egg shedding was higher than 500 EPG. Over the study period, a decrease of the annual prevalence rate of infection by gastrointestinal strongyles was observed, from 35.5% to 19.4%, as well as a negative binomial distribution of parasitic strongyles in donkeys submitted to selective anthelminthic control. The prevalence rate of infection was higher in females (39.5%), in individuals under four years (46.7%) and in those presenting a lower body condition (40.8%). The egg output was higher in animals younger than four years (589.3 EPG) than in those older than 10 years (533.6 EPG) (p < 0.05). However, no differences were observed according to sex during the study period. Results from this study allowed to note the influence of swampy pastures and of the weather changes in the epidemiology of strongylosis in Miranda donkeys. Moreover, it was possible to establish the annual epidemiological curve of strongyle egg shedding, with June being the month with the highest EPG, December having the lowest EPG and March and September showing intermediate numbers. Overall, a lower biodiversity of gastrointestinal parasites was observed. Cyathostomum sensu lato was the most prevalent genus and Strongylus vulgaris was the most observed large strongyle of the Strongylidae family. Trichostrongylus axei and Parascaris sp. were other nematodes with a minor frequency. The higher prevalence of strongyles at the beginning of the study showed a progressive decrease throughout the research period, and also for parasite biodiversity. Therefore, a targeted selective treatment seems to be a rational anthelminthic control approach in Miranda donkey strongyle infection and in other gastrointestinal parasites, since it reduces the antiparasitic treatments, the parasite’ prevalence and the EPG level. However, a loss of parasite biodiversity was noted at the end of the study period, as Cyathostominae were the only isolated strongyles. This can be a challenging situation in the long run, taking the ability of these nematodes to adapt easily to any deworming program, meaning that fecal EPG monitoring should be kept as a rule to a rational parasite control program.

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“…Another aim pursued by veterinary medicine and animal husbandry, in collaboration with different scientific branches of agronomy, is to seek optimal utilization of pastures and grazing management strategies, which allow the animal to feed properly and provide both in the soil as in pastures, adequate sanitation conditions that ensure the sustainability of the system [100][101][102][103]. Grazing systems should be designed to get the most out of the environment without deteriorating it.…”

Section: Grazing Systems For Disease Prevention and Animal Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry on the Biophysical Characteristics of Soils in Neotropical Agroecosystems

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The neotropical agroecosystems are important areas in the global scene in terms of livestock production. Therefore, a good conservation of their soils is crucial in order to both guarantee food safety and reduce the impact of land degradation processes. Conservation of neotropical soils used for farming activities could be obtained using veterinary medicine and adopting new grazing systems in the last decades. A wide bibliographical review was carried out which illustrates current issues in neotropical agroecosystems, the importance of their soil properties highlighting the role played by dung beetles within the edaphofauna, and the effects of the most common anti-parasitic practices as well as some natural alternatives. Finally, we present commonly adopted grazing systems and how they are affecting soil properties and animal welfare. The conversion of forest into agricultural and pasture land is altering the biochemical quality of soils. Furthermore, the use of ivermectin is dangerously reducing the total amount of dung beetles that are a key element in nutrient recycling processes. The implementation of new grazing systems (e.g., Voisin, Savory) is progressively fragmenting the habitat of many species. Nevertheless, there are also some benefits in this kind of practices and some natural alternatives to anthelmintics are being tested.

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Grazing behaviour of Miranda donkeys in a natural mountain pasture and parasitic level changes

Cited by 16 publications

References 14 publications

Equine Milk Production and Valorization of Marginal Areas—A Review

Equine Milk Production and Valorization of Marginal Areas—A Review

Gastrointestinal Parasitism in Miranda Donkeys: Epidemiology and Selective Control of Strongyles Infection in the Northeast of Portugal

The Impact of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry on the Biophysical Characteristics of Soils in Neotropical Agroecosystems

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