The effects of grazing management strategies on the vegetation, diet quality, intake and performance of free grazing sheep

Ma, Lei; Yuan, Fei; Liang, Hong; Rong, Yiming

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2013.12.025

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Bozkurt and Kaya (2011) reported substantially improved grazing performance of beef cattle on upland rangeland conditions in Turkey from rotational grazing compared with set stocking, while Moyo et al (2011) found no benefit in animal performance using rotational grazing schemes in the communal areas of Zimbabwe without controlling stocking rates in relation to the season's rainfall. In colder conditions in the Chinese steppe, Ma et al (2014) found pronounced effects of grazing intensity and grazing period on sheep and grassland productivity, with deferred spring grazing combined with higher stocking rates in summer and relatively low stocking rates in autumn found to be a sustainable grazing strategy for these conditions. Any grazing management that enhances the quality and digestibility of the forage potentially improves livestock productivity and reduces the intensity of GHG emissions in the same way as for diet intensification.…”

Section: Grazing Managementmentioning

confidence: 98%

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

Thornton

Rosenstock

Förch³

et al. 2017

Natural Resource Management and Policy

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The mixed crop-livestock systems of the developing world will become increasingly important for meeting the food security challenges of the coming decades. The synergies and trade-offs between food security, adaptation, and mitigation objectives are not well studied, however. Comprehensive evaluations of the costs and benefits, and the synergies and trade-offs, of different options in developing-country mixed systems do not exist as yet.Here we summarise what we know about the climate smartness of different alternatives in the mixed croplivestock systems in developing countries, based on published literature supplemented by a survey of experts. We discuss constraints to the uptake of different interventions and the potential for their adoption, and highlight some of the technical and policy implications of current knowledge and knowledge gaps.

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Section: Grazing Managementmentioning

confidence: 98%

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

Thornton

Rosenstock

Förch³

et al. 2017

Natural Resource Management and Policy

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“…Nonetheless, the observed herbage offers were relatively low compared with studies in similar climatic contexts elsewhere (Sankey et al 2009;Behnke et al 2011;Sasaki et al 2012;Tao et al 2013), whereas the nutritive values were relatively high and constant throughout the studied years. Especially the latter observation is surprising, as in Central Asia the nutritive value of natural vegetation varies strongly with season and has been reported to be particularly low during winter and early spring (Yoshihara et al 2008;Glindemann et al 2009;Olson et al 2010;Sasaki et al 2012;Schönbach et al 2012;Bösing et al 2014;Ding et al 2014;Ma et al 2014;Müller et al 2014). It may therefore be concluded that the herd mobility patterns observed in the Altay-Dzungarian region is balanced for the seasonal variability in herbage quality (Yoshihara et al 2013).…”

Section: Quantity and Quality Of Herbagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most stocking densities on the studied pastures exceeded 0.4 SU ha −1 and thus indicated a high grazing pressure. Additionally, grazing duration, which is a decisive factor for rangeland productivity (Glindemann et al 2009;Ma et al 2014) was negatively (China) and positively (Mongolia) correlated with herbage allowance. These contradictory tendencies may be explained by strict regulations in China that forced herders to stay at pastures with relatively low herbage allowance (Banks et al 2003), whereas Mongolian herders could flexibly adapt the length of their stay depending on the circumstances (Fernández-Giménez and Le Febre 2006).…”

Section: Quantity and Quality Of Herbagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent rangeland studies in both countries mainly focused on different interacting drivers of declining herbage yields and herbage quality such as increasing livestock numbers, changes in livestock species, reduction of livestock mobility, reduction of affordable and good quality winter fodder, privatization of rangeland, alteration of traditional rangeland management, rural labour outmigration to cities and changing climate either in China or in Mongolia (Glindemann et al 2009;Kakinuma et al 2013;Liu et al 2013;Bruegger et al 2014;Hilker et al 2014;Ma et al 2014;Khishigbayar et al 2015). Despite marked differences between China and Mongolia, both countries struggle with designing effective rangeland strategies, policies and programmes that allow to sustain rangeland productivity on the basis of fine-tuned pasture management and planning for disaster mitigation (Addison et al 2012;Sasaki et al 2012;Schönbach et al 2012;Kreutzmann 2013a;Wang et al 2013;Hilker et al 2014;Khishigbayar et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Spatio-temporal patterns of herbage availability and livestock movements: A cross-border analysis in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay

et al. 2016

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Due to increasing population and the recent implementation of policies to intensify the use of land and water resources, the transhumant pastoral systems in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay-Dzungarian region are rapidly changing, leading to modifications of herd size, herd composition and spatial distribution of livestock grazing. This may have major consequences for the supply and quality of rangeland biomass. Despite similar topographic settings, the socio-political framework for Chinese and Mongolian pastoralists differs significantly, leading to differences in rangeland utilization. To substantiate these claims, the long-distance transhumance routes, frequency of pasture changes, daily grazing itineraries and size of pastures were recorded by means of GPS tracking of cattle and goats on 1,535 (China) and 1,396 (Mongolia) observation days. The status quo of the main seasonal pastures was captured by measuring the herbage offer and its nutritive value in 869 sampling spots. In the Altay-Dzungarian region, small ruminant herds covered up to 412 km (Mongolia) and grazed on up to nine pastures per year (China). In Mongolia, the herds' average duration of stay at an individual pasture was longer than in China, particularly in spring and autumn. Herbage allowance at the onset of a grazing period (kg dry matter per sheep unit and day) ranged from 34/17 to 91/95 (China/Mongolia). Comparing crude protein and phosphorous concentrations of herbage, in China, the highest concentrations were measured for spring and summer pastures, whereas in Mongolia, the highest concentrations were determined for autumn and winter pastures. Based on our data, we conclude that regulation of animal numbers and access to pastures seemingly maintained pasture productivity in China, especially at high altitudes. However, this policy may prohibit flexible adaptation to sudden environmental constraints. In contrast, high stocking densities and grazing of pastures before flowering of herbaceous plants negatively affected rangeland productivity in Mongolia, especially for spring and summer pastures.

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“…The Chinese government's policy of deferring spring grazing in Inner Mongolia increased the spring vegetation cover and the grassland productivity (e.g., Ma et al 2014), leading to low DOF values. Playing a similar role to the vegetation, the spring snow cover also reduces the DOF by suppressing wind erosion.…”

Section: B Steppe Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Characteristics of Recent Dust Occurrence and Its Controlling Factors in East Asia

Kurosaki

Shinoda

et al. 2016

SOLA

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Aeolian dust, resulting from wind erosion, is controlled by two major factors: aeolian erosivity (i.e., wind speed) and aeolian erodibility (i.e., land surface conditions). Erodibility factors include a number of land surface parameters that interact in complicated manners. Thus far, the extent to which each of the factors contributes to dust outbreaks, which vary regionally and seasonally, remains unclear. As such, we present a novel map of the controlling factors for dust outbreaks in dryland of East Asia by quantifying the relative contributions of the erosivity and various erodibility parameters to inter-annual dust variations on a station basis during the period of 1999 to 2013. Erosivity controls dust outbreaks in the Taklimakan Desert, west of the Hexi Corridor, and on the north side of the Altai Mountain. On the other hand, dust outbreaks are dependent on erodibility in steppe regions: lower precipitation or less abundant vegetation during the previous summer was found to be related to dusty springs in the Mongolian steppe, whereas the less abundant spring vegetation and reduced snow cover enhanced dust outbreaks in the Inner Mongolian steppe. Anthropogenically restored vegetation in desertified areas was found to be likely to suppress dust outbreaks in the Loess Plateau.(Citation: Wu, J., Y. Kurosaki, M. Shinoda, and K. Kai, 2016: Regional characteristics of recent dust occurrence and its con-

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The effects of grazing management strategies on the vegetation, diet quality, intake and performance of free grazing sheep

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

Spatio-temporal patterns of herbage availability and livestock movements: A cross-border analysis in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay

Regional Characteristics of Recent Dust Occurrence and Its Controlling Factors in East Asia

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