Cattle herbage utilization patterns under high-density rotational grazing in the Aspen Parkland

2003 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Asamoah ◽  
E. W. Bork ◽  
B. D. Irving ◽  
M. A. Price ◽  
R. J. Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Low Frequency ◽  
High Density ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Rotational Grazing ◽  
Grazing Behavior ◽  
Aspen Parkland ◽  
Utilization Patterns ◽  
Grazing Period ◽  
Aspen Forest ◽  
Riparian Meadows

Native Aspen Parkland landscapes consist of a complex mosaic of plant communities, including riparian meadows, upland grasslands, and forests. Sustainable livestock production in this environment depends on an understanding of livestock grazing behavior among communities, particularly under contemporary, intensive management rotational grazing systems. This study examined seasonal patterns of absolute (kg ha-1) and relative (%) herbage utilization, as well as plant community visitation, across a Parkland landscape by 150 heifers in two rotations of a high-intensity, low-frequency grazing system. Graminoids constituted more than 92% of the total herbage utilized. Absolute graminoid utilization within each grazing period was greater (P < 0.05) throughout the growing season from riparian meadows (2003 to 2114 kg ha-1) than from upland grasslands (762 to 1041 kg ha-1) or forests (782 to 800 kg ha-1). In contrast, relative graminoid utilization remained similar (P > 0.05) among communities in either rotation, suggesting heifers grazed in proportion to graminoid availability (57–61% in first rotation, 44–54% in second rotation). Although riparian meadows represented a small fraction of the landscape (~ 4%), and provided up to 9.5% of the total forage used, the majority of herbage removal at the paddock level continued to originate from upland grasslands and forests. Patterns of visitation indicated heifers initially visited riparian meadows more often within each 3–4 day grazing period, regardless of entry date. While upland grasslands were least visited in June, forests were least visited in August. Based on these utilization and visitation patterns, we discuss the implications of using high-density, rotational livestock grazing for the sustainable management of Aspen Parkland rangelands. Key words: Aspen forest, cattle grazing, forage quality, herbage utilization, riparian meadow, rotational grazing, upland grassland

scholarly journals Influence of Beef Cattle Stocking Density on Utilization of Vegetative Communities in a Late-Spring, Early-Summer Native Bunchgrass Prairie

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 400
Author(s):  
Samuel A Wyffels ◽  
Timothy DelCurto
Keyword(s):  
Stocking Density ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Treatment Area ◽  
Grazing Behavior ◽  
Relative Preference ◽  
Grazing Period ◽  
Total Productivity ◽  
Sustainable Grazing ◽  
Vegetative Communities

This study evaluated the influence of cattle stocking density on the use of botanical communities on a native bunchgrass prairie. In each of two years, 192 cow-calf pairs and 48 yearling heifers were randomly selected for the following grazing treatments: 1) control, no livestock grazing; 2) low stocking, 0.36 animal units (AU) ∙ ha-1; 3) moderate stocking, 0.72 AU ∙ ha-1; and 4) high stocking, 1.08 AU ∙ ha-1 for a 42-day grazing period. Thirty-six monitoring sites were established uniformly along a grid in each paddock. Standing crop and relative preference data for cattle collected from the treatment area were used to develop the following vegetation community classifications: 1) > 20% introduced; 2) > 40% native bunchgrass with > 50% Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis); 3) > 40% native bunch grass with < 50% Idaho fescue; 4) > 50% Forb; and 5) other. Utilization for each community type was collected at the end of the grazing period. High stocking density paddocks had higher utilization across all vegetation classifications compared to other stocking densities (P ≤ 0.04). Moderate stocking density paddocks were utilized 11.5% more than low paddocks, however, utilization of introduced vegetative communities, Idaho fescue dominated bunchgrass communities, and forb dominated communities did not differ in use (P ≥ 0.13). Use of monitoring to actively adjust stocking densities based on differential community utilization may improve the sustainable grazing of sensitive communities because conventional stocking rate calculations based on total productivity do not account for the selective grazing behavior of cattle.

scholarly journals Beef heifers grazing behavior and herbage intake in natural grassland under rotational grazing

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 2056-2062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cezar Wankura Barbieri ◽  
Fernando Luiz Ferreira de Quadros ◽  
Felipe Jochims ◽  
Bruno Castro Kuinchtner ◽  
Thiago Henrique Nicola de Carvalho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Block Design ◽  
Beef Heifers ◽  
Rotational Grazing ◽  
Grazing Behavior ◽  
Bite Rate ◽  
Herbage Intake ◽  
Randomized Block Design ◽  
Thermal Sum ◽  
Natural Grassland ◽  
Rest Intervals

It was evaluated the effect of two rest intervals between grazing occupations in rotational grazing; 375 and 750 DD (degree-days); based on the cumulative thermal sum necessary for leaf expansion of native grasses of two functional groups over the grazing behavior variables from beef heifers with 12 months old. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomized block design, with two treatments, three replications and measures repeated over time. Grazing behavior was assessed in three occasions (Nov 2011, Jan and Mar 2012), with 24h each. The herbage intake was estimated using an external marker (Cr2O3). The leaf mass was similar among the rest intervals, with a mean of 1261kg DM ha-1. The average grazing time was 627.4min day-1 and bite rate was 37.1 bites min-1. The average number of daily meals was 5.9 with an average of 118.5 minutes. Number of feeding stations visited per minute was 6.1 and the feeding stations permanence time was of 12 seconds. There was a reduction only on grazing time and bite rate over the periods. The range of thermal sums evaluated to define the rest intervals in rotational grazing proved no effect on heifers' grazing behavior and herbage intake

scholarly journals A Preliminary Study on Grazing Pattern of Sheep Transhumance in Turkey

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 1629
Author(s):  
Sezen Ocak Yetişgin ◽  
Şeyma Aydemir
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Residual Activity ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Corine Land Cover ◽  
Grazing Behavior ◽  
Indigenous Sheep ◽  
Grazing Period ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Settlement Areas

Grazing activities of indigenous sheep breed of the Turkish breed Karakaş and Koçeri which were transhumance flocks were investigated in a typical unimproved mountainous pasture in the East of Turkey. Data were collected from two different flocks on main daily activities (grazing, resting, moving or standing) every fifteen minutes. The characteristics of the pastures around the routes were assessed according to CORINE Land Cover classification system. Standing was a residual activity in both study paths. The animals concentrated their activity mostly on grazing while resting and moving occurred in specific times during the whole grazing period. Once the animals were heading back to their main settlement areas to be milked, grazing activity have been increased. Further studies on grazing behavior and changes in land cover will help to adjust the management strategies to the available natural resources.

scholarly journals Fine-mapping of an expanded set of type 2 diabetes loci to single-variant resolution using high-density imputation and islet-specific epigenome maps

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anubha Mahajan ◽  
Daniel Taliun ◽  
Matthias Thurner ◽  
Neil R Robertson ◽  
Jason M Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Fine Mapping ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
High Density ◽  
Regulatory Sequence ◽  
Polygenic Risk Score ◽  
Risk Alleles ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Credible Set ◽  
Size Heterogeneity

We aggregated genome-wide genotyping data from 32 European-descent GWAS (74,124 T2D cases, 824,006 controls) imputed to high-density reference panels of >30,000 sequenced haplotypes. Analysis of ˜27M variants (˜21M with minor allele frequency [MAF]<5%), identified 243 genome-wide significant loci (p<5×10−8; MAF 0.02%-50%; odds ratio [OR] 1.04-8.05), 135 not previously-implicated in T2D-predisposition. Conditional analyses revealed 160 additional distinct association signals (p<10−5) within the identified loci. The combined set of 403 T2D-risk signals includes 56 low-frequency (0.5%≤MAF<5%) and 24 rare (MAF<0.5%) index SNPs at 60 loci, including 14 with estimated allelic OR>2. Forty-one of the signals displayed effect-size heterogeneity between BMI-unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Increased sample size and improved imputation led to substantially more precise localisation of causal variants than previously attained: at 51 signals, the lead variant after fine-mapping accounted for >80% posterior probability of association (PPA) and at 18 of these, PPA exceeded 99%. Integration with islet regulatory annotations enriched for T2D association further reduced median credible set size (from 42 variants to 32) and extended the number of index variants with PPA>80% to 73. Although most signals mapped to regulatory sequence, we identified 18 genes as human validated therapeutic targets through coding variants that are causal for disease. Genome wide chip heritability accounted for 18% of T2D-risk, and individuals in the 2.5% extremes of a polygenic risk score generated from the GWAS data differed >9-fold in risk. Our observations highlight how increases in sample size and variant diversity deliver enhanced discovery and single-variant resolution of causal T2D-risk alleles, and the consequent impact on mechanistic insights and clinical translation.

scholarly journals Frequent handling of grazing beef cattle maintained under the rotational stocking method improves temperament over time

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria C. Ceballos ◽  
Karen Camille R. Góis ◽  
Aline C. Sant'Anna ◽  
Mateus J. R. Paranhos da Costa
Keyword(s):  
Beef Cattle ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Flight Speed ◽  
Grazing System ◽  
Grazing Period ◽  
Animal Handling ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Reactivity Score

Our aims were to assess the effects of handling frequency on temperament evolution in cattle kept under rotational stocking method (RSM), as well as to compare the temperament of animals maintained under rotational versus alternate stocking (ASM) methods. We evaluated 4256 males raised on pasture from four private properties (Farms 1–4), for a total of 9628 observations. The study was divided into two complementary approaches. In the first one, monthly visits were conducted at 35-day intervals to assess the cattle temperament (n = 1979) raised on grazing system using RSM, while, in the second approach, we evaluated the temperament of cattle (n = 3600) kept under two different stocking methods, namely, (1) RSM (n = 2007), characterised by a high frequency of animal handling and a 4-day grazing period, and (2) ASM (n = 1593), characterised by a low frequency of handling and a 20-day grazing period. Composite reactivity score (RS), and flight speed (FS) were considered as temperament indicators. Reductions of RS and FS means were observed during successive assessments under RSM. Significant effects of stocking method on FS (P < 0.05) and RS (P < 0.01) were found, with lower FS and RS means for animals under RSM than for those under ASM. In conclusion, the frequent handling in the rotational stocking method favoured the improvement of cattle temperament over time, with lower levels of reactivity among cattle raised under this stocking method than with animals raised under the alternate stocking method.

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