Pasture

Practicing best calf management practices in housing, feeding and health are important for growing the future replacement stock. This is important for sustainability of the dairy herd where a significant proportion of the national dairy herds are smallholders with poorer calf performance than is in large commercial herds. Kenya's national dairy herds comprise over 75% smallholders, some affiliated to cooperatives offering regular extension advises on best calf management practices to their members. This study tested the hypothesis that producer attitudes reflect calf management practices that are implemented in large commercial and smallholder herds. The hypothesis was tested with a sample of large commercial dairy herds and smallholder herds affiliated to cooperative societies. Producer attitudes and management practices in calf housing, feeding and health were captured regarding standard management practices on a five point scale of agreement. The responses were analyzed to reveal the underlying differences between the herds using non-parametric chi square test and Mann-Whitney U test statistics. Compared to large commercial dairy producers, smallholders expressed more negative (p<0.05) attitudes towards practicing the recommended housing (calf pen disinfection, spacing in pen, bedding), feeding (colostrum feeding, concentrate supplementation) and towards health (vaccination, deworming and ecto parasite control). The negative smallholders' attitudes were reflected in poorer (p<0.05) implementation of the recommended calf housing practices (pen disinfection), feeding practices (colostrum and milk feeding, concentrate supplementation and weaning procedure) and health practices (vaccination and ecto parasite control). To attain improved calf performance and sustainable dairy herds, smallholder dairy producers need change of attitude towards implementing the recommended calf management practices. In housing, the target areas are pen disinfection, housing calves in individual pens to avoid crowding and improved bedding. In feeding, the target areas are colostrum and milk feeding and concentrate supplementation while in health the target areas are vaccination, deworming and ecto parasite control practices. Introduction Practicing best calf management practices in housing, feeding and health is important for rearing the future replacement stock. This is important for sustainability of the dairy herd where a significant proportion of the national dairy herd attain poorer calf performance. Kenya has such dairy herd in which smallholder's comprise75% of the national herd and with poorer calf performance than in the fewer remainder medium and large commercial herds [3]. Good calf management practices enhance calf survivability and performance and subsequently, quality replacement stock for the future herd [17]. Important calf management is in housing, feeding and health. Calf housing should be well ventilated, partitioned into individual pens which are regularly disinfected, cleaned and the bedding are kept dry to provide calf comfort, good welfare and ease early disease detection of diseases. This way, good housing contributes to improved calf performances [5]. Good calf feeding practices begin with colostrum feeding, essential for passive immunity to calf. Colostrum feeding is followed with milk feeding, which has to be warm, hygienic and in enough quantity corresponding to calf body weight to support sufficient growth. Supplemental concentrate is necessary after weaning to sustain high growth rates [16, 4] .

Agrivoltaic systems, which deliberately maximize the utility of a single parcel of land for both solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity production and agriculture, have been demonstrated as a viable technology that can ameliorate competing land uses and meet growing energy and food demands efficiently. The goal of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of a novel pasture-based agrivoltaic concept: co-farming rabbits and solar PV. A life cycle assessment (LCA) quantified the impacts of 1) the integrated agrivoltaic concept in comparison to conventional practices including 2) separate rabbit farming and PV production and 3) separate rabbit farming and conventional electricity production. The impact assessment methods employed to determine the environmental impacts were IPCC 2013 global warming potential 100a V1.03 and fossil energy demand V1.11. The results indicate that the pasture-based agrivoltaic system produces the least amount of greenhouse gas emissions (3.8 million kg ...

Monitoring livestock behaviour can be a useful way to improve farm animal management and to detect individual health events. The use of automated systems that predict several daily behaviours from accelerometer data is growing and studies have often focused on the comparison of datamining classification methods. However, few studies have attempted to evaluate the effect of the step preceding the classification, namely accelerometer signal pre-processing. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of several pre-processing methods on the prediction of dairy cows behaviour from accelerometer data. Ten Holstein cows equipped with a three-dimensional accelerometer fixed on a neck collar were simultaneously observed by two observers. Observed behaviours were predicted with decision tree using pre-processed accelerometer data as inputs. Different procedures were evaluated for each of these following pre-processing steps: signal filtering, signal segmentation and feature calculation. For signal filtering, low-pass filters and high-pass filters were considered. For signal seg-mentation, various window sizes and percentages of overlap between windows were implemented. Sixty-one features were computed. This resulted in 150 different combinations of pre-processing steps. For each combination a decision tree model predicting the observed behaviours was trained. The performance of each model to predict the observed behaviours was compared based on accuracy and F-score measures. The relative importance of each pre-processing configuration on the performance of prediction was evaluated with a linear regression model. The best configurations led to an accuracy of 0.95 and a F-score of 0.96 against 0.76 and 0.65 respectively with the worse combinations. The best combinations included a window size of 20 s and 30 s, with an overlap of 90% and no high-pass filter. High-pass filter had the most significant effect on the classification (P < 0.001), with a substantial decrease when it was applied. Performance of the classification was also significantly improved when increasing the percentage of overlapping (P < 0.001). The decline of the accuracy observed for the window size of 20 s without overlap was prevented when an overlap higher than 50% was applied. This suggested that overlap should be considered when there is not sufficient data available. No impact was found for the low-pas filter. In conclusion, the way of pre-processing the accelerometer signal deserves to be considered in the classification and adapted according to the aim and design of the study.

Depuis le milieu des années 2000, le champ lexical du discours public de défense et de légitima-tion du pastoralisme pyrénéen s’est enrichi de notions « empruntées » aux sciences économiques et aux arènes de discussion internationales. Le pastoralisme est depuis lors qualifié de producteur « d’externalités » par certains agents de développement pastoral et représentants de la profession agricole. Le coeur de ce travail de recherche-action est d’interroger l’irruption de ce nouveau paradigme à une échelle locale, en analysant la manière dont les usagers de l’espace montagnard eux-mêmes appréhendent les effets multiples du pastora-lisme sur leurs espaces de pratiques. Malgré son utilité potentielle pour la justification d’une action publique dirigée spécifiquement vers l’activité pastorale, l’utilisation de la notion d’externalités en tant que catégorie analytique ne permet pas d’appréhender la réalité des rapports entre la multiplicité d’acteurs investis dans l’utilisation et dans la gouvernance des estives pyrénéennes. En revanche, le recours à une approche relationnelle des effets du pastoralisme permet de reconnecter ces phénomènes à leur contexte spatial, social et tempo-rel d’émergence, mais aussi de faire apparaître la place des acteurs et des organisations locales dans la régu-lation de la coprésence et des nouvelles proximités. A l’échelle locale, l’étude des effets multiples du pastoralisme renvoie ainsi aux thématiques du multi-usage de l’espace montagnard et à l’action collective des acteurs divers impliqués dans sa gestion et dans son utilisation. La capitalisation et l’interprétation des modalités de gestion collective innovantes des estives ainsi que le transfert des connaissances fondamentales et méthodologiques peuvent alors inciter les acteurs du développement à une prise en compte plus intégrée de l’élargissement et de la complexification de l’espace social constitué par les estives pyrénéennes.

Forty-five Holsteins cows in early to mid lactation were used to compare three feeding systems combining pasture and total mixed rations (TMR) on animal performance in a 21-wk repeated-measures experiment. The three treatments were: 1) pasture plus concentrate (PC), 2) pasture plus partial TMR (pTMR), and 3) TMR (non-pasture). Total dry matter intake, using chromic oxide as a marker, was 21.6, 25.2, and 26.7 kg/d for PC, pTMR, and TMR, respectively. Milk production was highest for TMR (38.1 kg/d), lowest on PC (28.5 kg/d), and intermediate for pTMR (32.0 kg/d). Cows on pTMR and TMR had higher milk fat and true protein percentages than cows on PC. Cows on PC gained less body weight and lost more body condition compared with cows on pTMR and TMR. Initial concentrations of plasma nonesterified fatty acids were higher on PC (302 µeq/L) than on pTMR (130 µeq/L) and TMR (225 µeq/L). Plasma and milk urea nitrogen were lower on both pTMR and TMR than on PC. Combining pasture and TMR resulted in higher milk production , milk fat and protein percentage, and maintenance in body condition score compared to pasture plus concentrate. The TMR feeding system resulted in the highest total dry matter intake and milk production. Abbreviation key: IVDMD = in vitro dry matter di-gestibility, MUN = milk urea nitrogen, PC = pasture plus concentrate, PUN = plasma urea nitrogen, pTMR = pasture plus partial TMR.

Il bosco, il legname, i pascoli e i corsi d'acqua costituivano la base della società regoliera della Pieve di Lavazzo. Queste preziose risorse naturali erano poste quotidianamente al centro dei rapporti politici, economici, culturali e religiosi delle Regole e Vicinie con le famiglie mercantili locali, i cittadini bellunesi e con la Repubblica di Venezia. Posta all'incrocio tra la val Zoldana, la valle del Piave, quella del Vajont e del Cellina, nel corso del '600 la  circoscrizione plebanale fu attraversata da un lungo conflitto sociale per la primazia nell'uso e nello sfruttamento delle risorse boschive e dei pascoli. Mentre a Venezia i patrizi dibattevano come far cassa attraverso la vendita dei beni comunali e a Belluno aristocratici, popolo e Corpo territoriale trattavano per individuare modalità diverse nella misurazione dei territori e delle risorse, gli scontri nei villaggi coinvolgevano una intricatissima rete di soggetti. Liti interminabili che oltre a rivedere gli equilibri locali di potere portavano a una revisione dei confini d'uso e alla conseguente percezione dell'ambiente circostante. Dalla ricostruzione di questi microconflitti per l'uso delle risorse, emergono i profili di piccoli villaggi che erano dei veri e propri sistemi integrati attorno al Principe, in equilibrio tra la cultura collettiva e le spinte individuali del denaro e dei commerci, e allo stesso tempo giurisdizioni ben consce del loro ruolo di protagoniste nei patti di sovranità e nella tenuta dello Stato.

The study allowed to determine the perceptions and characterization of the pastures in farms of livestock producers and researchers in the Canton Sachas and Francisco Orellana, Province of Orellana, Ecuador, whose objective was to know the use and management of Amazonian tropical pastures. Seventeen cattle farms of 8 communities were characterized to observe the characterization of the farmers, land use, use of forage banks, pasture management and bovine cattle housing. A semi-structured interview was designed to collect primary information about the problem under investigation. When characterizing the farmers, in relation to land use, previously 47.5% of the producers were engaged in agriculture, today 85.9% carry out livestock work with silvopastoral practices and only 14.1% are dedicated to agriculture. production of coffee and cocoa. Regarding the use of feed banks, 35.29% have more food for their animals and 5.88% have better environmental conditions. In addition, 77.6% of the farmers mentioned that they have improved their production with the use of the feed bank. In summary, the results indicate that small and medium producers can benefit from silvopastoral systems as an alternative to improve production and not affect the environment.

Animal source foods (ASF) are essential for proper human development and function. Livestock in general, and ruminants in particular, are essential components of our sustainable global food systems. Of significant worldwide impact, diets with higher-than-recommended levels of ASF can correct the symptoms of metabolic illnesses, offering hope in arresting the current worldwide epidemic of diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Most dietary policy and recommendations are based on the ill-founded belief that plant-based, high-carbohydrate diets are “healthy.” High-quality scientific evidence does not support the belief that vegetarian diets are healthier than omnivorous or animal-based diets. A Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction (TCR) lifestyle approach has demonstrated its efficacy in reversing Insulin Resistance (IR) and the non-communicable diseases associated with, or caused, by it. True sustainability is a multifaceted topic consisting of societal, economic, and ecological aspects...

Araştırma, biyoçeşitlilik ve ekolojik sürdürülebilirlik açısından önemli olan kırsal-ekolojik müştereklerimiz olarak tariflediğimiz mera alanları üzerindeki çatışmalara ve mera alanları üzerindeki çitleme hareketlerinin dönüştürücü etkilerine odaklanmaktadır. Mera alanları, yüksek karbon bağlama kapasitesi, zengin biyoçeşitlilik, erozyonu önleme, kırsal kalkınma ve kırsal gelenek açılarından önemli varlıklardır. Araştırma tasarımı yöntemi keşifçi vaka çalışmasıdır. Uzmanlarla yapılan kartopu mülakatlar, muhtarlarla yapılan derinlemesine mülakatlar, gözlemler ve medya analizinden edinilen veriler, içerik analiziyle değerlendirilmiş ve bir mera boyut seti oluşturulmuştur. Araştırma sonucunda, mera alanları üzerindeki çatışmalarına sebep olduğu belirlenen faktörler, baskılar, durum ve etkiler, eDPSIR nedensel ağ modeline uyarlanmıştır. Ekolojik duyarlı planlama, otlatma yönetimi ve faktör-baskı temelli yanıtlar ile iyileştirilmiş kırsal politikalar, kırsal müştereklerin korunması açısından önemlidir.

Aim The implementation of Grazing Management Plans (GMP), a specific policy and management tool, aimed at enhancing farm productivity, while preserving plant diversity, soil, and landscape. The GMP are based on rotational grazing systems (RGS) with animal stocking rate adjusted to keep it balanced with grassland carrying capacity. The aim was to test the five‐year effects produced by GMP implementation on botanical composition, plant diversity, and soil nutrient content on sub‐alpine and alpine pastures. Location Val Troncea Natural Park, western Italian Alps. Methods A total of 199 vegetation transects was carried out in summer 2011 and repeated in summer 2016. The botanical composition was recorded and plant diversity indexes, i.e. species richness and Shannon diversity (H’ index) were computed. Moreover, the mean soil nutrient content was indirectly estimated through the computation of Landolt N indicator value (N index) for each transect. Pair‐sample statistical tests and PERMANOVA were perfomed at different levels: on the whole vegetation dataset, on vegetation communities (i.e. vegetation types and ecological groups), and considering functional pools of species. Results Considering the whole vegetation dataset, species richness, H’ index, and N index significantly increased from 2011 to 2016. Moreover, species richness significantly increased in almost all the vegetation ecological groups, with the highest increase within mesotrophic one. The H’ index significantly increased in eutrophic, pre‐forest, and thermic groups, while N index increased in all the vegetation groups, except in the eutrophic and snow‐bed ones. A significant difference in botanic composition was detected within oligotrophic, mesotrophic, and thermic groups. The number and cover of nitrogen‐poor high‐elevation species increased in all groups and this result could be probably related to the effects produced by livestock, which promoted seed transportation and increased connectivity amongst different communities. The meso‐eutrophic species number and cover significantly increased within thermic, mesotrophic, and pre‐forest groups, suggesting a greater use of such areas by livestock under RGS than continuous grazing system. Conclusions The implementation of a RGS with stocking rate adjustments proved to be an effective and a sustainable management tool to enhance botanical composition and plant diversity of sub‐alpine and alpine grasslands over a five‐year span. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The type and level of infective strongylid nematode larvae on pasture were monitored fortnightly from July 1995 to June 1996 in the central highlands of Kenya. The number of larvae on pasture was moderate, reaching &gt; 1,200 kg(-1) dry matter of grass during the period of, and soon after, the rains, and remained low in the dry seasons. The number of larvae on pasture was directly related to the rain-fall pattern which was found to be the most important factor for the development of eggs and free-living stages. Haemonchus was the predominant genus, followed in decreasing order by Trichostrongylus, Cooperia, Oesophagostomum and Bunostomum. The mean total adult worm burdens of tracer calves released at monthly intervals were related to the levels of herbage larvae and there was a positive correlation between faecal worm egg counts and worm burdens (r = 0.58) during the study period. These results indicate that a reduction in the contamination of pasture with nematode eggs before the r...

Animal source foods (ASF) are essential for proper human development and function. Livestock in general, and ruminants in particular, are essential components of our sustainable global food systems. Of significant worldwide impact, diets with higher-than-recommended levels of ASF can correct the symptoms of metabolic illnesses, offering hope in arresting the current worldwide epidemic of diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Most dietary policy and recommendations are based on the ill-founded belief that plant-based, highcarbohydrate diets are "healthy." High-quality scientific evidence does not support the belief that vegetarian diets are healthier than omnivorous or animal-based diets. A Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction (TCR) lifestyle approach has demonstrated its efficacy in reversing Insulin Resistance (IR) and the noncommunicable diseases associated with, or caused, by it. True sustainability is a multifaceted topic consisting of societal, economic, and ecological aspects. The enormous suffering and financial costs of chronic illness must be acknowledged. The production of high-quality animal protein and animal fat by ruminants from feed resources humans cannot directly utilize will be fundamental to feeding a growing population. This essential food production can preserve and enhance the diverse environments where it takes place. We need a revolution in our thinking of what constitutes a healthy diet, of what causes chronic illness, of the vital role that animal product play in the human diet, and the essential nature of ruminant animal agriculture in meeting humanity's needs. This will mean overthrowing established policies and institutions, and confronting vested belief systems. We'll need an effort, analogous to the Green Revolution, to develop and deploy the knowledge and technology necessary to meet the needs of the mid-21st Century world.

This paper combines environmental, communitarian and political-economic forces to explain cultural heritage and tourism on Zlarin Island (Croatia, Dalmatia) and in the Trenta Valley (Slovenia, Alps). The two selected places belong to different geo-cultural areas and academic traditions, but also share many common features including late colonisation, intensive agriculture and overpopulation, population decline in the twentieth century, change in ownership structure, early origins of tourism and use of their insularity as an advantage in their tourism strategies. A comparative analysis offers a chance to rethink the ethnological approach to communities and cultures as insulated entities.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of animal manure type and ensiling duration on the chemical composition of F1 Pennisetum silage. Three animal manure type (Cattle, Swine and Poultry) with Control were used in this study. The forage was harvested and ensiled at different storage durations (15, 30, 45 and 60 days of ensilage) after which they were carefully opened and samples taken for chemical analysis. Contents of dry matter declined as the period of ensiling increased, while ensiling for 45 days gave the highest crude protein content (8.26%). Ether extract and Ash were highest in grass ensiled for 15 and 45 days respectively. Contents of NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose were higher in grass ensiled for 15 days while content of ADL was similar across the treatment groups. No difference was recorded in the dry matter content when comparing the manure type treatment group. Content of crude protein (7.50%) was highest in ensiled swine manured grass. The highest value of ether extract (11.75%) was obtained in silage produced from swine manured grass, while the least Ash content (8.88%) was obtained from ensiled unfertilized grass. Contents of ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose were similar across the manure treatment group, while contents of NDF (60.25%) and ADL (8.25%) were higher in silage produced from unfertilized grass. This study showed ensiling for 45 days is best is it produced crude protein levels higher than the 7.7% critical level recommended for better ruminant’s performance by NRC.

The traditional, low-input use of grassland in Central and Eastern Europe has provided high-quality food, clothing and manure for millennia. As an outcome of sustainable low-intensity agriculture, some rural areas have globally significant species richness. Traditional farming is still well preserved in several regions of the Carpathian Mountains. This is a unique opportunity to use the wisdom of our ancestors to keep grassland biodiversity for our descendants. We present a sampling methodology to survey traditionally managed grassland ecosystems holistically, including abiotic, biological and cultural phenomena, and reflect thus the multidimensionality of traditional farming. Our main objective was to reveal the connection between particular management practices and precisely measured plot plant diversity. Our motivation was to identify traditional farming approaches that result in both high biodiversity and sustainable grassland utilization in particular region, and confirm their impact also using statistical tests. The multitaxon vegetation sampling at seven spatial scales combined with soil analyses, detailed land-use information derived from interviews with the land parcel owners, satellite pictures and historical materials provide potentially valuable data for several scientific disciplines including syntaxonomy, plant ecology, environmental anthropology and ethnology. Examples of grassland management practices based on traditional ecological knowledge can serve as an inspiration for developing modern biodiversity conservation strategies applicable for rural regions. The database Grassland with Tradition is registered in Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD) with the identifier ID EU-00-032. To date it contains data from 31 study sites in 7 countries

The traditional, low-input use of grassland in Central and Eastern Europe has provided high-quality food, clothing and manure for millennia. As an outcome of sustainable low-intensity agriculture, some rural areas have globally significant species richness. Traditional farming is still well preserved in several regions of the Carpathian Mountains. This is a unique opportunity to use the wisdom of our ancestors to keep grassland biodiversity for our descendants. We present a sampling methodology to survey traditionally managed grassland ecosystems holistically, including abiotic, biological and cultural phenomena, and reflect thus the multidimensionality of traditional farming. Our main objective was to reveal the connection between particular management practices and precisely measured plot plant diversity. Our motivation was to identify traditional farming approaches that result in both high biodiversity and sustainable grassland utilization in particular region, and confirm their ...

Pastures account for more than 56% of the total agricultural area of Ecuador and constitute the main food source
for livestock. Hence, the agile, affordable, and reliable quantifcation of aboveground biomass (AGB) is an
essential task in grazing utilization and management. In this paper, a method to estimate the AGB via aerial
photogrammetry with a low-cost UAV multirotor is proposed. Digital terrain models and crop surface models
were generated from data captured during two flights at different times, and the volume between them was
calculated. An empirical relationship between volume and dry biomass was obtained by harvesting and weighing
some samples and deriving a density factor (DF). The method was tested over 54 plots with different types of
forage under differential fertilization treatments. Fertilized annual ryegrass exhibited the best growth and
highest biomass (2632 kg/ha). The estimation and calculation of the crop volume via UAV-based photogrammetry saves time and generates notably precise (R2 = 0.78) information on the dry biomass.