• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.428-435
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to clarify the most effective component of grazing for improving welfare of fattening pigs. This study compared welfare indicators of 20 fattening pigs aged 100 to 124 days (the prior period) and 138 to 164 days (the latter period) in an indoor housing system (IS), an outdoor pasturing system (OP), a concrete floor paddock system (CF), a concrete floor paddock system with fresh grass (FG), or a soil floor paddock system (SF). The last three treatments include important components of a grazing system: extra space, grass feed, and soil floor. Behavior, wounds on the body, and performances, measured as average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio, were observed. CF pigs behaved similarly to IS pigs. FG pigs showed higher levels of foraging, chewing and activity. SF pigs engaged in higher levels of foraging, exploring, activity, and rooting, and showed a similar amount of playing behavior as OP pigs. ADG was the same in all treatments at the prior period, and increased in the order FG, IS, CF, SF, and OP at the latter. The behaviors and performance of SF pigs resembled those of OP which seemed to indicate a consistently higher standard of welfare than the other treatments. In conclusion, the existence of a soil floor is the most important component of a pasture for improving the welfare of pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.951-955
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• 2001

The behaviour of 6 Toggenburg and 6 Saanen female goats, grazing on natural vegatation in a modified sub-humid tropical environment of Kenya, was studied during the dry (January and February) and wet (April and May) seasons in 1997. The two exotic breeds grazed for 12 h daily. Observation on feeding, standing, lying and ruminating was done chronometrically at five minute intervals between 0600 and 1800 h. These grazing times were based on the current practice of small holder farmers. During the dry period, the average feeding, standing, lying and ruminating time per 12 h period for Saanens was 5.63, 4.57, 1.80 and 1.50 h respectively while that for Toggenburgs was 7.26, 3.21, 1.53 and 1.96 h, respectively. In the wet(Green) season, the mean feeding, standing, lying and ruminating time for Saanens was found to be 5.08, 4.63, 2.29 and 0.72, respectively.Toggenburgs spent more time feeding (p<0.05) than Saanens in both seasons. It was also observed that standing occured more often in Saanens than the Toggenburgs in the dry season. During the wet period, Saanens ruminated significantly longer than the Toggenburgs. The health status of the animals was determined by analyzing the respiratory frequency, heart rate, rectal temperature, hemoglobin, erythrocytes and leucocytes of the experimental animals. All the clinical and physiological parameters were within the normal physiological range of healthy goats. It was concluded that differences in the grazing behaviour of Saanens and Toggenburgs in the modified tropical environment of Kenya, do exist.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2020

Many areas of vegetation in the British uplands have reduced species diversity as a result of sheep overgrazing. It has been suggested that abandonment or re-wilding strategies might be used to reverse this. A likely first step would be the removal or reduction of grazing livestock from upland areas, with a presumption that this would lead to a recovery in species richness. However, we do not know if this would work, or the timescales involved. One of the important areas where more knowledge is needed is information on the size and composition of soil seedbanks as regeneration from zseed is a likely pathway of recovery. Here, we compared seedbanks in both grazed and ungrazed plots in five experiments at Moor House NNR in the northern Pennines; these sheep grazing exclusion experiments were started 52 and 63/64 years ago. Soil samples (n=10) were collected from both grazed and ungrazed plots in each experiment, and seed emergence counted in glasshouse trials. We detected only seeds of common species and very few dicotyledonous species. This suggests that the soil seedbank is unlikely to be a reliable source of the less common species for ecological restoration in these upland communities, suggesting an extinction debt. Therefore, seed addition and the creation of suitable safe-sites for germination may be needed in conjunction with grazing controls to allow the establishment of plants that will increase the species richness of the vegetation. However, this interventionist restoration approach remains to be tested.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.297-307
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• 2008

In order to assess the effect of grazing on grasslands using floristic composition, we studied the floristic composition and plant biomass of steppe vegetation in Hulunbeier, Inner Mongolia. The dominant species of the grasslands were Stipa krylovii, Stipa grandis and Leymus chinensis. Floristic composition changed according to grazing pressure, being light, heavy and moderate. Under heavy grazing conditions, the importance value of P. acaulis, C. korshinskyi and Cleistogenes squarrosa increased in the plant community. These species were indicators of heavily grazed stand. Plant biomass of the stands ranged within 11.6g $m^{-2}$ and 63.5g $m^{-2}$ and 69.5g $m^{-2}$ and 166.2g $m^{-2}$ to the west and east of Lake Hulun, respectively. These values are equivalent to ca. $450{\sim}1,000kg$ of atmospheric carbon per hector, which is retained within the stand during the summer season.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.4 s.105
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• pp.420-426
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• 2003

During a three-year study (2000-2002), dramatic changes in the phytoplankton biomass and high transparency were repeatedly observed during mid-spring in the lower part of the Nakdong River. Rotifers (Brachionus, Keratella, Polyarthra) , sharply increased toward the middle and end of spring. As hydrologic retention time increased (to near 20 days) and water temperature increased from $10^{\circ}C$ to > $20^{\circ}C$ toward the end of spring, small cladocerans noticeably increased. Once phytoplankton biomass passed their peak stage in the mid-spring, a short period (one or two weeks) of relatively low phytoplankton biomass and high Secchi transparencies occurred. Grazing by the zooplankton was highest in spring, thus, it seems that high grazing activities of zooplankton grazing regulated phytoplankton dynamics in the river. The results indicate that the role of zooplankton grazing in controlling the phytoplankton biomass becomes more important during the spring when river water is relatively stagnant.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.289-292
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• 1997

A grazing trial was carried out to determine the effects of different grass/legume pastures on forage production, legume proportion, nutritive value, and animal performance. The pasture mixtures were mainly orchardgrass (OG) + ladino clover (T1), OG + alfalfa (T2), perennial ryegrass + alfalfa (T3), and grass alone mainly OG (T4). The pastures were rotationally grazed 7 times with heifers which had an initial liveweight of about 243 kg in 1991 and 1992. The average plant height at each grazing was 32.4 cm. The annual dry matter yield ranged from 9.19 MT in T4 to 9.61 MT/ha in T3, but no significant difference among different mixture combinations was found. The proportion of ladino clover in T1 mixtures rapidly increased from 21% to 68% during the grazing season. However, the proportion of alfalfa in T2 and T3 ranged from 12% to 23%. The contents of crude protein and calcium, respectively, in the forages were highest in T1 (23.2%, 0.68%) and lowest in T4 (18.5%, 0.13%), while crude fiber content showed the opposite trends. Liveweight gain was greatest on T1 (1.073 kg) and lowest on T4 (643 kg). It was concluded that pasture mixtures containing legume (ladino clover) can increase forage nutritive value and animal performance.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.361-364
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• 2015

Gynandromorphic ticks are extremely rare, and often attract parasitologists' attention. During our examination of tick specimens, an engorged gynandromorph of Hyalomma asiaticum was noticed. This is the first record of gynandromorphic ticks from China. In this study, several important morphological structures of normal and gynandromorphic H. asiaticum were analyzed. Comparing to the normal H. asiaticum, the gynandromorphic specimen was a typical bipartite protogynander. Its right side showed normal female characteristics, whereas the left side had normal male traits. Different from other gynandromorphic ticks containing 1 anus, this tick reported here had 2 complete anuses, and the anus of the male part had a single adanal plate.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1655-1665
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• 2023

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of three feeding systems, i.e., indoor feeding (CON), indoor feeding with 4-h daily access to grazing artificial pasture (ITGP), and indoor feeding with 8-h daily access to grazing artificial pasture (IEGP), on the plasma antioxidant and immunological capacity, slaughter characteristics, meat quality and economic efficiency of Huang-huai lambs. Methods: Thirty-three healthy Huang-huai rams with similar body weight (approximately 5 mo of age, 28.96±1.01 kg) were assigned equally to three experimental groups. When finished fattening, six lambs from each group were collect blood samples for plasma analyses and then slaughtered to determine slaughter characteristics and obtain biceps brachii muscle for further analysis of meat quality and fatty acid profile. Results: Compared to CON group, animals submitted to ITGP and IEGP groups resulted in greater contents of serum glutathione peroxidase, immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, and IgM), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), n-6 PUFA, and PUFA/saturated fatty acid (FA) ratio and lower palmitic /oleic acid ratio (p<0.05). Moreover, animals in ITGP group exhibited a higher (p<0.05) loin eye area, content of meat crude protein (CP), and eicosetrienoic acid compared to CON group, while slaughter performance was superior (p<0.05) to that of the IEGP group. The economic efficiency of ITGP group was 70.12% higher than that of CON group, while the IEGP group exhibited a decrease of 92.54% in economic efficiency compared to the CON group. Conclusion: Restricted grazing time combined with indoor feeding was more effective in conferring superior body health, carcass traits and economic efficiency in Huang-huai lambs, as well as higher CP content and healthier FA composition in the resulting meat.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.219-223
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• 1990

Sixtyfour Baluchi lambs about 5 months of age were divided into four groups with 16 lambs each. All the animals were grazed together. Group No.1 (G-1) was kept as control i.e. on grazing only; while group No. 2 (G-2) was offered barley grain @ 200 g/head/day as supplement to grazing; Group No. 3 (G-3) was offered ad-lib urea-molasses block (UMB) with 6% cement and group No.4 (G-4) was fed ad-lib IMB having 8% cement. These UMB were fed as supplement to grazing. Experiment lasted for 105 days (July to October) in arid zone of Baluchistan. Daily per head consumption of block No.1 was found to be 92.71 g; while that of block No.2 was observed to be 90.77 g. Growth rate (g/head/day) was found to be 10, 50, 33 and 15 in G-1, G-2, G-3 and G-4 respectively. Expenditure/kg bodyweight gain was found to be rupees 12.00, 3.64 and 7.74 for G-2, G-3 and G-4 respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.239-244
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• 2004

In this review, we present the results of our ten years of study on beef cattle production as a means of preserving phytodiversity and landscape in the semi-natural grasslands of the Aso region of Japan. There are about 16,000 ha of semi-natural grasslands in the region. The grasslands are maintained for animal production through such activities as grazing, mowing, and controlled burning. The Shannon's diversity index values, as measured in the present study, were higher in the grazed sites than in the abandoned sites. The grazing activities thus seem to create suitable habitats for coexisting herbaceous species. The grassland grazed moderately over a long term was able to sustain more animals than the grassland unused over a long term.