Grazing
In
Farmers may employ many different strategies of grazing for
Grazing has existed since the
Livestock grazing contributes to many negative effects on the environment, including
History
Sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs were domesticated early in the
In America, livestock were grazed on public land from the Civil War. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 was enacted after the Great Depression to regulate the use of public land for grazing purposes.[6]
Production
According to a report by the
Management
Grazing management has two overall goals:
- Protecting the quality of the pasturage against deterioration by overgrazing: in other words, maintain the sustainability of the pasturage
- Protecting the health of the animals against acute threats, such as:
- nitrate poisoning
- Trace element overdose, such as molybdenum and selenium poisoning
- Grass sickness and laminitis in horses
- Milk sickness in calves
A proper land use and grazing management technique balances
- maintenance of forage and livestock production, with
- maintenance of
It does this by allowing sufficient recovery periods for regrowth. Producers can keep a low density on a pasture, so as not to overgraze.[citation needed] Controlled burning of the land can help in the regrowth of plants.[10] Although grazing can be problematic for the ecosystem, well-managed grazing techniques can reverse damage and improve the land.[citation needed]
On
Systems
Ranchers and
Continuous
With continuous grazing, livestock is allowed access to the same grazing area throughout the year.[13]
Seasonal
Seasonal grazing incorporates "grazing animals on a particular area for only part of the year". This allows the land that is not being grazed to rest and allow for new forage to grow.[14]
Rotational
Rotational grazing "involves dividing the range into several pastures and then grazing each in sequence throughout the grazing period". Utilizing rotational grazing can improve livestock distribution while incorporating rest period for new forage.[14]
Ley farming
In ley farming, pastures are not permanently planted, but alternated between fodder crops and arable crops.[15]
Rest rotation
Rest rotation grazing "divides the range into at least four pastures. One pasture remains rested throughout the year and grazing is rotated amongst the residual pastures." This grazing system can be especially beneficial when using sensitive grass that requires time for rest and regrowth.[14]
Deferred rotation
Deferred rotation "involves at least two pastures with one not grazed until after seed-set". By using deferred rotation, grasses can achieve maximum growth during the period when no grazing occurs.[14]
Patch-burn
Patch-burn grazing burns a third of a pasture each year, no matter the size of the pasture. This burned patch attracts grazers (cattle or bison) that graze the area heavily because of the fresh grasses that grow as a result. The other patches receive little to no grazing. During the next two years the next two patches are burned consecutively, then the cycle begins anew. In this way, patches receive two years of rest and recovery from the heavy grazing. This technique results in a diversity of habitats that different prairie plants and birds can utilize—mimicking the effects of the pre-historical relationship between bison and fire, whereby bison heavily graze one area and other areas have opportunity to rest, based on the concept of pyric herbivory.[10][16] The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oklahoma has been patch-burn grazed with bison herds for over ten years. These efforts have effectively restored the bison–fire relationship on a large landscape scale of 30,000 acres (12,000 ha).[17] In the grazed heathland of Devon, the periodic burning is known as swailing.[18]
Riparian area management
Riparian area grazing is intended to improve wildlife[clarification needed] and their habitats. It uses fencing to keep livestock off ranges near streams or water areas until after wildlife or waterfowl periods, or to limit the amount of grazing to a short period of time.[14]
Conservation grazing
Cell grazing
A form of rotational grazing using as many small paddocks as fencing allows, said to be more sustainable.[21]
Mob grazing
Mob grazing is a system, said to be more sustainable, invented in 2002; it uses very large herds on land left fallow longer than usual.[22]
Environmental considerations
Ecology
A number of
Grazer urine and faeces "recycle nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other plant nutrients and return them to the soil".[28] Grazing can reduce the accumulation of litter (organic matter) in some seasons and areas,[29] but can also increase it, which may help to combat soil erosion.[30] This acts as nutrition for insects and organisms found within the soil. These organisms "aid in carbon sequestration and water filtration".[28]
When grass is grazed, dead grass and litter are reduced which is advantageous for birds such as
Conservation
An author of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report Livestock's Long Shadow,[33] stated in an interview:[34]
Grazing occupies 26 percent of Earth's terrestrial surface ... feed crop production requires about a third of all arable land ... Expansion of grazing land for livestock is also a leading cause of deforestation, especially in Latin America... In the Amazon basin alone, about 70 percent of previously forested land is used as pasture, while feed crops cover a large part of the remainder.[verify quote punctuation]
Much grazing land has resulted from a process of clearance or drainage of other habitats such as woodland or wetland.[35]
According to the opinion of the Center for Biological Diversity, extensive grazing of livestock in the arid lands of the southwestern United States has many negative impacts on the local biodiversity there.[36]
Cattle destroy native vegetation, damage soils and stream banks, and contaminate waterways with fecal waste. After decades of livestock grazing, once-lush streams and riparian forests have been reduced to flat, dry wastelands; once-rich topsoil has been turned to dust, causing soil erosion, stream sedimentation and wholesale elimination of some aquatic habitats
In arid climates such as the southwestern United States, livestock grazing has severely degraded
A 2013 FAO report estimated livestock were responsible for 14.5% of
Agrivoltaics
Agrivoltaics for grazing would allow for shade for the animals as well as the vegitation so the soil retains a higher moisture level.[48]
See also
References
- S2CID 218521073.
- ^ "Grazing". www.biologicaldiversity.org.
- PMID 34319652.
- S2CID 246920767.
- ^ Gascoigne, Bamber. "HISTORY OF THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS". History World. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
- ^ "History of Public Land Livestock Grazing". Retrieved 1 Dec 2008 Archived 2008-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c de Haan, Cees; Steinfeld, Henning; Blackburn, Harvey (1997). "Chapter 2: Livestock grazing systems & the environment". Livestock & the Environment: Finding a Balance. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities (under auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization).
- ^ James M. Bullock; Richard G. Jefferson; Tim H. Blackstock; Robin J. Pakeman; Bridget A. Emmett; Richard J. Pywell; J. Philip Grime; Jonathan Silvertown (June 2011). "Chapter 6 - Semi-natural Grasslands". UK National Ecosystem Assessment: Technical Report (Report). UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. pp. 162–187. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
- ^ "Mountains, Moorlands and Heaths; National Ecosystem Assessment".
- ^ .
- ^ Forest rights.
- .
- ^ D. D. Briske, J. D. Derner, J. R. Brown, S. D. Fuhlendorf, W. R. Teague, K. M. Havstad, R. L. Gillen, A. J. Ash, W. D. Willms, (2008) Rotational Grazing on Rangelands: Reconciliation of Perception and Experimental Evidence Archived 2015-09-26 at the Wayback Machine. Rangeland Ecology & Management: January 2008, Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 3-17
- ^ a b c d e "Grazing Systems". Grasslands Conservation Council of British Columbia. Retrieved 1 Dec 2008 Archived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ikande, Mary (2018). "Ley farming advantages and disadvantages". Ask Legit. Legit (Nigeria). Retrieved 24 September 2019.
- S2CID 205657781.
- ^ "The Nature Conservancy in Oklahoma". www.nature.org. Archived from the original on 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
- ^ "Dartmoor fire 'largest in years'". BBC. 7 April 2013.
- ^ "Conservation grazing". Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived from the original on 2016-04-29. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
- ^ "Shapwick Moor Nature Reserve". Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ "Grazing strategies". Meat & Livestock Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
- ^ Salatin, Joel. "Tall grass mob stocking" (PDF). Acres USA May 2008 vol 8 no 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
- ISBN 0-88864-484-1.
- PMID 29853680.
- ^ Launchbaugh, Karen (2006). Targeted Grazing: A natural approach to vegetation management and landscape enhancement. National Sheep Industry Improvement Center in Cooperation with the American Sheep Industry Association.
- ^ History distribution and challenges to bison recovery in the northern Chihuahuan desert Rurik, L., G. Ceballos, C. Curtin, P. J. P. Gogan, J. Pacheco, and J. Truett. Conservation Biology, 2007, 21(6): 1487–1494.
- ^ What is Conservation Grazing? Archived 2020-04-09 at the Wayback Machine Grazing Advice Partnership, UK, 2009.
- ^ a b "Benefits of Grazing Cattle on the Prairie". Native Habitat Organization. Retrieved 1 Dec 2008 Archived 2007-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Waterfowl area grazing benefits birds, cattle - The Fergus Falls Daily Journal". 21 February 2008.
- ^ Dalrymple, R.L.. "Fringe Benefits of Rotational Stocking". Intensive Grazing Benefits. Noble Foundation. Retrieved 1 Dec 2008 Archived 2008-08-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Bison Grazing Increases Biodiversity". news.bio-medicine.org.
- ^ Rackham, Oliver (1997). The History of the Countryside. Phoenix. p. 282.
- ISBN 978-92-5-105571-7. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
- ^ "Harmful Environmental Effects Of Livestock Production On The Planet 'Increasingly Serious,' Says Panel". ScienceDaily. Stanford University. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
- ^ A. Crofts; R.G. Jefferson. "Lowland Grassland Management Handbook".
- ^ Center for Biological Diversity|source=Grazing
- ^ Hoorman, James; McCutcheon, Jeff. "Negative Effects of Livestock Grazing Riparian Areas". ohioline.osu.edu. Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
- ^ Luoma, Jon (September 1986). "Discouraging Words". Audubon. 88 (92).
- ^ Kauffman, J. Boone. "Lifeblood of the West". Retrieved August 8, 2007.
- Sierra.
- ^ "Tackling climate change through livestock // FAO's Animal Production and Health Division". Fao.org. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ISBN 978-92-5-107921-8. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
- ^ "New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry – Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Reporting Feasibility Study – Summary". Maf.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 2010-05-26. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
- ^ US EPA, OAR (August 12, 2013). "Climate Change". www.epa.gov. Archived from the original on December 18, 2011.
- ^ PMID 10375217. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- PMID 26486913.
- .
- ^ "Agri-voltaics - Small Farm Canada".
External links
- Media related to Grazing at Wikimedia Commons