Nutrition-induced changes in blood chemical parameters of pregnant reindeer hinds (Rangifer tarandus tarandus)

Säkkinen, H.; Timisjärvi, J.; Eloranta, Eija; Heiskari, Ulla; Nieminen, Mauri; Puukka, M.

doi:10.1016/s0921-4488(98)00184-9

Cited by 18 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Forest reindeer, on the other hand, might be in worse condition, lighter, and have a clearly visible spine. The herders' knowledge corresponds to earlier research findings that feeding pregnant reindeer with pellets increased both their body weight and the weight of their calves compared to free-grazing and lichen-fed reindeer (Säkkinen et al, 1999). Pen reindeer are also habituated to humans and more docile than forest reindeer.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Past and Present Winter Feeding of Reindeer in Finland: Herders’ Adaptive Learning of Feeding Practices

Turunen¹,

Vuojala-Magga²

2014

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. The research examines reindeer feeding practices and herders' learning of them in three herding co-operatives in Finland: Kuukas in the south, Oraniemi in the central area, and Hammastunturi in the north. In the southern and central co-operatives, from the late 19th century until the Second World War (1939 -45), trees rich in lichens were cut to provide emergency forage. Harvesting lichens from trees and feeding associated with "tether calving" and "fence calving" have been common in the central and northern co-operatives. In the 1960s and 1970s, poor digging conditions resulted in reindeer losses, and pressure to feed reindeer increased further as forestry practices and overgrazing caused pastures to decline. Large-scale feeding entered daily practice in Kuukas and Oraniemi in the late 1980s and mid-1990s. The increased interaction between humans and reindeer brought about by regular feeding has made the animals tamer. In fact, they have adopted the permanent feeding areas as part of their pasture rotation. In Hammastunturi, herders entice reindeer from one pasture to another by providing supplementary forage. Knowledge about feeding developed in close concert with agriculture, and was transferred from south to north in the 1980s and 1990s. We argue that feeding practices draw on traditional ecological knowledge, which includes old ways of herding cattle. Herders' personal working practices and training are knowledge that is difficult to describe in words and must be learned by experience. Learning to feed reindeer requires not only familiarity with herding in practice (which implies profound knowledge about the animals, their nutrition, digestion, behavior, and handling), but also familiarity with the herding district and co-operation across generations.Key words: reindeer herding, winter feeding, lichen, Finland, boreal forest, interview, local knowledge, learning, anthropology, biology, multidisciplinary RÉSUMÉ. Cette étude porte sur les pratiques alimentaires du renne et sur l'apprentissage qu'en font les bergers au sein de trois coopératives de la Finlande : Kuukas dans le sud, Oraniemi dans la région du centre et Hammastunturi dans le nord. Dans les coopératives du sud et du centre, de la fin du XIX e siècle jusqu'à la Seconde Guerre mondiale (1939)(1940)(1941)(1942)(1943)(1944)(1945), on coupait des arbres riches en lichen pour servir de fourrage d'urgence. La récolte du lichen des arbres et l'affouragement lié au «vêlage en laisse» et au «vêlage en enclos» sont courants dans les coopératives du centre et du nord. Dans les années 1960 et 1970, les mauvaises conditions de creusage se sont traduites par la perte de rennes, et la pression exercée pour faire manger les rennes a augmenté au fur et à mesure que les pratiques d'exploitation forestière et le surpâturage ont réduit la taille des pâturages. L'affouragement à grande échelle est devenu monnaie courante au quotidien dans les coopératives de Kuukas et d'Oraniemi vers la fin des années 1980 et le milieu des années 1990. L'interaction accrue e...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Past and Present Winter Feeding of Reindeer in Finland: Herders’ Adaptive Learning of Feeding Practices

Turunen¹,

Vuojala-Magga²

2014

ARCTIC

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“…At the scale of the winter home range of a doe (67 ha; Potvin and Dussault 2004), litterfall may provide a potential input of 777 ± 87 kg of lichens and 1110 ± 210 kg of balsam fir browse per winter. The metabolizable energy content of lichens and balsam fir is estimated at 10 700 kJ/kg (Säkkinen et al 1999) and 8164 kJ/kg (Mautz et al 1976), respectively. Assuming that the litterfall would be completely available to deer over the entire winter period, we can estimate a potential daily input of 54 700 ± 6100 kJ/day for lichens and 59 000 ± 11 000 kJ/day for balsam fir browse from December to April (152 days) in the home range of a doe.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term decline in white-tailed deer browse supply: can lichens and litterfall act as alternative food sources that preclude density-dependent feedbacks

Tremblay¹,

Thibault²,

Dussault³

et al. 2005

Can. J. Zool.

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Selective browsing by cervids has persistent impacts on forest ecosystems. On Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada, introduced white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)) have caused massive changes to the native boreal forest. Despite the apparent stability of the deer population over recent decades, we suspected that they were not at equilibrium with their browse supply and that further degradation of the habitat had occurred. A comparison of two browse surveys conducted 25 years apart showed a strong decline in browse availability. Although balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill.) remained the most available browse species, it declined or disappeared from most stands (n = 13). Preferred deciduous species that were still available 25 years ago have almost disappeared. The continuous decline of the browse supply confirmed our hypothesis. This situation may be exacerbated by a subsidy from the winter litterfall, a significant and stable alternative food source. The abundance of litterfall from mature trees is independent of browsing over a long time period, which introduces a temporal uncoupling between the impact of deer browsing on balsam fir seedlings and the negative feedback from recruitment failure of mature balsam fir on the deer population. This means that the system is susceptible to being forced into an alternative regime.Résumé : Le broutement sélectif des cervidés produit des impacts persistants sur les écosystèmes forestiers. À l'île d'Anticosti, Québec, Canada, une population introduite de cerf de Virginie (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)) a modifié considérablement la communauté végétale de la forêt boréale indigène. Malgré la stabilité apparente de la population de cerfs au cours des dernières décennies, nous soupçonnons l'existence d'un déséquilibre entre le cerf et le brout disponible, ainsi qu'une détérioration persistante de l'habitat. La comparaison de deux inventaires réalisés à 25 ans d'intervalle montre un fort déclin de la disponibilité du brout. Le sapin baumier (Abies balsamea (L.) P. Mill.) demeure la source de nourriture dominante, bien qu'il soit en déclin ou ait disparu de la plupart des peuplements (n = 13). Les espèces décidues préférées du cerf et encore disponibles il y a 25 ans sont pratiquement disparues. La réduc-tion continuelle du brout confirme notre hypothèse. En contrepartie, les lichens et ramilles qui tombent des sapins matures en hiver constituent une source de nourriture de rechange dont l'apport est indépendant de la pression de broutement sur une période prolongée. Cela introduit un découplage temporel entre les impacts du cerf sur les jeunes pousses de sapins et la rétroaction négative associée à l'absence de recrutement des sapinières sur les populations de cerf. Cette situation est susceptible d'entraîner le système vers un régime d'équilibre différent.Tremblay et al. 1096

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“…It is well established that ruminant blood urea rises with increasing protein intake (e.g. Lewis, 1957) and this positive correlation has also been shown in feeding experiments with reindeer (Valtonen, 1979;Sakkinen et al, 1999;Ulla Heiskari, pers. comm.).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Health, body condition and blood metabolites in reindeer after submaintenance feed intake and subsequent feeding

Nilsson¹,

Danell²,

Murphy³

et al. 2000

Ran

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Abstract:The transition from experimentally induced poor nutritional conditions to feeding was studied with 69 eightmonth-old female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus). During a pre-experimental period, all reindeer were fed a simulated winter diet with 80% lichens Cladina spp. and 20% Vaccinum myrtillus shrubs and Salix spp. leaves (lichen diet) ad lib. The reindeer were divided into five groups. A control group (group C) was fed the lichen diet ad lib. throughout the experiment. Four groups were fed half of that ration for eight days and were then totally deprived of feed for one day (restriction period). During the following 34 days (feeding period) the groups were re-fed the lichen diet (group L), fed pelleted reindeer feed combined with either lichen (group PL) or grass silage (group PS), or fed silage with a gradually increasing addition of pellets (group SP). Weekly measurements of blood samples and body weighr showed that the control group remained clinically healthy and had stable blood plasma concentrations of protein, urea, glucose and insulin throughout the experiment, but they lost weight. At slaughter, before and after the restriction period, all animals had lost rumen-free body weight, but the reindeer fed a restricted amount of feed lost more than the control group. Also the plasma metabolites were affected by the restricted feeding, with increased concentrations of urea and decreased concentrations of glucose. Group L responded immediately to the ad lib. feeding with blood metabolite levels rapidly approaching those of group C. The body weight developments were similar in groups L and C. Although the feed rations were increased gradually, diarrhoea occurred in some animals belonging to groups PL and PS within the first week of the feeding period. All reindeer recovered, after antibiotic treatment of the worst affected animals. The PL and PS groups, which had high contents of metabolisable energy and crude protein in their diets, showed increased concenttations of plasma protein, urea and insulin. At the end of the feeding period, these groups had increased their body and carcass weights and gained fat, whereas reindeer fed the lichen diet had lost weight. Severe health problems (malnutrition and so-called wet belly) occurred in group SP during the first weeks of feeding and led to loss of animals, and consequently the SP group was excluded from the remainder of rhe experiment. The general conclusion is that the lichen diet did not cause any digestive problems, but resulted in a continuous decline in body weight and small or deficient fat reserves. After the initial diarrhoea, feeding with diets comprising pellets from the start resulted in improved condition, expressed as increased body weight, fat gain and higher concentrations of plasma protein, urea and insulin in relation to the control group. The diet initially based on grass in the form of silage of the given quality seemed insufficient as feed to reindeer calves in a poor nutritional state.

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Nutrition-induced changes in blood chemical parameters of pregnant reindeer hinds (Rangifer tarandus tarandus)

Cited by 18 publications

References 24 publications

Past and Present Winter Feeding of Reindeer in Finland: Herders’ Adaptive Learning of Feeding Practices

Past and Present Winter Feeding of Reindeer in Finland: Herders’ Adaptive Learning of Feeding Practices

Long-term decline in white-tailed deer browse supply: can lichens and litterfall act as alternative food sources that preclude density-dependent feedbacks

Health, body condition and blood metabolites in reindeer after submaintenance feed intake and subsequent feeding

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