Seasonal hogget grazing as a potential alternative grazing system for the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau: weight gain and animal behaviour under continuous or rotational grazing at high or low stocking rates

Abstract

The traditional transhumance grazing system on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is being replaced by a system in which pastoralists are allocated fixed areas for grazing. In this context, we conducted experiments to evaluate a possible change to seasonal grazing of young animals for weight gain, and the effects of grazing management (continuous grazing (CG) vs rotational grazing (RG)) and stocking rate (SR) on the performance and behaviour of Oura-type Tibetan sheep. In Experiment 1 (June–December 2014), 72 Tibetan sheep (initial bodyweight (BW) 32.2 ± 3.37 kg) were allocated to one of three treatments: (1) CG24 – eight sheep grazed continuously in a single 2-ha plot for the entire duration of the experiment; (2) RG24 – eight sheep grazed in a 1-ha plot from June to September (growing season), and then moved to a new plot for September–December grazing (early cold season); (3) RG48 – eight sheep grazed in a 0.5-ha plot, but otherwise as for RG24. All treatments had three replicates. In Experiment 2 (September–December 2014), 48 Tibetan sheep (initial BW 46.3 ± 1.62 kg) were used to repeat the RG24 and RG48 treatments imposed in the early cold season of the Experiment 1. In both experiments, increasing SR significantly reduced bodyweight gain (BWG) per head and increased BWG per ha in the RG treatments. In Experiment 1, RG, compared with CG, did not significantly affect BWG per head, BWG per ha, or feed utilisation efficiency. In both experiments weight gain was small or negative in the early cold season. These results indicate that removal of sheep at the onset of the cold season will be important for retention of the weight gain achieved in the growing season but choice between a CG and RG grazing system is unimportant for the production efficiency in the proposed grazing system of Tibetan sheep.

Grazing management options for restoration of alpine grasslands on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

“…In continuous grazing, livestock are not moved from one pasture to another, conserving energy spent on moving between pastures, in rotational grazing, moving livestock too frequently can reduce animal production (weight gains; Du et al. ).…”

“…Though we did not directly measure diet composition or forage intake, the lack of difference in animal performance between grazing systems leads us to infer that diet composition and forage intake of Tibetan sheep did not differ between systems. In continuous grazing, livestock are not moved from one pasture to another, conserving energy spent on moving between pastures, in rotational grazing, moving livestock too frequently can reduce animal production (weight gains; Du et al 2017).…”

An evaluation of government‐recommended stocking systems for sustaining pastoral businesses and ecosystems of the Alpine Meadows of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

“…Some of these measures received Government financial support. The policy also recommended that rotational stocking, as practiced in other countries (Briske et al, 2008;Welchons et al, 2017), be scientifically evaluated on the QTP and if successful be promoted for adoption by herders (Du, Yan, Chang, Wang, & Hou, 2017;Liu, Li, Ouyang, Tam, & Chen, 2008;Wang, Wang, He, Liu, & Hodgkinson, 2010;Wang, Zhao, Long, & Yang, 2010).…”

Grazing Seasons and Stocking Rates Affects the Relationship between Herbage Traits of Alpine Meadow and Grazing Behaviors of Tibetan Sheep in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

“…Furthermore, the grazing behaviors of livestock change at different stocking rates. For instance, on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), it has been shown that the daylight grazing time increased but ruminating time decreased for Tibetan sheep as a result of an increase in grazing intensity [10]. Grazing time of sheep increased and time of rest decreased with increasing grazing intensity in the Inner Mongolian steppe, China, as a result of reduced forage availability at the higher grazing intensity [11]; similar results have been found for cattle in Florianópolis, Brazil [12].…”

“…Simultaneously, livestock grazing behavior responds to the phenological period of pasture vegetation because of variations in herbage mass, forage quality, and daylight duration [10]. On the QTP, the decrease in intake time, ruminating time, number of chews per feed bolus, walking distance per hectare, and daily walking distances in winter are most likely due to the harsh weather conditions and the decline in forage quality [10]. The quality of forage affects herbivores' feed intake, so nutritional needs are maintained [13].…”