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
Date
2017-09-20
Journal Title
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Publisher
CSIRO
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
BW46.3 1.62 kg) were used to repeat theRG24andRG48treatments 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 aCGandRGgrazing system is unimportant for the production efficiency in the proposed
grazing system of Tibetan sheep.
Description
Publication history: Accepted - 25 August 2017; Published online - 20 September 2017.
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Article
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Keywords
feed intake, production efficiency, seasonal grazing, stocking rate, Tibetan sheep
Citation
Du, W. C., Yan, T., Chang, S. H., Wang, Z. F. and Hou, F. J. (2017) ‘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’, The Rangeland Journal, 39(4), p. 329. doi: 10.1071/rj16119.