Animal Husbandry WAEC

Pasture Establishment And Management

Visão Geral

A pasture does not happen by accident. Left to itself, bush land in Nigeria grows thorny scrub and coarse, unpalatable grass that cattle, sheep and goats barely touch. A productive pasture, thick with grasses like Guinea grass and Elephant grass and threaded through with nitrogen fixing legumes like Centrosema and Stylo, is built deliberately: the right site chosen, the land cleared and prepared, the right species sown at the right time, and the young sward protected until it can stand on its own.

Building it is only half the job. A pasture also has to be managed once it is grazing ready, and the single decision that matters most is how the animals are allowed onto it. Turn a herd loose on the whole field all season and the pasture quietly collapses under overgrazing. Divide the same field into paddocks and move the herd through them in turn, and the same land feeds more animals, for longer, on less land. This lesson takes you through establishing a pasture, managing it once established, and the grazing systems that decide whether it lasts.

Objetivos

  1. Explain the methods of establishing a pasture
  2. State the factors considered in pasture establishment
  3. Explain the practices involved in pasture management
  4. Explain the systems of grazing
  5. State the effects of overgrazing on pasture

Mapa mental

Este tema esta mapeado para mostrar como as ideias se ligam.

Cartoes

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Nota de Aula

Two herdsmen near Kaduna each fence off five hectares of savanna. One sows Guinea grass with Centrosema, rests it for three months, then paddocks it and rotates his cattle through. The other simply drops the fence and lets his animals graze wherever they like from day one. Two dry seasons later, the first man's field is a thick sward that still carries his herd through the harmattan. The second man's field is bare red earth between clumps of a spiny weed his cattle will not eat, and he now treks his animals further each year to find grass. That difference is exactly what this lesson teaches: how a pasture is established, and how it is managed once it exists.

Avaliação da Lição

Parabéns por concluir a lição em Pasture Establishment And Management. Agora que você explorou o conceitos e ideias-chave, é hora de colocar seu conhecimento à prova. Esta seção oferece uma variedade de práticas perguntas destinadas a reforçar sua compreensão e ajudá-lo a avaliar sua compreensão do material.

Irá encontrar uma mistura de tipos de perguntas, incluindo perguntas de escolha múltipla, perguntas de resposta curta e perguntas de redação. Cada pergunta é cuidadosamente elaborada para avaliar diferentes aspetos do seu conhecimento e competências de pensamento crítico.

Use esta secção de avaliação como uma oportunidade para reforçar a tua compreensão do tema e identificar quaisquer áreas onde possas precisar de estudo adicional. Não te deixes desencorajar pelos desafios que encontrares; em vez disso, vê-os como oportunidades de crescimento e melhoria.

  1. Which of the following grasses is normally established from vegetative cuttings rather than seed? A. Guinea grass B. Elephant grass C. Centrosema D. Stylo Answer: B
  2. The main reason grazing is deferred for several weeks after a pasture is sown is to: A. Allow weeds to be identified and sprayed B. Give the young roots time to establish before the plants are bitten C. Wait for the rains to end D. Allow fertiliser to be applied first Answer: B
  3. In rotational grazing, a paddock that has just been grazed is: A. Grazed again immediately by a second herd B. Left to rest and regrow before the herd returns to it C. Ploughed and resown D. Left ungrazed permanently Answer: B
  4. Which of these is an effect of overgrazing on a pasture? A. Increased carrying capacity B. Invasion by unpalatable weeds C. Deeper, stronger root systems D. Higher legume content Answer: B
  5. A farmer includes Centrosema in a pasture mixture mainly because it: A. Grows faster than any grass B. Fixes nitrogen and adds protein to the sward C. Is unpalatable to weeds D. Requires no rainfall Answer: B

Questões de revisão

Pergunta-se como são as perguntas anteriores sobre este tópico? Aqui estão várias perguntas sobre Pasture Establishment And Management de anos passados.

Pergunta 1 Relatório

(a) Complete the table below on forage crops

Botanical name Common name Types of forage
Pennisetum purpureum (i) Grass
Calopogonium mucunoides (ii) (iii)
(iv) stylo (v)
Panicum maxinium (vi) (vii)
Mucuna utilis (viii) Legume

(b)i. Define the term pasture

ii. State four ways in which grass-legume mixture is important in livestock production

(c) State six characteristics of rangelands

Detalhes da Resposta

(a) Completed table on forage crops

Botanical nameCommon nameTypes of forage
Pennisetum purpureum(i) Elephant grass (Napier grass)Grass
Calopogonium mucunoides(ii) Calopo(iii) Legume
(iv) Stylosanthes gracilisStylo(v) Legume
Panicum maximum(vi) Guinea grass(vii) Grass
Mucuna utilis(viii) Velvet bean (Mucuna)Legume

(b) i. Definition of pasture

Pasture is an area of land covered with grasses and legumes (herbage) that is used for grazing or feeding livestock such as cattle, sheep and goats.

(b) ii. Four ways a grass-legume mixture is important in livestock production

  • The legume component fixes atmospheric nitrogen through its root nodules, enriching the soil and improving the growth and yield of the companion grass.
  • It supplies a balanced diet, since the grass provides energy (carbohydrate) while the legume supplies protein, giving the animal a more complete ration.
  • It raises the total feeding value and palatability of the herbage, so animals eat more and gain weight or produce milk faster.
  • The mixture gives a denser, all-year ground cover that protects the soil from erosion and suppresses weeds.

(c) Six characteristics of rangelands

  • They are large expanses of natural, uncultivated land carrying native grasses, herbs and shrubs.
  • The vegetation grows naturally and is not planted or managed by man.
  • They occur mostly in semi-arid regions with low and unreliable rainfall.
  • Animals feed by grazing and browsing directly on the natural herbage.
  • They are generally of low carrying capacity, supporting few animals per unit area.
  • The forage quantity and quality vary greatly with season, being lush in the wet season and scarce and dry in the dry season.