Introduction To Range And Pastures

Muhtasari

Drive north out of Kaduna towards Sokoto in August and the landscape is a rolling carpet of green, tall grass swaying shoulder-high beside the road, cattle spread wide across it with a Fulani herdsman walking behind. Make the same drive in February and the same land is brown, cropped almost to the soil, dust rising with every hoof. Nothing about the land changed except the season, yet it decides whether a herd eats well or eats poorly, and whether it stays put or treks a hundred kilometres south in search of grazing.

In this lesson you will learn what separates a range from a pasture, and a natural pasture from an artificial one; meet the grasses and legumes a Nigerian farmer relies on for grazing; and understand why this single, unimproved resource still feeds more of Nigeria's cattle, sheep and goats than any manufactured feed ever could.

Malengo

  1. Define range and pasture
  2. Distinguish between natural and artificial pastures
  3. State the importance of range and pasture to livestock production
  4. Give examples of common pasture grasses and legumes in Nigeria
  5. Explain the factors affecting pasture growth

Maelezo ya Somo

Ask a Fulani herdsman what he feeds his cattle and he will point at the land itself. Across most of Nigeria, ruminant livestock, cattle, sheep and goats, are raised almost entirely on grazing, not purchased feed. For the extensive system that still carries the bulk of Nigeria's livestock, range and pasture are the whole feed budget.

Tathmini ya Somo

Hongera kwa kukamilisha somo la Introduction To Range And Pastures. Sasa kwa kuwa umechunguza dhana na mawazo muhimu, ni wakati wa kuweka ujuzi wako kwa mtihani. Sehemu hii inatoa mazoezi mbalimbali maswali yaliyoundwa ili kuimarisha uelewaji wako na kukusaidia kupima ufahamu wako wa nyenzo.

Utakutana na mchanganyiko wa aina mbalimbali za maswali, ikiwemo maswali ya kuchagua jibu sahihi, maswali ya majibu mafupi, na maswali ya insha. Kila swali limebuniwa kwa umakini ili kupima vipengele tofauti vya maarifa yako na ujuzi wa kufikiri kwa makini.

Tumia sehemu hii ya tathmini kama fursa ya kuimarisha uelewa wako wa mada na kubaini maeneo yoyote ambapo unaweza kuhitaji kusoma zaidi. Usikatishwe tamaa na changamoto zozote utakazokutana nazo; badala yake, zitazame kama fursa za kukua na kuboresha.

  1. Extensive, largely unimproved natural grazing land, typical of the Fulani pastoral system, is best described as a: A. Pasture B. Range C. Paddock D. Ranch Answer: B
  2. Which of the following is an artificial (cultivated) pasture grass in Nigeria? A. Stylo B. Centrosema C. Guinea grass D. Groundnut haulm Answer: C
  3. Legumes such as Centrosema and Stylo are sown with pasture grasses mainly because they: A. Grow taller than grasses B. Fix atmospheric nitrogen and raise protein content C. Are resistant to bush fire D. Require no rainfall Answer: B
  4. Pasture growth in Nigeria is most strongly limited during the: A. Wet season B. Dry season and harmattan C. Early rains D. Flowering season Answer: B
  5. The seasonal movement of pastoral herds in search of grazing is known as: A. Ranching B. Transhumance C. Rotation D. Zero-grazing Answer: B

Maswali ya Zamani

Unajiuliza maswali ya zamani kuhusu mada hii yanaonekanaje? Hapa kuna idadi ya maswali kuhusu Introduction To Range And Pastures kutoka miaka iliyopita.

Swali 1 Ripoti

(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