Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

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Grasslands of the world
with the commercial livestock sector; traditional herders have usually less access
to fattening facilities and many native breeds are less responsive to intensive
feeding than improved ones. Various systems of stratification and/or feedlots are
mentioned in the chapters on South Africa , the Campos (where much finishing
is on better pastures), North America, and Australia . In Russia , indoor feeding
was the rule. Feedlot fattening of cattle from extensive systems has been carried
out in Kenya in the past. Small-scale fattening is, of course, common in many
agropastoral and agricultural systems. In China , where there is an increasing
demand for meat in the increasingly prosperous urban areas, intensive fattening
of stock from extensive grasslands has developed. Fattening is done in farming
areas relatively close to cities where rice straw (fermented with ammonia or
urea) forms the base of the ration, and cereals and agro-industrial by-products
are readily available (see Dolberg and Finlayson, 1995; Simpson and Ou, 1996).
Fattening stock is either local or from the great northern and western grazing
lands . China has both an expanding market for beef and a sound transport
system between the grasslands and the fattening areas.
Stratification of sheep production, although little discussed in the text, is common
in parts of Europe and probably elsewhere; sheep from the Scottish hills are
traditionally fattened in the lowlands, and hill ewes are crossed with other breeds
for lowland meat production. Sheep fattening is widespread in the Near East,
sometimes with imported lambs, usually using cereals and concentrates – this has
nothing to do with reducing grazing pressure . In many Islamic countries, there is
seasonal specialized sheep and goat fattening for religious festivals.
SOWN PASTURE AND FODDER
Sown pasture is often complementary to natural grassland in commercial
systems as, for example, strategic feed for specific seasons, for fattening or
conservation . In many places under favourable conditions of soil and climate,
sown pasture, often in rotation with crops , has replaced natural grassland,
but that is not the subject under discussion here. It is used by medium to
large farms in commercial systems. Pasture improvement , which can involve
clearing , over-seeding, etc., is discussed later, although the dividing line between
“improved grassland” and sown pasture is not a clear one. Traditional systems
with small holdings and unfenced cropland are unsuited to grazed artificial
pasture – although they may use cut-and-carry fodder. Sown pastures were
well developed in the commercial sector in Kenya before structural changes
in agriculture led to a vast reduction in the number of large dairy farms; the
technology is described in Bogdan’s (1977) classic Tropical pasture and fodder
plants. In the commercial sector in South Africa , artificial pastures are widely
used in the better watered areas; elsewhere in Africa, including Madagascar and
the North, sown pasture is not used, nor is it used in the Middle East or in Asia
(“artificial grassland” is a term much used in China , but is usually either alfalfa
for hay or annual forage for cut-and-carry). Patagonia is unsuited climatically