Acres Of Pasture Research Articles

172 The Mississippi Beef Quality Assurance Program: Certification Demographics from 2015 to 2019

Abstract The Mississippi Beef Quality Assurance Program (BQA) has been in place since the early 1990s. In 2015, program materials and format were updated to reflect changing needs of clientele. The current program is a combination of in-person presentation with demonstration of tools such as castration equipment, needles, syringes, etc. to supplement the educational materials. Each registered participant receives a manual, tri-fold supplement, cooler, bumper sticker, and certificate upon completion of the certification. After viewing the presentation, participants complete a 14-question exam to test their knowledge of materials important to the BQA program. Upon passing the exam, participants receive certification, which is valid for 3 yr. Certification events are encouraged to include multiple counties, and reach a wide range of producers. In 2015 to 2017, events were specifically scheduled by state coordinators to ensure cattle producers in all areas of the state had the opportunity to attend a nearby program. Events were also held on an as requested basis. At the end of each certification, participants completed an anonymous survey reporting information on demographics and program effectiveness. From 2015 to 2019, there were 1,734 total certifications through 57 BQA programs provided. At these events, 26 states were represented. From Mississippi, 64 of 82 counties were represented. When describing total number of cattle, the majority of producers reported owning 1 to 50 head (46%) while only 3% reported owning over 1000 head. Producers also listed the total number of acres in pasture, where the majority reporting 1 to 100 acres (32%) and 6% reporting over 1000 acres. When asked to rank economic impacts, most (26%) reported an estimated more than $25 per head benefit due to increased production and marketing. In summary, producers had small number of cattle and acres of pasture but reported large economic benefits to the certification.

Padrão Fenológico de Attalea maripa (Aubl.) Mart. em Áreas de Pastagens na Amazônia Oriental

RESUMO A pesquisa avaliou a fenologia de Attalea maripa (inajá), relacionando os eventos fenológicos com a precipitação pluviométrica. Os dados foram obtidos em 100 palmeiras adultas provenientes de regeneração natural, em 3,25 hectares de área de pastagens em Bonito, PA, no período de agosto de 2009 a dezembro de 2011. Os dados foram analisados por meio de fenogramas, índice de sincronia e análise fatorial. Pelo que a pesquisa evidenciou, o padrão fenológico do inajá não é sazonal. A floração e a frutificação ocorrem durante todo o ano; são eventos de longa duração, que sofrem oscilações ao longo do ano. A fenofase espata fechada é altamente sincrônica. A frutificação é um evento fenológico pouco sincrônico. A precipitação é um fator climático importante para a fenologia do inajá, pois afeta negativamente a produção de espata aberta com flores e a queda de folhas e positivamente a queda de frutos maduros.

Improving the Reproductive Performance of Buffaloes in Sabah, Malaysia

A buffalo–breeding farm was selected to study the reproductive performance. The farm consisted of 398.5 acres of pasture with a total of 335 heads of buffaloes, practicing extensive grazing system without supplementation. At the start of the study, at the end of 2011, farm records between 2004 and 2011 were analysed for selected reproductive parameters. Following the analysis, attempts were made to improve the performance by improving feed and feeding, herd health and breeding program. The interventions, in January 2012, included reducing the numbers of breeder buffaloes from 250 to 158 heads while the pasture area was increased from 398.5 to 441.5 acres. Proximate analysis of the grass was carried out and yearly vaccination against haemorrhagic septicaemia was recommended. The fecal samples were analysed for internal parasites particularly the liver flukes. The 158 selected breeder buffaloes were flushed by providing supplemented palm kernel cake–based feed at the rate of 1.5kg/animal/day for 2 weeks before breeder males were introduced at the rate of 1 male to 20 females. Between 2004 and 2011, a total of 442 calves were born (average of 55 calves/year or 22%); One hundred and thirty (52%) females calved only once, 73 (29%) calved twice, 35 (14%) calved 3 times and 12 (5%) calved 4 times. Most (52%) calving were recorded during the rainy months of September to December. The average annual calving rate was 49.7±14.7%, the calving interval was 24±11.2 months and calf mortality was 26.8±7.0%, significantly (p 3 increased from 79% to 95%. The improved body score enhanced the pregnancy rate from 49% to 71% and subsequently the calving rate from 42% to 82%. Similarly, the mortality rate was significantly reduced from 11.3% to 5.2%.

The Emotional Lives of Animals and Children: Insights from a Farm Sanctuary by William Crain

 2014 Children, Youth and Environments Children, Youth and Environments 24(3), 2014 The Emotional Lives of Animals and Children: Insights from a Farm Sanctuary William Crain (2014). San Francisco, CA: Turning Stone Press, 137 pages. $15.95; ISBN 978-1-61852-082-1. In 2008, William Crain, a professor of psychology at City University of New York and author of a popular child development textbook, bought “a broken-down farm with a few acres of pasture in lower Duchess County, New York” (xvi) and turned it into Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary. This place provides a home for over 70 rescued farm animals that escaped factory farms and slaughterhouses and found their way (or were brought) to the Sanctuary. Crain recounts how he gradually became committed to animal welfare, as well as vegetarianism, and together with his wife Ellen, a pediatrician, devoted themselves to the Farm Sanctuary. At the same time, Crain, as a professor of psychology, wanted to study animals’ natural behavior. He thought that observing these farm animals could illuminate aspects of children’s development as well. Thus, Crain and his wife became participant observers in the lives of chickens, goats, sheep and other farm animals, as well as the humans who came to the farm. In Part I of this book, Crain addresses the emotions that he has observed in the rescued farm animals under his care. His concept of emotion is unusually broad; it includes not only fear, but play, freedom, care, spirituality, and resilience. In each chapter, he draws parallels between the emotions observed in farm animals and those of children, underscoring the commonalities across species. For example, he recounts how some animals and children fall silent for extended periods after a trauma and only begin to vocalize when they feel safe. Crain is sensitive to distinctions between child and animal behavior, and finds in the animal example useful lessons for enhancing child development. For example, he contrasts the “watchful waiting” of mother goats who are content to stay on the sidelines as their baby goats scamper and play, with the “helicopter parenting” of many contemporary humans. Crain argues that uninhibited free play is innate and adaptive across most mammalian species. Hence, humans would do well to emulate these mother goats. When Crain discusses the need for freedom, he wrestles the urge to grant his rescued flock maximum freedom against the very real dangers to those animals (from foxes, for example) if he were to do so. Similarly, he argues, one must find the right balance between freedom and safety for human children. Book Review: The Emotional Lives of Animals and Children: Insights… 250 In elaborating this theme of the commonalities between these farm animals and children, Crain can, on occasion, stretch the parallels. For example, he argues that just as humans, including children, derive a sense of calm, awe and serenity—what Crain calls “spirituality”—from gazing at landscapes, some animals also gaze out at nature with what seem to be similar feelings. This cannot be ruled out; however, there is no empirical evidence to support such a claim. Moreover, landscapes may evoke many different emotions, not all of them linked to spirituality. Even the same landscape may be at times threatening, as during a storm, or welcoming, as in a bright, temperate day. However, this caution aside, the major point Crain is emphasizing is well worth considering. Humans are animals after all, and share much with other species. We can learn a great deal about children by observing the natural behavior of other animals. In Part II, Crain draws from his observations to urge that we help children build a more connected, inclusive and egalitarian relationship with animals. In his view, applying a sharp hierarchy that places humans above animals and viewing animals from a utilitarian perspective have many damaging effects on children as well as animals. By according animals greater status and respect, viewing them as having intrinsic worth, children will become more connected to the natural world and will not lose their ethical stance toward animals. Crain concludes that society needs a more inclusive value system, one that includes animals as well as humans. Where might that more inclusive value system come...

Montpelier. Orange, Va. http://www.montpelier.org/

Permanent exhibition, restoration completed Sept. 17, 2008. 2,650 acres. Michael Quinn, executive director; Lynn Hastings, vice president for museum programs; Tom Chapman, research coordinator; Allison Deeds, director of curatorial operations; Sean T. O'Brien, executive director, Center for the Constitution; Matthew Reeves, director of the Archaeology Department. Montpelier, the lifelong home of President James Madison, sits on 2,650 acres of pasture, gardens, woods, and numerous outbuildings with magnificent views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in rural Orange, Virginia. The site is complex, incorporating elements of the American story that span hundreds of years. That story is told through a variety of mechanisms. The Visitor Center presents a film about James and Dolley Madison, setting the context for a guided tour of the newly “restored” house. The center also has disparate galleries—one honoring the years of the duPont ownership and one displaying random personal or household artifacts. An archaeology lab and the...

The History of Archaeological Investigations at The Jamestown Mound Site (41SM54), An Archaeological Conservancy Preserve in Smith County, Texas

The Jamestown Mound site (41SM54) is an Archaeological Conservancy (TAC) preserve in northern Smith Country, Texas in the northeastern part of the state. The Jamestown site is one of the largest Caddo mound centers in East Texas, with seven recorded mounds and an associated village area of unknown extent and internal complexity. It is also one of the four premier mound centers in the Sabine River basin, the other three being Hudnall-Pirtle (41RK4), a TAC preserve, Pine Tree Mounds (41HS15), also a TAC preserve as of 2006, and Boxed Springs (41UR30), and was obviously an important civic and ceremonial center for the prehistoric Caddo peoples that lived there and in surrounding communities. Unfortunately, at the present time very little is known about the archaeological record preserved at the Jamestown site, or the exact locations of several of the smaller mounds on the preserve. Here, I summarize the history of archaeological research at the Jamestown site. This article is intended to be a companion piece to the report to be submitted to the TAC on the results of on-going remote sensing activities at the Jamestown preserve. The Jamestown preserve covers approximately 18 acres of pasture divided into two tracts by a north-south running fence. It is a large prehistoric Caddo mound center, with multiple mounds, roughly arranged in a circular pattern, with an open area (or plaza) between the mounds. The largest mound (Md. A) (measuring ca. 43 m in diameter and 4 m in height, is situated in the southwestern side of the circle of mounds. Mounds B-E (15-20 m in diameter and 40 cm-1 m in height) are probably mounds built over houses with a clay floor and a clay cap. The exact locations of Mounds D and E within the TAC preserve are not currently known. Md. A is known to have two levels of burned structural remains in the upper mound fill.

Can We Identify Key Characteristics Associated with Grazing-Management Dairy Systems from Survey Data?

Discriminant analysis was used to identify farms using confinement and grazing-production systems from mail survey data of 2074 dairy farmers in Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and North Carolina. Survey respondents included 45.1% of the farms using confinement management; 13.5% of farms practicing intensive grazing, defined as moving cows to new pasture at least every 3 d; and 41.4% of farms using nonintensive grazing. Farmers using confinement management had significantly more cows, higher milk production, more crop acreage, higher debt, used automatic takeoff milking units (ATO), fed total mixed rations (TMR), and were more satisfied. In general, dairy farmers who grazed their milking cows had smaller herds, fewer acres, but had more acres per cow and made less use of technology. However, farmers practicing intensive grazing were significantly younger, more educated, less experienced, more likely to use computers, and farmed less acreage than other graziers or farmers on confinement farms. The discriminant function correctly classified 70% of the total sample when divided into confinement and overall grazing categories. However, the discriminant function correctly classified only 36% of intensive-grazing farms in comparison to confinement farms. Significant variables identified using ordinary least squares as being related to confinement management were milk per cow, acres of corn, use of ATO and TMR, debt greater than 40%, and residence in North Carolina. Significant variables associated with grazing management were acres of pasture, future use of pasture, education, and residence in Vermont. The analysis indicated that the discriminant function could correctly classify confinement and nonintensive-grazing management but was unable to reliably differentiate between confinement and intensive-grazing farms.

Pasture Renovation and Grazing Management Impacts on Cool-Season Grass Pastures

Legumes have been shown to increase production in cool-season grass pastures. However, they are included in relatively few acres of pasture. A split plot experiment with six replications was conducted to evaluate the impact of pasture renovation and grazing management on forage production and species composition of cool-season grass pastures. Grazing management main plots were grazed to leave low (2-4 in.), medium (4-6 in.), or high (6-8 in.) residue levels. Main plots were intensively grazed (50 000-70 000 lb of cows per acre) five or six times per grazing season by lactating Holstein cows. Subplot pasture renovation treatments were (i) an untreated check, or sprayed with glyphosate and interseeded with (ii) alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), (iii) red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), or (iv) graziers mix (a mixture of legumes and grasses). Areas that were grazed to leave low residue level produced less forage mass (4.7 ton/acre) than areas grazed to medium (5.4 ton/acre) or high (5.5 ton/acre) residue levels. When averaged across years and grazing management treatments, renovated areas produced 1.8 ton/acre (46%) more forage than the control. Of interseeded species, alfalfa, red clover, and orchardgrass persisted through the study (more than 25% of the dry matter in at least one of the pasture renovation treatments). By June 1998, thistle (Carduus and Cirsium spp.) was present in all treatments. Fewer thistle was present in areas that were grazed to leave low residue (10 sq yd) than high residue (18 sq yd) and in renovated areas (9 sq yd) than the control (22 sq yd). The additional forage produced as a result of pasture renovation cost from $8.07/ton to $12.81/ton. Tbis study indicates that pasture renovation can be a valuable tool for increasing forage production in cool-season grass pastures.

High Intensity, Short Duration Rotational Grazing on Reclaimed Cool Season Fescue/ Legume Pastures: II. Forage Production, Soil and Plant Tissue Comparisons Between Grazed and Ungrazed Pastures

The Midway Mine is located 50 miles south of Kansas City, Kansas straddling the border of Kansas and Missouri. The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. mined the area until 1989, when the mine was closed and reclaimed. Approximately 3,750 acres were topsoiled and revegetated with a cool season tall fescue/legume pasture. High intensity, short duration rotational grazing has become the preferred management practice on these pastures. This study evaluated soil and vegetation data collected on 1,250 acres of pasture which was grazed by about 550 cow/calf units. Ongoing monitoring programs are evaluating the effects of rotational grazing. Soil testing includes macro-nutrients, micro-nutrients and microbial activity. Plant tissue analyses monitor levels of principal macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients. Vegetation monitoring consists of measuring forage production. Results were contrasted between pregrazing and postgrazing, and grazed and ungrazed pasture. Agronomic data from the grazed versus ungrazed treatments documented the following results: (1) higher levels of plant tissue nitrate, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium and sulfur; (2) higher microbial activity; (3) similar levels of soil nitrate, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium and sulfur; and (4) increased biomass production.

Funnel ants (Aphaenogaster spp., Formicidae) as pasture pests in North Queensland. I.—Ecological background, status and distribution

In a study of the incidence of funnel ants (Aphaenogaster spp.) on the Atherton and Evelyn Tablelands of northern Queensland in 1959–61, 422 farms were surveyed, totalling over 98,000 acres of pasture, of which 10.8 per cent. proved to be infested with A. pythia Forel. The ants damage the introduced pasture grasses (Paspalum dilatatum and Pennisetum clandestinum) by removing soil from around their roots to from loose mounds, which smother the closely-grazedsward. Inferior species of grass and deep-rooted weeds are thus encouraged and affected areas become useless for dairying.The natural habitat of A. pythia is wet sclerophyll forest which occurs in narrow belts fringing the rain forest and in pockets within it; the rain forest does not harbour the ant, but following its clearance and its replacement by pastures, A. pythia has spread out and colonised the latter. In areas of lower annual rainfall (under 50 in.) occupied dry sclerophyll forest and Eucalyptus woodland, A. pythia is replaced by A. longiceps F. Smith. Improved pastures have not been established here, but in the relatively restricted areas of infestation by this species, the large funnel-shaped orifices of its mounds create a hazard to stock.

Diazinon residues in the milk of cows and fat of sheep after feeding on past treated with diazinon

Abstract Diazinon granules containing 5% active ingredient were applied to 4 acres of pasture at the nominal rate of 2 lb per acre. Half of the area was grazed continuously by sheep and lactating cows during top-dressing and for the ensuing week. The two remaining quarters of the treated area were left for periods of two and four days after treatment and then grazed continuously by cows and sheep. Milk samples were collected regularly, and peri-renal, omental, and subcutaneous backfat were sampled from the sheep that were slaughtered at various time intervals. Virtually no residues of diazinon were detected at any time in the milk of cows or in the depot fat of sheep. Diazinon residues on the pasture (mean values) decreased from 84 p.p.m. to 10 p.p.m. over the seven-day trial period.

Milk from pasture in New Zealand

It is difficult for the visitor to New Zealand to realise that practically all of the five million acres of pasture land now devoted to dairying was, a matter of seventy years ago, dense rain-forest, scrubland or undrained swamp. Practically the whole of the Manawatu and Taranaki and large portions of the Waikato and North Auckland, which are the principal dairying districts today, were in forest when the introduction of refrigerated ocean transport in 1882 made possible the development of New Zealand’s dairy industry.The first step in bringing in forest was the felling of giant trees such as rimu, matai and totara and the undergrowth of smaller trees and vines. Sometimes the bigger timber trees were milled, but too often they were merely felled and the fire-stick was applied to leave an indescribable mess of partially burned trunks and stumps.

Factors Influencing the Amounts of Land Needed to Produce Roughage for Dairy Cattle in Northeastern Illinois

Summary Records of 65 farms in Northeastern Illinois were analyzed to determine the effect of (a) the percentage of non-tillable pasture land, (b) the kinds of crops (especially legume and non-legume) and (c) soil rating on the amounts of land needed to produce roughages for dairy cattle. The carrying capacity of pastures on non-tillable land was not as high as that of pastures on tillable areas. Farms having a small proportion of the pasture area (8 per cent) on non-tillable land carried 60 per cent more animal units per acre of pasture than did farms having a large proportion of pasture (88 per cent) on non-tillable land. Farmers who made large use of legumes and grass-legume mixtures in their pasture program were able to carry more animal units per acre of pasture than were those who relied heavily on grasses. The differences in carrying capacity of pasture between groups of farms on which little use was made of legumes and those on which extensive use was made were more striking than were the differences in amounts of pasture forage produced on tillable and non-tillable land. Soil rating, an expression indicating the natural productivity of soils without the addition of soil treatments, was found to have a pronounced relation to the productivity of pastures. The better the soil rating, the larger the number of animal units carried per acre of pasture. However, little relation was found between soil rating and the amounts of land needed to produce hay or silage for one cow. Soil treatments are presumed to have nearly eliminated the differences between groups of farms in their yields of hay and corn forage. Average values for the 65 farms showed the use of 1.3 acres of pasture, 1 acre for growing of hay, and 0.5 acre for production of silage corn for the feeding of one cow.

The South-East Essex Technical College

THE construction of new arterial roads together with the development of estates like those of Becontree and Dagenham have resulted, within the last ten years, in a considerable increase in the population of Essex. The establishment, too, of large industrial centres, such as Ford's Motor Works at Dagenham, have also contributed materially to this almost mushroom growth. Acres of pasture -land have thus been transformed into industrial and densely populated districts. It therefore became an urgent necessity to make some provision for extended educational facilities, and especially for further technical education.

Seasonal Fluctuation in the Number of Eggs of Trichostrongylid Worms in the Faeces of Ewes

An account recently appeared in this journal of some work carried out by Zawadowsky and Zvjaguintzev (I933) on the seasonal fluctuations in the number of eggs of Nematodirus helvetianus in the faeces of a llama. As the observations of these investigators compare very closely with some which have been made at this experimental station on the fluctuations in the numbers of eggs of trichostrongylid worms disseminated in the faeces of ewes, it seems to be worth while recording the data, which although of no great value in themselves, give confirmation to some of the observations of Zawadowsky and Zvjaguintzev but suggest an alternative interpretation of their results. The inquiry into the amount of infective material disseminated by the ewes throughout the year was originally undertaken in order to obtain some idea of the relative importance of adult sheep as a reservoir of infection for the lambs. Ewes almost invariably carry a few trichostrongylid worms and outbreaks of disease with heavy losses amongst the adult sheep are by no means unknown. The possibility of their playing a part of major importance in producing heavy infection in the lambs, therefore, appeared to be worth a little investigation. Twelve average ewes were chosen for this purpose from the experimental station flock and samples of their faeces collected on the same day of each of sixteen consecutive months. An average egg count was made by thoroughly mixing equal weights of faeces taken from each of the twelve samples and estimating the number of eggs per gram of the mixture by a standard dilution technique. The laboratory flock grazes along with the cattle on 30 acres of good grass land. During the two seasons in which these observations were made, the lambs were born in February and March and for those two months the ewes were kept in the buildings and received hay and a little concentrated food but no grass or green food of any kind. For the remainder of the year they received no concentrated food at all but subsisted entirely upon the grass from the 30 acres of pasture. The twelve ewes were infected with species of Trichostrongylus, Ostertagia, Haemonchus, Cooperia, and Bunostomum, and although the multiple infestation detracts in part from the value of the results obtained, the similarity in the fluctuations in the egg count with those