Effects of Supplemental Feeding Using Different Nitrogen Sources on Body Weight Gain and Physiological Conditions on Grazing Castrated Lambs in the Steppe Zone of Mongolia

The pastoral livestock production system in Mongolia has traditionally been operated in natural open pastures, which occupies approximately 80% area of the country. The productivity of the system is extremely seasonal, and the nutritional values of pasture plants such as crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) decrease until spring (Yamasaki et al., 2013), resulting in animals losing their live weight by spring. In recent years, the damage caused by disastrously snowy and cold conditions, termed dzud in Mongolian, has evidently worsened, thereby affecting farm management in the region. To overcome the dzud and establish a sustainable livestock production system, supplemental feeding during the cold seasons is required. Wheat bran is the most prevalent feed among the country’s herders. Brewers’ grain (BG) is one of the most important livestock feed resources because it is rich in energy, protein, fiber, and fat content (MAFF, 1995). The production of BG has been steadily increasing year by year (National Statistical Office of Mongolia, 2014), but the usage of BG in the country is restricted, particularly during summer. Then, ensilaging would be one of the key techniques to store and conserve the nutritional value of BG, as it is possible for even small-to-medium sized farmers and/or herders. In addition, the importation of urea into the country is beginning to accelerate and is expected to be a source of nitrogen (N) for ruminants. We then determined and compared the effects of the different N sources and the amounts on body weight gain and physiological conditions for animals, so as to contribute to the establishment of supplemental feeding technologies during the cold seasons in this region

Effects of the Supplementation of Brewers’ Grain Silage or Wheat Bran with and without Urea on Meat Quantity and Quality in Mongolian Grazing Lambs

Natural open pastures occupy approximately 80% of the land in Mongolia and have traditionally supported the pastoral livestock production system. After the collapse of socialism and the introduction of a market economy more than two decades ago, the total number of animals, including sheep, goats, cattle, horses, camels, as well as grazing pressure on pastures has increased (National Statistical Office of Mongolia, 2014). Despite this, the number sharply decreased twice during the cold seasons of 2000/2001 and 2010/2011 by a dzud. The dzud is the Mongolian name for an abnormal winter weather condition in northeast Asia, characterized by snowy and cold winters so harsh that livestock are unable to graze through the snow cover, causing starvation and eventually death. The economy of the herder households was strongly affected by these weather events. The reasons for the overall increasing number of animals could be that herders do not want to sell their animals, the need to maintain breeding stock numbers, and the herders have limited access to markets. It is said that there are strong demands for meat in China and western Asian countries. However, actually, animal products occupy only 0.6% of the sum of exports, and most of these are wool, skin, and leather. Meat exports were only 3,000 tons in 2013. Besides sanitation problems such as foot-and-mouth disease, high transportation costs, and meat quality may contribute to low meat export. In addition, early fattening for domestic consumption itself has effects to reduce the grazing pressure on the pastures. It is, therefore, important that a diversified risk management and grassland conservation system together with an increase in herder income are established. We conducted a supplemental feeding experiment during the cold season using brewer grain (BG) silage, wheat bran, and urea and determined the effects on meat quantity and quality