New feeds and new feeding systems in intensive and semi-intensive forage-fed ruminant livestock systems

The contributions that ruminant livestock make to greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions are well documented and of considerable policy and public concern. At the same time, livestock production continues to play an important role in providing nutrient-rich foodstuffs for many people, particularly in less developed countries. They also offer a means by which plants that cannot be digested by humans, e.g. grass, can be converted into human-edible protein. In this review, we consider opportunities to improve nutrient capture by ruminant livestock through new feeds and feeding systems concentrating on intensive and semi-intensive systems, which we define as those in which animals are given diets that are designed and managed to be used as efficiently as possible. We consider alternative metrics for quantifying efficiency, taking into account resource use at a range of scales. Mechanisms for improving the performance and efficiencies of both individual animals and production systems are highlighted. We then go on to map these to potential changes in feeds and feeding systems. Particular attention is given to improving nitrogen use efficiency and reducing enteric methane production. There is significant potential for the use of home-grown crops or novel feedstuffs such as insects and macroalgae to act as alternative sources of key amino acids and reduce reliance on unsustainably grown soybeans. We conclude by highlighting the extent to which climate change could impact forage-based livestock production and the need to begin work on developing appropriate adaptation strategies

Diversification and use of bioenergy to maintain future grasslands

Grassland agriculture is experiencing a number of threats including declining profitability and loss of area to other land uses including expansion of the built environment as well as from cropland and forestry. The use of grassland as a natural resource either in terms of existing vegetation and land cover or planting of new species for bioenergy and other nonfood applications presents an opportunity, and potential solution, to maintain the broader ecosystem services that perennial grasslands provide as well as to improve the options for grassland farmers and their communities. This paper brings together different grass or grassland‐based studies and considers them as part of a continuum of strategies that, when also combined with improvements in grassland production systems, will improve the overall efficiency of grasslands as an important natural resource and enable a greater area to be managed, replanted or conserved. These diversification options relate to those most likely to be available to farmers and land owners in the marginally economic or uneconomic grasslands of middle to northern Europe and specifically in the UK. Grasslands represent the predominant global land use and so these strategies are likely to be relevant to other areas although the grass species used may vary. The options covered include the use of biomass derived from the management of grasses in the urban and semi urban environment, semi‐natural grassland systems as part of ecosystem management, pasture in addition to livestock production, and the planting and cropping of dedicated energy grasses. The adoption of such approaches would not only increase income from economically marginal grasslands, but would also mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production and help fund conservation of these valuable grassland ecosystems and landscapes, which is increasingly becoming a challenge

Pulling the wool over their eyes?:Object permanence, numerical competence and categorisation in alternative livestock species

The adaptive abilities of grazing livestock species are not well understood, despite the potential link between behaviour driven decision making and the overall productive efficiency of the animal through foraging strategy. This study aimed to assess and compare these adaptive behaviours, relating to i) object permanence, ii) numerical competence, and iii) categorisation capabilities of domesticated species that possess distinctly different digestive physiologies and backgrounds. Seven animals from each species, including sheep (Ovis aries) (avg. 5 years of age, 60 kg initial weight), goats (Capra hircus) (avg. 3 years, 45 kg initial weight), and alpacas (Lama pacos (Linnaeus, 1758)) (avg. 3 years, 70 kg initial weight), were presented with a total of nine choice tasks, grouped relative to the three abilities being tested (object permanence, numerical competence, and categorisation). Specifically, the stage of object permanence for each subject was tested based on their ability to solve simple visible displacement, to overcome perseveration error, and double invisible displacement tasks. Subjects were also presented with a two-choice task of different open-centre and filled shapes to assess the capacity for simple discrimination and open-ended categorisation. Lastly, numerical competence was compared across five trials consisting of different ratios and volumes of food reward. A basic awareness of object permanence was found in all subjects. Overall, the goats demonstrated the greatest capacity for object permanence across the three species, particularly when presented with more complex three-cup A-not-B tasks. This increase in complexity had no significant effect on goat performance as a group (p = 0.13), whereas alpaca (p = 0.0005) and sheep performance significantly declined (p = 0.04). We also found no evidence to demonstrate contrasting cognitive capabilities between these species in relation to spontaneous numerical cognition (p &gt; 0.05), or in the use of perceptual cues in open-ended categorisation (p = 0.246). This study is the first instance of multiple direct comparisons of cognitive capability across domesticated livestock species. Furthermore, this work is the first account of object permanence, numerical competence and categorisation in alpacas, as well as object permanence in sheep and numerical competence in sheep and goats. This information could prove useful to predict the outcome of interaction between these species in a grazing context and for inferences relating to behaviour driven decision making, such as foraging strategy, and the overall productive efficiency of the animal. Here, we conclude that the three species tested possess comparable capacity for physical cognition in the tasks discussed.</p

Recognising the potential role of native ponies in conservation management

Population control of feral horses has been the subject of public debate in many parts of the world in recent years due to wide-reaching ecological and societal impacts. However, the feral populations in these high-profile cases are not ‘native’ but are instead descended from animals which escaped from or were released by settlers. This paper considers i) the potential role of indigenous equids as conservation grazers within native ecosystems currently in poor condition, and ii) the value of supporting semi-wild native ponies specifically. We argue that the high ecological overlap between ponies and cattle reported in a range of studies means that they should be considered as alternative tools for conservation management, particularly in scenarios where there is a need to reduce the dominance of plant species avoided by more-selective small ruminants such as sheep. Semi-wild ponies could be particularly suited to conservation grazing because their genomes have been predominately shaped by natural and not artificial selection, meaning they may have adaptations no longer present in domesticated equids. With agricultural and environmental policy in the EU and UK under major review, it is anticipated that the wider delivery of public goods, rather than primary production, will be prioritised under future subsidy payment schemes. Recognising the value of native ponies as conservation grazers would broaden the range of routes by which land managers could achieve biodiversity gain, while simultaneously supporting at-risk equine genotypes