Puillet, Laurence

Sauvant, D.

Tichit, M.

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress In‐Herd Diversity of Lifetime Performances: A Key for the Sustainability of Livestock Farming System Based on Grassland Laurence Puillet INRA, France D. Sauvant INRA, France M. Tichit INRA, France Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/9-2/4 The 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅱ 　 瞯 ]71　 瞯Grasslands/Rangelands Production Systems——— Livestock Production SystemsIn‐herd diversity of lifetime performances : a key for the sustainability of livestock farmingsystem based on grasslandL .Puillet1 ,2 ,D .Sauvant2 and M .T ichit11 INRA UMR 1048 SA D A PT ,A groParisTech ,16 rue Claude Bernard 75231 Paris cedex 5 ,France ,2 INRA UMR 791 PNA ,A groParisTech ,16 rue Claude Bernard 75231 Paris cedex 5 ,France ,E‐mail : laurence .puillet＠ agroparistech .f rKey words : sustainability ,lifetime performance ,diversity ,herd managementIntroduction Sustainability of livestock farming systems ( LFS ) based on grassland depends on their abilities to bufferenvironmental variations while maintaining targeted production project .These abilities come from the regulating properties ofLFS .On one side ,regulations can arise from adaptive grazing management in order to take advantage of resource diversity underclimatic hazard ( Andrieu et al . ,２００７ ) .On the other side ,regulations can also arise from female adaptive abilities driven byfarmer practices (Blanc et al . ,２００７) .A t the herd level ,variable female responses generate a diversity of lifetime performances .The objective of this study was to assess the contribution of lifetime performance diversity to the sustainability of LFS based ongrassland .We relied on the example of dairy goat herd .Materials and methods We considered a herd of １５０ lactating goats mating in October and kidding in March .Two cases ofpractices corresponding to different strategies of infertility management were studied over two consecutive years characterisedby a fertility rate ( FR) decline in the second year .Such decline has been reported to occur after a bad season of grazing leadingto a poor condition of females at mating ( Mellado et al .１９９６) .In case １ ,the farmer systematically culled goats which failed atmating whereas in case ２ ,open goats were maintained in extended lactation during the second year .Comparatively with case １ ,case ２ increased in‐herd diversity of lifetime performance by giving opportunities to open goats to contribute to overallproduction .We relied on a model of lactating goat ( Puillet et al ,in press) in order to generate different lifetime performancesand to assess overall herd performance .Results Total milk production in year １ was similar for both cases ( Case １ : １２０ ６０１ kg ; Case ２ : １１９ ０１６ kg ) .The decline infertility led to a decrease of production in both cases .However ,in case １ this decline was around １７％ of herd production in year１ and around ８％ in case ２ . In case ２ ,the perturbation due to low fertility was buffered at herd level due to an increase in thenumber of females maintained in extended lactation .These females contributed to １４％ and ２４％ of overall production in years １and ２ respectively .Figure 1 Contributions o f the di f f erent ty pes o f li f etime per f ormances to overall herd milk p roduction duringtwo years and f or two levels o f f ertility rate ( FR ＝ ０ .８５ year １ ; FR ＝ ０ .７０ year ２ ) .Le f t : case １ (systematicculling o f open goats) .Right : case ２ (ex tended lactation f or two years ) .Conclusions Both management cases illustrate that herd can have regulating properties arising from the diversity of femalelifetime performances .This aspect can be of great interest for grassland systems where feed supply is highly variable and femaleregulating properties are strongly solicited .ReferencesN .Andrieu ,C .Poix ,E .Josien and M .Duru ( ２００７ ) .Simulation of forage management strategies considering farm‐level landdiversity : Example of dairy farms in the Auvergne .Computers and Electronics in A griculture ,５５ ,３６‐４８ .F .Blanc ,F .Bocquier , J .Agabriel , P .D�Hour ,Y .Chilliard ( ２００６ ) .Adaptive abilities of the females and sustainability ofruminant livestock systems .A review .A nimal Research ,５５ ,４８９‐５１０ .M .Mellado ,L .Cantú ,J .E .Suárez (１９９６ ) .Effects of body condition ,length of breeding period ,buck :doe ratio and month ofbreeding on kidding rates in goats under extensive conditions in arid zones of Mexico .Small Ruminant Research ,２３ ,２９‐３５ .

In‐Herd Diversity of Lifetime Performances: A Key for the Sustainability of Livestock Farming System Based on Grassland

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In‐Herd Diversity of Lifetime Performances: A Key for the Sustainability of Livestock Farming System Based on Grassland

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