Special Issue "Warm- and Cool-Season Annual Pastures for Growing Ruminants in Semiarid Regions"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal System and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Mr. Leonard Lauriault
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agriculture Science Center, New Mexico State University, Tucumcari, NM 88401, USA
Interests: ruminant nutrition; agronomy; cattle feeding; forage; pasture management; animal feed; legumes; beef; cattle; sorghum

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The demand for global livestock has increased over recent years, and it is anticipated that the demand for animal products will continue to grow, becoming critical for global food security and nutrition in light of the growing human population. While perennial crops for grazing generally have the greatest potential for economic and environmental benefits, they often leave gaps in forage productivity that must be filled with stored feeds or by the use of annual forages for grazing. Additionally, in semiarid regions, native perennial species have lower productivity in addition to limited active growth periods, and introduced perennial species may not be feasible due to increasingly reduced availability of water for crop production due to urban expansion and climate change.

This Special Issue is interested in both reviews and research papers on annual forages for grazing in ruminant livestock production. Particularly welcome are results of grazing trials demonstrating the potential of alternative crops for grazing by ruminant livestock.

Dr. Leonard Lauriault
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • annual forages
  • grazing
  • pastures
  • ruminants

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Milk Production, Body Weight, Body Condition Score, Activity, and Rumination of Organic Dairy Cattle Grazing Two Different Pasture Systems Incorporating Cool- and Warm-Season Forages
Animals 2021, 11(2), 264; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020264 - 21 Jan 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 552
Abstract
Organic dairy cows were used to evaluate the effect of two organic pasture production systems (temperate grass species and warm-season annual grasses and cool-season annuals compared with temperate grasses only) across two grazing seasons (May to October of 2014 and 2015) on milk [...] Read more.
Organic dairy cows were used to evaluate the effect of two organic pasture production systems (temperate grass species and warm-season annual grasses and cool-season annuals compared with temperate grasses only) across two grazing seasons (May to October of 2014 and 2015) on milk production, milk components (fat, protein, milk urea nitrogen (MUN), somatic cell score (SCS)), body weight, body condition score (BCS), and activity and rumination (min/day). Cows were assigned to two pasture systems across the grazing season at an organic research dairy in Morris, Minnesota. Pasture System 1 was cool-season perennials (CSP) and Pasture System 2 was a combination of System 1 and warm-season grasses and cool-season annuals. System 1 and System 2 cows had similar milk production (14.7 and 14.8 kg d−1), fat percentage (3.92% vs. 3.80%), protein percentage (3.21% vs. 3.17%), MUN (12.5 and 11.5 mg dL−1), and SCS (4.05 and 4.07), respectively. Cows in System 1 had greater daily rumination (530 min/day) compared to cows in System 2 (470 min/day). In summary, warm-season annual grasses may be incorporated into grazing systems for pastured dairy cattle. Full article
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