# The notion of “Grazing Resource” revisited: considering habits and skills of herds and farmers

Fred D. Provenza, Michel Meuret

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Fred D. Provenza, Michel Meuret. The notion of “Grazing Resource” revisited: considering habits and skills of herds and farmers. INRA-CNRS-CIRAD Pasture Network Symposium: Diversité des ressources végétales: un atout pour les systèmes d’élevage face aux aléas, Mar 2017, Montpellier, France. 44 p. hal-01608033

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The Notion of “Grazing Resource” Revisited
Considering Habits and Skills of Herds and Farmers

Fred D. Provenza

Professor Emeritus
Dept. Wildland Resources, Utah
State University
Logan, Utah, USA

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /></figure>

Michel Meuret

Director of Research
Dept. Science for Action and
Development, INRA
Montpellier, France
Is there a need to discuss further the
notion of “Grazing Resource”?

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

Not
here!
Is there a need to discuss further
the notion of “Grazing Resource”?

Maybe
here!

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /></figure>
Farmers, ranchers, and researchers know herbivores are highly selective.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /></figure>

Plant
Species

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /></figure>

Plant Parts

Season

Time of
Day/Meal
<figure><img src="image_7.png" /></figure>

Sheep eat sagebrush in
the morning and fourwing
saltbrush in the afternoon

Sheep eat clover in
the morning and grass
in the afternoon
On pasture, the diversity of edible plants can become food “resources” only if the farmer or herder, through his experience and skills, motivates his animals to select and eat it. Otherwise, plants remain... plants.

Hubert, 1994. Cahiers d'Agricultures

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /></figure>
We can do chemical analyses for
primary and secondary compounds,
but that tells us nothing.

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A plant becomes a “food resource”
only if an animal is motivated to eat
it, and many factors are involved.

<figure><img src="image_10.png" /></figure>
Many factors
influence an
animal's motivation
to eat a plant on
diversified pasture

Learning in utero
and early in life

Learning to mix
plants in the diet

<figure><img src="image_11.png" /></figure>

Learning
complimentary
sequences

Managing grazing:
from set stocking
to management-
intensive grazing
to close herding
Learning *In utero* and Early in Life
<figure><img src="image_12.png" /></figure>

What does it mean for creatures to be locally evolving with landscapes?

<figure><img src="image_13.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /></figure>
Natal experiences affect food and habitat preferences in a broad range of animal taxa including insects, fish, birds, and mammals

(Davis and Stamps, 2004)

<figure><img src="image_15.png" /></figure>

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# A Mother's Lifelong Influence on Diet and Habitat Selection

<figure><img src="image_21.png" /><figcaption>In utero
Mother's Milk</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_22.png" /><figcaption>Mother as a
Behavioral
Model</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_23.png" /></figure>
Preference for forages high in secondary compounds is not due solely to differences in breeds, as illustrated in cross-fostering studies with two breeds of goats.

(Glasser *et al.*, 2009)

Offspring from one breed (Damascus) were reared from birth by females from the other breed (Mamber) and vice-versa.

<figure><img src="image_24.png" /><figcaption>Damascus eat high-tannin browse</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_25.png" /><figcaption>Mamber don't eat high-tannin browse</figcaption></figure>

The preferences of the kids for high-tannin browse strongly reflected the preferences of their foster mothers.
Lambs exposed to saltbush *in utero* grow faster and handle a salt load better than lambs from mothers on grass pasture...

(Chadwick *et al.*, 2009)

<figure><img src="image_26.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_27.png" /></figure>

...they excrete salt more rapidly, drink less water and maintain higher intake when eating saltbush.
Calves exposed to straw *in utero* eat more straw, digest straw better, and grow faster than calves not exposed to straw.

(Wiedmeier *et al*., 2012)

<figure><img src="image_28.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_29.png" /></figure>
Cows fed straw as calves 5 years before...

✓ higher body

weight/condition

✓ produced more milk

✓ shorter post-partum intervals
...when fed straw as the bulk
of the diet during pregnancies
from 5 to 8 years of age.

(Wiedmeier *et al*., 2002)

<figure><img src="image_30.png" /></figure>

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Environments influence gene expression, which influences form, function and behavior.

<figure><img src="image_32.png" /></figure>

Enhanced neural responses

<figure><img src="image_33.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_34.png" /></figure>

Enhanced rumen volume and papilla

Enhanced kidney function

<figure><img src="image_35.png" /></figure>
Food neophobia has long been neglected in studies of grazing management, as well as technical advice to livestock farmers.

When relocated on rangeland, animals that know only cultivated meadows don't know what or what not to eat. They can be out of control for weeks, or even for the entire grazing season.

(Despret and Meuret, 2016)

<figure><img src="image_36.png" /></figure>
Experienced farmers and herders are aware of animals' habits and culture.

They don't relocate them from one environment to another without considering this.

<figure><img src="image_37.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_38.png" /></figure>

Jim Howell (farmer), 2005.

*Cows Have Culture Too: Understanding Livestock/Landscape Interactions.*

"What would you do if you were unwillingly plucked off of your pretty farm in the green hills of Missouri, transported to a new ranch in the badlands of Wyoming, given a brand new set of friends, all new food, different weather, a novel landscape, and salty water? You most likely would protest and perform below your potential, at least initially."

<figure><img src="image_39.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_40.png" /></figure>

Jim Howell (farmer), 2005.

*Cows Have Culture Too: Understanding Livestock/Landscape Interactions.*

> "...What if you had been on that same Wyoming ranch your whole life, and had been in charge of the winter country in the Red Desert all that time. You know every square foot of that place, where all the best grass patches are, the good places to take shelter in blizzards, how far you can ride out and still get back before dark, etc. You are intimate with the land."

<figure><img src="image_41.png" /></figure>
What price do we
pay when we ignore
transgenerational
linkages to social
and biophysical
environments?

<figure><img src="image_42.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_43.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_44.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_45.png" /></figure>

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Learning the Value
of Plant Mixtures for Herbivores
<figure><img src="image_47.png" /></figure>

Explanations for
why animals eat a
variety of foods.

<figure><img src="image_48.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_49.png" /></figure>
Landscapes with diverse arrays of plants are nutrition centers and pharmacies with vast arrays of primary and secondary compounds.

<figure><img src="image_50.png" /></figure>

Nothing is more important for health through nutrition.
Livestock producers find that morbidity and mortality of stockers decrease...

<figure><img src="image_51.png" /></figure>

...when cattle forage on diverse mixtures of forages as opposed to monoculture pastures.
<figure><img src="image_52.png" /></figure>

Ray's cows
learned to...

"mix the best
with the rest"

Ray Bannister

rather than

<figure><img src="image_53.png" /></figure>

Boom-Bust Grazing

<figure><img src="image_54.png" /></figure>

"eat the best
and leave
the rest"
Learning to Create Complimentary
Plant Mixing at the Meal Scale
Biochemically diverse diets enable sequences that compliment one another, enhancing nutrition and health

(Seefeldt, 2005; Mote et al., 2008)

<figure><img src="image_55.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_56.png" /></figure>

bitterbrush (tannins) → sagebrush (terpenes)

An appetizer of bitterbrush helps the sagebrush go down.
Biochemically diverse diets enable sequences that compliment one another, enhancing nutrition and health

(Lyman *et al.* 2011, 2012)

<figure><img src="image_57.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_58.png" /></figure>

Trefoil (tannins)

<figure><img src="image_59.png" /></figure>

Endophyte-infected
Tall Fescue (alkaloids)

An appetizer of trefoil (sainfoin) helps the fescue go down.
# Managing Grazing...
from Conventional Set-stock
to Management-intensive Grazing
to Close Herding
<figure><img src="image_60.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_61.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_62.png" /></figure>
Conventional
continuous
grazing/set-stock
management
paradigms
and rules

<figure><img src="image_63.png" /><figcaption>Using fences as “Livestock-sitters”</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_64.png" /><figcaption>Animals not
expected to be
imaginative
or selective</figcaption></figure>
# Management-Intensive Grazing paradigms and rules (1/2)

(Gerrish, 2004)

* Emphasis on managing local grazing pressure

<figure><img src="image_65.png" /></figure>

* Fencing and movement are critical facets of intensifying management

* Emphasis on soil and plants responses

<figure><img src="image_66.png" /></figure>
# Management-Intensive Grazing paradigms and rules (2/2)

(Gerrish, 2004)

Some people now move livestock several times a day

<figure><img src="image_67.png" /></figure>

Growing emphasis on stress-free stockmanship

<figure><img src="image_68.png" /></figure>

Enhances plant mixing at day scale and performance of livestock
Close herding
paradigms and
rules (1/2)

<figure><img src="image_69.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_70.png" /></figure>

(Meuret and Provenza, 2014, 2015)

Acting as a guide
who relies on positive
reinforcement and a
relationship based
on mutual trust

<figure><img src="image_71.png" /></figure>

Designing grazing circuits to create
synergies among grazing patches
by meal sequencing

<figure><img src="image_72.png" /></figure>

Avoiding grazing
weariness that occurs
when diversity is too
narrow and overly
predictable
Close herding
paradigms and
rules (2/2)

<figure><img src="image_73.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_74.png" /></figure>

(Meuret and Provenza, 2014, 2015)

<figure><img src="image_75.png" /></figure>

A given section of land is considered by
a herder to be of good feeding value if the
grazing patches to include within the circuit
are effectively laid out relative to one other.
# Grazing Circuits

* ✓ Stimulate appetite/intake

* ✓ Target grazing to enhance/ maintain biodiversity

* ✓ Enable individuals to regulate intake of primary and secondary compounds

(Meuret and Provenza, 2015)

<figure><img src="image_76.png" /></figure>

## Meal Phases

**AM** Appetite Moderator

**AS** Appetite Stimulator

**FC** First Course on Target Area

**B** Booster

**SC** Second Course on Target Area

**D** Dessert
Offering forage diversity
enables individuality

<figure><img src="image_77.png" /></figure>
Variation among Goats

<figure><img src="image_78.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_79.png" /></figure>

(Provenza et al., 1990)
Variation among
breeds of cattle
and individuals
with respect to
larkspur toxicity

(Green et al., 2014)

<figure><img src="image_80.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_81.png" /></figure>
Looking Ahead
Furthering
the exchange of
knowledge between
farmers, herders and
scientists...

Timing of
Sequences

Mixing Plant
Compounds

<figure><img src="image_82.png" /></figure>

Reducing
Stress

Learning
Early in Life
Create new and
complimentary
“Grazing Resources”

...by rekindling
our relationships
with livestock and
landscapes, rather
than relying
on fences as
livestock-sitters.

<figure><img src="image_83.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_84.png" /></figure>