Pasture (from the Latinpastus, past participle of pascere, "to feed") is land used for grazing.[1] Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs (non-grass herbaceous plants). Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to meadow which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for animal fodder.[2] Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands, other unenclosed pastoral systems, and land types used by wild animals for grazing or browsing.
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers, while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like controlled burning and regulated intensity of grazing.
Sheepwalk is an area of grassland where sheep can roam freely. The productivity of sheepwalk is measured by the number of sheep per area. This is dependent, among other things, on the underlying rock.[4] Sheepwalk is also the name of townlands in County Roscommon, Ireland, and County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Unlike factory farming, which entails in its most intensive form entirely trough-feeding, managed or unmanaged pasture is the main food source for ruminants. Pasture feeding dominates livestock farming where the land makes crop sowing or harvesting (or both) difficult, such as in arid or mountainous regions, where types of camel, goat, antelope, yak and other ruminants live which are well suited to the more hostile terrain and very rarely factory-farmed. In more humid regions, pasture grazing is managed across a large global area for free range and organic farming. Certain types of pasture suit the diet, evolution and metabolism of particular animals, and their fertilising and tending of the land may over generations result in the pasture combined with the ruminants in question being integral to a particular ecosystem.[5]
pasture, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, october, 2011, lea. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Pasture news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message Pasture from the Latin pastus past participle of pascere to feed is land used for grazing 1 Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland grazed by domesticated livestock such as horses cattle sheep or swine The vegetation of tended pasture forage consists mainly of grasses with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs non grass herbaceous plants Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer in contrast to meadow which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for animal fodder 2 Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands other unenclosed pastoral systems and land types used by wild animals for grazing or browsing Mountain pasture in Switzerland Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of seeding irrigation and the use of fertilizers while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation managed with extensive practices like controlled burning and regulated intensity of grazing Soil type minimum annual temperature and rainfall are important factors in pasture management 3 Hillside pasture in Pennsylvania Sheepwalk is an area of grassland where sheep can roam freely The productivity of sheepwalk is measured by the number of sheep per area This is dependent among other things on the underlying rock 4 Sheepwalk is also the name of townlands in County Roscommon Ireland and County Fermanagh Northern Ireland Unlike factory farming which entails in its most intensive form entirely trough feeding managed or unmanaged pasture is the main food source for ruminants Pasture feeding dominates livestock farming where the land makes crop sowing or harvesting or both difficult such as in arid or mountainous regions where types of camel goat antelope yak and other ruminants live which are well suited to the more hostile terrain and very rarely factory farmed In more humid regions pasture grazing is managed across a large global area for free range and organic farming Certain types of pasture suit the diet evolution and metabolism of particular animals and their fertilising and tending of the land may over generations result in the pasture combined with the ruminants in question being integral to a particular ecosystem 5 Examples of pasture habitats EditGrassland Heathland Machair Maquis Moorland Potrero landform Prairie Rangeland Rough pasture Savanna Steppe Wood pasture Veld Red Hill Farm and fields sheep pasture at Bredenbury Herefordshire England A pasture in the East Riding of Yorkshire in England Snowy pasture at Bosco Chiesanuova in Italy Grazing cattle on a pasture near Hradec nad Moravici in the Czech RepublicSee also EditTranshumanceNotes Edit pasture Merriam Webster Dictionary Gilman D C Peck H T Colby F M eds 1905 Pasture New International Encyclopedia 1st ed New York Dodd Mead Tracy Benjamin F 2000 Plant Ecology 149 2 169 180 doi 10 1023 a 1026536223478 ISSN 1385 0237 http dx doi org 10 1023 a 1026536223478 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Missing or empty title help R Elfyn Hughes Sheep Population and Environment in Snowdonia North Wales Journal of Ecology Vol 46 No 1 March 1958 169 189 Agricultural biodiversity s contribution to ecosystem functions Archived 2015 01 08 at the Wayback Machine Dr Devra I Jarvis CGIAR Retrieved 2014 12 01 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pastures This animal related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pasture amp oldid 1143966406, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
