Twins Of The Pasture Crack And Patch \/\/FREE\\\\
Fajar Roux
This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of offering ewes two different feeding levels, during mid and late pregnancy, on ewe and lamb behaviour 12 to 24 h after birth. Romney ewes, bearing twin (n = 80) or triplet foetuses (n = 56), were allocated to a pasture sward height of 2 or 4 cm between 70 and 107 days of pregnancy. In late pregnancy (day 107 to 147), half of the ewes were reallocated the alternate sward height, which produced four treatments: 2-2, 2-4, 4-2 and 4-4. Ewes were weighed on days 65, 92, 107 and 130 of pregnancy and lamb live weights were recorded 12 to 24 h after birth. Twelve to 24 h after birth the maternal behaviour score (MBS) of the ewes were determined, whilst their lambs were tagged. After the lambs were released, the behaviour of each ewe and her lambs was observed for 5 min. Ewe treatment and litter size had no effect on ewe MBS. However, as MBS increased (ewes stayed closer to lambs during tagging), ewes bleated less in a high-pitch and were quicker to make contact with their lamb. During the observation period, ewes in the 4-4 treatment had a greater percentage of their bleats in a low pitch (P < 0.05) than ewes in the 2-2 and 4-2 treatment (61.3% v. 41.3% and 38.8% low bleats, respectively) and more lambs born to 4-4 ewes (95%) bleated than lambs born to 2-2 ewes (84%; P < 0.05). However, lambs born to ewes in the 2-2 treatment bleated earlier than lambs in all other treatments (P < 0.05). Lambs born to 4-4 ewes were less likely (P < 0.05) to move towards their dam in order to make contact than lambs born to 2-2 or 4-2 ewes (3.1% v. 16.9% and 16.7%, respectively). These findings suggest that under the conditions of the present study, ewe nutrition had little effect on maternal behaviour. However, lambs born to ewes offered 2 cm pasture sward heights during mid and/or late pregnancy (2-2, 2-4 and 4-2 treatments) displayed behaviour that demonstrated greater 'need' whereas lambs born to ewes offered 4 cm during mid and late pregnancy sought less attention from their dam.
The production of meat and wool through sheep farming is essential to the South African livestock industry. Therefore, pasture management is crucial in sheep production. Pasture management is the process of maintaining and keeping pastures in good condition. Small-scale livestock farmers experience significant losses because of decreased productivity caused by decline in pasture production brought on by climate change. Because pastures are reliant on weather, climate change has a significant impact on pasture management thus farmers struggle to keep their sheep alive. Technology in livestock farming introduced the idea of "smart farming," which has simplified and reduced the costs in pasture management. Connectivity, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics are just a few of the cutting-edge technology techniques that smart farming incorporates. However, the challenge is to use this technology effectively to minimize the environmental impact, ecological systems and the atmosphere. Thus, digital twin technology is proposed in this study to alleviate the challenge of changing weather patterns that affect pasture management. Digital twin development includes smart farming technologies, and research demonstrates digital twins can identify and foresee problems before they arise. Hence, due to changing weather patterns, a digital twin model is developed to predict pasture height to ascertain the predicted amount of pasture and ensure that the sheep have access to enough food for sustainable production. Pasture growth is influenced by temperature, rainfall and soil moisture; thus, pasture height predictions depend on these factors. Thus, in this study, digital twin is made of predictive models built on historical and real-time data collected from the IoT sensors and stored in ThingSpeak cloud. Regression and neural network machine learning algorithms were investigated to perform the predictions. Digital shadow development was the preliminary stage in developing a digital twin. Data analysis was performed in MATLAB using the selected algorithm and predictions of the system are modelled in SIMULINK platform. Digital twin can serve to enhance pasture management through its capabilities to monitor pasture in real-time and perform pasture height projections for the future that assist in decision making.
Another problem with twins is that even if the cow can feed both calves, she sometimes will not notice that only one calf has followed her, leaving the other somewhere in the pasture. This understandably drives a rancher crazy!
I have a low cost, low labor management style on my farm that can be successfully followed by anyone raising Cluns. My sheep are kept on pasture all year round. From April to November they are rotated between small grazing paddocks every week so that they are never on the same patch of grass more than once a month. Once they have completed an entire rotation they are wormed (usually once a month). They have free access to water and a salt and mineral mix at all times. The pastures consist of orchard grass, perennial rye grass, and white clover mixed with native forbs and grasses (i.e., weeds). The sheep are checked daily, but receive no additional food or attention.
Physical description of and livestock management information for the Twin River Provincial Grazing Reserve. Includes a map showing access routes and trails in the reserve, and contact information for gaining access to the reserve. Provincial grazing reserves provide farmers and ranchers with summer pasture for their livestock on public land. The reserves may also offer a variety of recreational opportunities, such as cross-country skiing, hiking, hunting, sightseeing, snowmobiling, and trail riding.
Pasture refers to a well managed grazing system containing improved grasses and some legumes. There should be several small pastures so that rotational grazing can be practiced. With a good pasture system, sheep should be able to eat all the fresh herbage they want every day. A good pasture has lime applied as needed and is fertilized every year. Over 90% of all sheep pastures in this area do not qualify as good pasture, so be honest with yourself.
Flushing simply means providing a little extra feed for your brood ewes prior to the breeding season. Research has shown that ewes on an increasing plane of nutrition during the breeding season are more likely to have twins. Two weeks prior to the breeding season start giving the ewes 1/4 to 1/2 pound of corn or other feed each day. Lush pasture can also be used but avoid pasture with a high percentage of red clover - it adversely affects reproduction. Continue flushing 2 to 3 weeks into the breeding season and then discontinue. Do not flush fat ewes, as you will only be compounding reproductive problems.
As with the first feeding period, the ewe's needs can be met with the cheaper mixed hay and that is the most economical feed for this period. However, many ewes cannot eat large amounts of hay in this stage of pregnancy, because the lambs take up most of the space in her abdomen. Therefore, most shepherds cut back on the amount of hay and increase grain. This also helps avoid Pregnancy Toxemia. Several rations with reduced hay and some grain are listed. Good pasture will still meet the ewe's needs during these periods if it is available, and if she can consume enough with the limited gut capacity during pregnancy. By the time the lambs are eight weeks old, the ewe's milk production has dropped off and her nutritional needs can usually be met with good pasture.
There is no other time in a ewe's life when her nutrient requirements are higher than when she is nursing twins. This period requires a great deal of high quality feed. As in the previous examples pasture is included in the event you are on a lambing system where the lambs are born during warm weather. Pure grass pastures will be a little short on protein, but not critically short. A grass pasture with a small amount of clover will meet all energy and protein requirements.
Mature rams can get by on pasture or hay through the entire year, except during breeding season. Depending on the number of ewes he is breeding and his size, a ram may need a little corn or 14% feed to keep him in shape during the breeding season.
This year, they were recognized for their efforts with the New England Green Pastures Award for the state of Maine. Each year, one farm from each of the New England states is selected. These farms are chosen based on pasture quality and forage management, production, herd, milk quality, financial stability, and community involvement.
Smart farming concepts have transformed the farming sector. Smart farming allows enhanced management of farms using technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics to increase the produce while minimizing human involvement. The evolution of IoT technology allows the use of intelligent sensors to collect and analyze farm data for improved management approach. IoT-based systems produce a huge amount of farm data that is been easily managed by the idea of big data. Big data provide easy collection of data with large storage capacity supplied on the cloud. The objective of implementing smart farming systems is to escalate productivity and sustainability. However, even though the idea of trying to ease the farm operations is a success, there are challenges that are brought by the use of these newer technological methods. With the focus on livestock farming, this paper reviews the current IoT pasture management systems implemented for better management of farm operations. The paper also reveals the applications of digital twins in farming to address the problems created by smart farming.
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