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Management Focus: Native Breeds to Prevent Rough Forage Dominance and Optimize Feed Conversion
Grassland Ecology Principle(s): Animal behavior/breed selection, succession
Target Species (if applicable): dominant reed (specific species updated shortly)
Location: Hortobagy National Park
Site and Management description:
A local herder uses the local Hungarian grey cattle to utilize reeds that are difficult for many animals to graze on. His experience is that the native breed, compared to Simental, exhibit improved forage use, and can better digest the feed (convert it to energy). He has also observed that they grey cattle use more reed in their diet. Modern breeds may have higher rates of gain but not utilize as much of the available local forage.
Key Management Strategy: select an appropriate breed well-suited to use available forage, and that can reduce inputs from intensively farmed areas elsewhere (i.e. hay)
Thoughts to Ruminate On: Is the breed or the management more important? Should governments and conservation organizations dictate breed selection? How should local ecological knowledge be taken into consideration?
Additional scientific resources: energy conversion by grey cattle, economics PhD evaluating gain and profitability of Simental v. Hungarian grey. Study: conservation breed/Simental comparison, the latter more profitable with faster gain, but better use of available forage by traditional breed