(Isfahan University of Technology)

1. (Isfahan University of Technology) Animal nutrition on the rangeland (Part 1) Prepared by: Dr A. Riasi ariasi@cc.iut.ac.ir http://riasi.iut.ac.ir

2. Domestication history of ruminants

3. Domestication history of ruminants Photo of the site of Ganj Dareh, Kermanshah Valley, Iran under excavation in the 1970s. New research confirms that this site contains the earliest directly dated evidence of livestock domestication in the world. (Photo supplied by Brian Hesse, University of Alabama at Birmingham).

4. Animals productions for humans • Basic Human Needs • Food: meat, milk, eggs • Clothing: wool, hair, hides, pelt • Work & power: draft, pack, guide and guard • Shelter: hides

5. Animals productions for humans • Fuels: fats, oils, manure • Emotional well being: companion animals • Miscellaneous: entertainment (racing, zoo, circus, bull fights), currency, fertilizers, gelatin, cosmetics, soaps, lubricants, etc.

6. Ruminant animals

7. Why ruminants are important for human? اهمیت اقتصادی پرورش گوسفند و بز • نقش گوسفند و بز در اقتصاد کشورهای در حال توسعه • تعداد دام های سبک ایران 72 میلیون راس • نقش عشایر کوچنده در تولید محصولات دامی: • تولید بیش از 100000 تن گوشت قرمز در سال • تولید 120 تا 140 هزار تن محصولات لبنی در سال

8. Why ruminants are important for human?

9. Why grazing animals are important? • Have the ability to digest and metabolize cellulose, or plant fiber. • Convert plant carbohydrates and proteins into available nutrients for human use. • Making unusable land productive. • Control weeds or harvest crop residues. • Added source of income.

10. Why we should know about the grazing animal nutrition? • In grazing situations, ruminant nutrition affected by different biological and climatological variables: • Plant species, • Forage stage of maturity, • Soil fertility and water holding capacity, • Annual and seasonal precipitation, • Mean temperature and etc.

11. What are seven principles of ruminant nutrition? 1- Ruminants are adapted to use forage because of microbes in their rumen. 2- To maintain ruminant health and productivity, feed the rumen microbes, which in turn will feed the ruminant. 3- Ruminant nutrition needs change depending on age, stage of production, and weather.

12. What are seven principles of ruminant nutrition? 4- Adequate quantities of green forage can supply most- if not all- the energy and protein a ruminant needs. 5- Forage nutritional composition changes depending on plant maturity, species, season, moisture, and grazing system.

13. What are seven principles of ruminant nutrition? 6- Supplementation may be necessary when grass is short, too mature, dormant, or if animal needs require it (high-producing dairy animal). 7- Excessive supplementation may reduce the ability of the rumen microbes to use forage.

14. Why the rangelands are important for grazer ruminants' nutrition?

15. Why the rangelands are important for grazer ruminants' nutrition? • Arable land in the world, or land that is capable of being cultivated, are limited. • Grasses, clovers and other forbs, shrubs, and even some trees serve as forage for livestock. • Grasslands and rangelands occupy a large proportion of the world land area.

16. Why the rangelands are important for grazer ruminants' nutrition? • Ranchers are in the business of converting sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into a high-quality human food source. • Literally millions of tons of plant derived food energy are harvested off arable lands each year in the world.

17. Why the rangelands are important for grazer ruminants' nutrition? • Grazing of native and introduced forages on grasslands and rangeland thus is a very efficient way of converting otherwise non-digestible energy into forms available for human use. • The principal attribute describing grassland ecosystems and ruminant nutrition isinterconnectivity.

18. Why the rangelands are important for grazer ruminants' nutrition? • Soil populations of microorganisms recycle nutrients and make otherwise unavailable nutrients available for plant uptake. • Animals occupy a niche and complete the nutrient cycle by returning up to 90 percent of ingested nutrients back to the soil. • Humans play an important role in this system as well.