Supplemental feeding and its variation by herd size at an extensive livestock production system in the steppe zone of Mongolia

摘要

A field study was conducted in Uvrhangai prefecture in 2011 where the data of 64 herder households were summarized.Most of the herders supplied feed to their animals;hay and wheat bran, energy and protein sources, respectively, were the most representative feeds, but the amounts were restricted.Furthermore, nearly all herders wanted to increase the amounts.The actual situation was related to the accessibility to the feeds;the herders with less animals tended to prepare more feed per animal and wanted to increase the amounts to increase herd size.The majority of the herders recognized feeds should be reserved by themselves, and expected governments to support implementation for the preparation, particularly for the hay.The results indicated the importance of establishing feeding management systems considering the socio-ecological features of the area and the herders, along with the development of feed preparation technologies and capacity building.