Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Animal Sciences
Ciszewskiego st. 8, 02-786 Warsaw, Poland
EXTENSIVE GRAZING
OF POLISH HEATH SHEEP
ON PASTURES ESTABLISHED
ON FALLOW LANDS
GENERAL MEETING
OF THE EUROPEAN
GRASSLAND FEDERATION
IN
NORTH-WEST POLAND
EGF 2012 LUBLIN POLAND 3-7 June 2012
1
Strzelec E., Głowacz K., Niżnikowski R.,
Łozicki A., Klimaszewski K., Popielarczyk D., Poleszczuk O.
Pre-Conference Workshop A: Innovations in Grazing
Lublin, 3 June 2012
GRAZING SHEEP IN POLAND – SOME FACTS
Declining sheep population in
Poland:


Total no of sheep in 2011 - 212 740 hds
Total no of ewes in 2011 - 143 823 hds 1
350000
300000
R² = 0,9216
250000
1
Heads

200000
150000
100000
50000



0
Average flock size in 2010 2 :
66.4 registered ewes per flock
(1064 flocks in total)
Grazing sheep:

Year
all sheep

During vegetation period
(MayOctober):



2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Lowlands – 180-200 days
Mountains – 110-150 days
Permanent pastures
ewes
Wielob. (all sheep)
Systems:


Podhale (Tatry mountain) - sheep combined in one
flock and grazed on mountain pastures (with
guard); gathering in pen for nights
Lowlands and others – guarding grazing, sheep
come to barns for nights
2
1 - http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus ; 2 – PZO – Polish Union of Sheep Farmers
DISTRIBUTION OF SHEEP POPULATION
DUE TO THE REGION OF POLAND IN 2011 1
Southern region
Northern
10784
Eastern
Northwestern
Central
Eastern region
18775
64863
Northern region
32521
Eastern
North-western region
South-western
Central region
35068
50729
Southern
South-western region
3
1 - http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus
LANDS STRUCTURE IN POLAND1
orchards
fallowed lands
forests and woodlands
arable areas
meadows and pastures
000 ha
15000
10000
5000
0
year
2011
000 ha
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
10576,0
3291,0
362,1
orchards
1 - http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus
1107,5
no data
fallowed meadows forests
lands
and
and
pastures woodlands
arable
areas
4
5
THE RESEARCH
SHORT DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH IDEA


Aim:
 Investigation of nutritional value of pastures established on
fallow lands for extensive grazing of primitive sheep breeds
Focal points:
 Analysis of herbage – botanical and chemical
 Estimation of productivity and nutritional value of this areas
 Growth performance of Polish Heath Sheep under extensive
conditions of grazing
6
MATERIALS AND METHODS

Polish Heath Sheep (ewes and lambs) – ~100 ewes/yr

Three repeats: 2006-2008

North-western part of Poland

Pastures established on fallowed lands surrounded by
woodlands – 50 ha, no additional fertilizations;

Grazing: 0,2 LSU/ha

Vegetetion period: May October

Places of plant sampling: ~5% of total area

Herbage samples: 4 x yr and 4 x different places per
year (48 samples in total)

Weighting of ewes and lambs: 2 x yr
(Spring/Autumn);
only ewes with lambs born before grazing season
started

Statistics:


General linear models (SPSS v.10)
7
Effects of:
month of vegetation period + year of experiment + place of
sampling (herbage) or sex (animals) + double factors’ interactions.
8
RESULTS
EFFECT OF VEGETATION
MONTH ON BOTANICAL COMPOSITION
OF HERBAGE
100
90
80
B
May (A)
b
June/July (B)
August (C )
September/October (D)
Ac
70
60
%
50
40
30
20
10
c
0
Poaceae
aD
C
Asteraceae
Fabaceae
Dicotyledoneae
Group of plants
Statistical significance at: a, ..., d – P<0.05; A,…,D – P<0.01
Equisetaceae
Cyperaceae et
Juncaceae
9
EFFECT OF VEGETATION
MONTH ON PASTURE YIELD(A),
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION(B) AND FIBRE FRACTIONS(C) OF HERBAGE
t dm/ha
A
B
2,5
May
2
40
1,5
35
2,13
1
0,5
0
AcD
0,79
B
b
0,88
B
August
September/October
acD
b
30
1,37
June/July
b
B
25
% 20
15
AcD
B b B
10
bcD a
5
AA
ACD
B BB
0
Dry matter Crude ash
Pasture yield
C
May
June/July
25
15
Ether
extract
August
Crude fibre
N-free
extracts
September/October
cd
20
%
Crude
protein
b
aCD
b
B
b
B
10
5
B
ACD
B
0
ADF
Statistical significance at: a, ..., d – P<0.05; A,…,D – P<0.01
NDF
ADL
B
10
EFFECT OF VEGETATION
PERIOD ON BODY WEIGHTS
OF EWES AND LAMBS
Live
body weights
of:
Lambs (kg)
Vegetation period:
LSM
SE
Ewes (kg)
LSM
SE
N
Beginning
End
9,13
19,98**
0,55
0,55
31,06
35,68
2,50
2,50
240
192
Statistical significance at: ** - P<0.01
11
CONCLUSIONS





Month of vegetative period affected botanical composition of pastures
(Poaceae and Asteraceae) as well as average pasture yield.
Sufficient environmental conditions for rearing lambs were observed.
Average body weight of lambs at the end of grazing season was
significantly higher comparing to the beginning.
No significant increase of body weights of ewes during grazing season
was observed.
Maintaining studied area as a permanent grassland could be perfectly
realized via extensive grazing of Polish Heath Sheep.
12
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
13
This work has been supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project no. 2 P06Z 069 29).