Pasture (from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language A classical language is a language A language is a structured system of communication Communication (from Latin ''communicare'', meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is "an appa ...

Latin

''pastus'',

past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb, nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a wo ...

of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for

grazing In agriculture Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domestication, domesticated spec ...

grazing

. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whe ...

, grazed by domesticated

livestock Livestock are the domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which one group of organisms assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another group to secure a more predictabl ...

, such as

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which one group of organisms assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another group to ...

horse

cattle Cattle, taurine cattle, Eurasian cattle, or European cattle (''Bos taurus'' or ''Bos primigenius taurus'') are large s. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily and the most widespread species of the genus '. In , adult females a ...

cattle

sheep Sheep (''Ovis aries'') are quadruped The zebra is a quadruped. Quadrupedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where a tetrapod Tetrapods (; from Greek 'four' and 'foot') are four-limbed animals constituting the superclass Tetrapo ...

sheep

, or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture,

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing In agriculture Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentism, sed ...

forage

, consists mainly of

grasses Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous Family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

grasses

, with an interspersion of

legume A legume () is a plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to Energy transformation, convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can ...

legume

s and other

forb A forb or phorb is a herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plant Vascular plants (from Latin ''vasculum'': duct), also known as Tracheophyta (the tracheophytes , from the Greek ''trācheia''), form a large group of plants ( 300,000 accepte ...

s (non-grass herbaceous plants). Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to

meadow A meadow (, ; ) is an open habitat Ibex in an alpine habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a p ...

meadow

which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make

hay Hay is grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family In human society, family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or ...

hay

for animal

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agricultural Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming ...

fodder

. Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes

rangeland File:Salsola tragus monoculture post restoration.JPG, 250px, Weeds are all that remains in Idaho after overgrazing, wildfires, and subsequent invasive species, invasion by introduced species, non-native species. Kali tragus, Russian thistle (''Kal ...

s, other unenclosed pastoral systems, and land types used by wild animals for

browsing Browsing is a kind of orienting strategy. It is supposed to identify something of relevance for the browsing organism. When used about human beings it is a metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers ...

. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of

seeding

irrigation Irrigation is the agricultural Agriculture is the science, art and practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated Domesti ...

, and the use of

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English American English (AmE, AE, AmEng, USEng, en-US), sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. Currently, American E ...

s, while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like

controlled burn A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest managementForest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall ad ...

ing and regulated intensity of grazing.

Soil Surface-water- gley developed in glacial till, Northern Ireland.">Northern_Ireland.html" ;"title="glacial till, Northern Ireland">glacial till, Northern Ireland. Soil is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms tha ...

Soil

type, minimum annual

temperature Temperature ( ) is a physical quantity that expresses hot and cold. It is the manifestation of thermal energy Thermal radiation in visible light can be seen on this hot metalwork. Thermal energy refers to several distinct physical concept ...

, and

rainfall Rain is liquid water in the form of droplet Raindrops in a plant. A drop or droplet is a small column of liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid In physics, a fluid is a substance that continually Deformation (mechani ...

are important factors in pasture management. Sheepwalk is an area of

grassland Grasslands are areas where the vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of species and the they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular , life forms, structure, extent, or any other specific or geographic ...

where

can roam freely. The productivity of sheepwalk is measured by the number of sheep per area. This is dependent, among other things, on the underlying rock. Sheepwalk is also the name of townlands in

County Roscommon County Roscommon ( ga, Contae Ros Comáin) is a county A county is a geographical region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certai ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel, the Irish Sea ...

Ireland

, and

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland, one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. The county covers an area of 1,691 k ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-ScotsUlster Scots, also known as Scotch-Irish, may refer to: * Ulster Scots people The Ulster Scots (Ulster-Scots The Ulster Scots (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster- ...

. Unlike

factory farming Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concer ...

, which entails in its most intensive form entirely trough-feeding, managed or unmanaged pasture is the main food source for

ruminants Ruminants (suborder In biological classification, the order ( la, wikt:ordo#Latin, ordo) is # a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes. The well-known ranks in descending order are: life, ...

. Pasture feeding dominates livestock farming where the land makes crop sowing or harvesting (or both) difficult, such as in arid or mountainous regions, where types of

camel A camel is an even-toed ungulate The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, ...

camel

goat The domestic goat or simply goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of typically kept as . It was from the (''C. aegagrus'') of and . The goat is a member of the animal family and the subfamily , meaning it is closely related ...

goat

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant Ruminants (suborder In biological classification, the order ( la, wikt:ordo#Latin, ordo) is # a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by ...

yak The domestic yak (''Bos grunniens'') is a type of long-haired domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which one group of organisms assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care o ...

yak

and other ruminants live which are well suited to the more hostile terrain and very rarely factory-farmed. In more humid regions, pasture grazing is managed across a large global area for

free range image:freerangechickens.jpg, 250px, A small flock of mixed free-range chickens being fed outdoors Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confi ...

and

organic farming Organic farming is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure Animal manure is often a mixture of animal feces and bedding straw, as in this example from a stable.">stable.html" ;"title="feces and ...

. Certain types of pasture suit the diet,

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of Phenotypic trait, traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, ...

and metabolism of particular animals, and their fertilising and tending of the land may over generations result in the pasture combined with the ruminants in question being integral to a particular

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

."Agricultural biodiversity’s contribution to ecosystem functions"
Dr. Devra I. Jarvis,

CGIAR CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites s engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food security, improve human h ...

CGIAR

. Retrieved 2014-12-01

Examples of pasture habitats

Grassland Grasslands are areas where the vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of species and the they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular , life forms, structure, extent, or any other specific or geographic ...

Heathland A heath () is a shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland m ...

Machair Machair (; sometimes machar in English) refers to a fertile low-lying grassy plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or on the doorsteps ...

* Maquis *

Moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat Ibex in an alpine habitat In ecology Ecology (from el, οἶκος, "house" and el, -λογία, label=none, "study of") is the study of the relationships between living organisms, includi ...

Potrero (landform) A potrero is a long mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Th ...

Prairie Wheatfield intersection in the Southern Saskatchewan prairies, Canada. Prairies are ecosystem An ecosystem is a community (ecology), community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interact ...

Rangeland File:Salsola tragus monoculture post restoration.JPG, 250px, Weeds are all that remains in Idaho after overgrazing, wildfires, and subsequent invasive species, invasion by introduced species, non-native species. Kali tragus, Russian thistle (''Kal ...

Rough pasture Rough pasture is non-intensive grazing pasture, commonly found on poor soils, especially in hilly areas, throughout the world. External linksHill Plan Examples
Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland Livestock {{agri-stub ...

Savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats ...

Savanna

Steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grassland ...

Steppe

Wood pasture Silvopasture (''silva'' is forest in Latin) is the practice of integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way. It utilizes the principles of Managed intensive rotational grazing, managed grazing, and ...

Veld Veld ( or ), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide open rural landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of , its s, and how they integrate with or man-made features.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape include ...

Veld

Red Hill Farm and fields - geograph.org.uk - 955276.jpg, Red Hill Farm and fields sheep pasture at Bredenbury, Herefordshire, England Beverley Minster from West Pasture.jpg, A pasture in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a county in Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England or simply the North, is the most northern area of England. There are three Regions ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. E ...

England

Bosco Chiesanuova (Grietz Dossetti Tinazzo) Lessinia VR Italy 2013-04-01 photo CTG ACA LESSINIA Paolo Villa 0055sp 04.jpg, Snowy pasture at

Bosco Chiesanuova Bosco Chiesanuova (; cim, Nuagankirchen; german: Neuenkirchen; vec, Cesanòa) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italy, Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about north of Verona. It is part of th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic ( it, Repubblica Italiana, links=no ), is a country consisting of a peninsula delimited by the Alps The Alps ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps; sl, Alpe ) are the highest ...

Italy

Notes

Livestock Agricultural land Grasslands {{Animal-stub

Examples of pasture habitats

See also

Notes