Editing Pasture

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Short description|Land used for grazing}}
{{Refimprove|date=October 2011}}
[[File:Landwirtschaft, Weidetiere - Hochalm.jpg|thumb|Mountain pasture in [[Switzerland]]]]

[[File:Green Pastures-02and (3150460590).jpg|thumb|Lush lowland pasture]]
'''Pasture''' (from the [[Latin]] ''pastus'', [[past participle]] of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for [[grazing]].<ref>{{MerriamWebsterDictionary|pasture}}</ref>

==Types of pasture==

Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of [[farmland]], grazed by domesticated [[livestock]], such as [[horse]]s, [[cattle]], [[sheep]], or [[Domestic pig|swine]]. The vegetation of tended pasture, [[forage]], consists mainly of [[grasses]], with an interspersion of [[legume]]s and other [[forb]]s (non-grass herbaceous plants). Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to [[meadow]] which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being [[mowing|mown]] to make [[hay]] for animal [[fodder]].<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Pasture|year=1905}}</ref>

Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes [[rangeland]]s, other unenclosed [[pastoralism|pastoral systems]], and land types used by wild animals for [[grazing]] or [[browsing (predation)|browsing]].
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of [[sowing|seeding]], [[irrigation]], and the use of [[fertilizer]]s, while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like [[controlled burn]]ing and regulated intensity of grazing.

[[Soil]] type, minimum annual [[temperature]], and [[rainfall]] are important factors in pasture management.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tracy |first=Benjamin F. |date=2000 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/a:1026536223478 |journal=Plant Ecology |volume=149 |issue=2 |pages=169–180 |doi=10.1023/a:1026536223478 |title=Patterns of plant species richness in pasture lands of the northeast United States |issn=1385-0237|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
[[File:World Agricultural Land by Use.svg|thumb|World agricultural land by use, permanent meadows and pastures and cropland]]
[[File:Pasture in Pennsylvania.jpg|thumb|Hillside pasture in Pennsylvania.]]
Sheepwalk is an area of [[grassland]] where [[sheep]] 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.<ref>R. Elfyn Hughes, "Sheep Population and Environment in Snowdonia (North Wales)", ''Journal of Ecology'' Vol. 46, No. 1, March 1958, 169-189</ref> Sheepwalk is also the name of townlands in [[County Roscommon]], [[Ireland]], and [[County Fermanagh]], [[Northern Ireland]]. Unlike [[factory farming]], which entails in its most intensive form entirely trough-feeding, managed or unmanaged pasture is the main food source for [[ruminants]]. 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]], [[goat]], [[antelope]], [[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]] and [[organic farming]]. Certain pasture types suit the diet, [[natural selection|evolution]], and metabolism of particular animals. 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]].<ref>[http://wle.cgiar.org/blog/2013/09/04/agricultural-biodiversitys-contribution-to-ecosystem-functions/ "Agricultural biodiversity’s contribution to ecosystem functions"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108221713/http://wle.cgiar.org/blog/2013/09/04/agricultural-biodiversitys-contribution-to-ecosystem-functions/ |date=2015-01-08 }} Dr. Devra I. Jarvis, [[CGIAR]]. Retrieved 2014-12-01</ref>

==Examples of pasture habitats==
* [[Bocage]]
* [[Grassland]]
* [[Heathland]]
* [[Machair (geography)|Machair]]
* [[Maquis shrubland|Maquis]]
* [[Moorland]]
* [[Pampas]]
* [[Potrero (landform)]]
* [[Prairie]]
* [[Rangeland]]
* [[Rough pasture]]
* [[Savanna]]
* [[Sown biodiverse pasture]]
* [[Steppe]]
* [[Wood pasture]]
* [[Veld]]
<gallery widths="250px" heights="250px">
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]] in [[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]] in [[Italy]]
</gallery>
{{wide image|GrazingCowsPasture.jpg|1800px|Grazing cattle on a pasture near [[Hradec nad Moravicí]] in the [[Czech Republic]]}}

==See also==
* [[Transhumance]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Commonscatinline|Pastures}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Livestock]]
[[Category:Agricultural land]]
[[Category:Grasslands]]


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