Ranchers or pastoralists? Farm size, specialisation and production strategy amongst cattle farmers in south-eastern Kazakhstan

Pastoralism

Research, Policy and Practice

Table 1 Metrics of scale and input intensification used to create clusters based on feeding strategy

Metrics	Explanation
Scale
Cattle (head)	Number of cattle owned
Livestock unit	Total livestock ownership (all species)*
Supplementary feed/fodder
Concentrate purchased (kg/head/year)	Including grains and root crops
Concentrate grown (kg/head/year)	Including grains and root crops
Roughage purchased (kg/head/year)	Including natural hay**, silage, cultivated hays (sainfoin, lucerne) and crop residues
Roughage produced (kg/head/year)	Including natural hay, silage, cultivated hays (sainfoin, lucerne) and crop residues
Area of arable land used	Arable land was defined as land for growing crops
Pasture use and livestock mobility
Pasture used (ha)	The question asked about formal access to pasture in terms of contracts. So does not include the use of village pasture.
Time spent on off-village pasture (months)	Number of months spent on pastures other than those common pastures around the village for which residents have common grazing rights.

• Based on standard Kazakh sheep units (sheep and goat = 1 LU, horse = 6 LU and cattle = 5 LU)
**Natural hay is a mix of natural grass species occurring on uncultivated but ungrazed land set aside for this purpose. Cultivated hays are planted on arable land parcels and are generally perennial species such as lucerne