Adaptive management for improving livestock production and grassland conservation in pastoral Qinghai, China

Abstract Balancing grassland conservation with livestock production often involves trade-offs, yet synergy can be achieved through strategic adjustments in herder behaviors for livestock husbandry, particularly in regions dominated by traditional extensive grazing practices where investigations into optimal solutions that reconcile ecological and economic benefits remain limited. In this study, the grassland‒livestock balance at the county level in Qinghai Province, a relatively high-elevation pastoral landscape with extensive grazing and grassland degradation, is systematically explored, and the impacts of optimizing off-take schedules and enhancing supplementary feeding on the efficiency of livestock husbandry are investigated. An integrated evaluation model for assessing the dynamics between forage supply and demand was developed, and three management strategies and five simulated scenarios were used to investigate the impacts of adaptive managements. Our findings revealed that traditional livestock herding practices, characterized by excessive grazing and no (or limited) supplementary feeding during cold seasons, resulted in substantial forage waste and exacerbated grassland degradation. The adoption of early off-take practices could increase production efficiency by as much as 36%, whereas the integration of supplementary feeding could increase production efficiency by 118%, particularly in high-elevation pastoral communities. However, considering the substantial costs of feed transportation, the integrated supplementary feeding mode, while increasing livestock production relative to the early off-take strategy, ultimately reduced the potential economic benefits. This study highlights the need for institutional reforms that provide policy incentives for behavioral transitions among herders, coupled with improvements in transport infrastructure and market accessibility to increase the supplementary feed supply.