Gestión de recursos alimenticios para la caza mayor en los Montes de Toledo

Abstract

Big game is a very interesting alternative to traditional livestock in Mediterranean mountain áreas. However, in comparison with it, it is affected by important problems of sustainability: difficult control of animal movements and browsing; necessity of shelter (dense woody vegetation); scarcity and intra- and interannual variability of food availability; problems related to farm fencing, etc.. As a consequence, efficient management techniques are requiered to achieve the optimum stocking rate compatible with the perpetuation of woody vegetation. This paper offers some data on the most important features of big game management systems in Mediterranean Spain, and suggests a fodder resource use model for them. It is aimed at reducing browsing to a mínimum through a rational and integrated use of fodder resources coming from natural and artificial grasslands and agricultural crops, all of them used by grazing. Artificial feeding may be useful in particularly adverse years though it brings up important disadvantages; therefore, it should not be used as a usual feeding resource for big game. The paper concludes offering information on the utilization of the above mentioned fodder resource use model in a concrete farm located in the Toledo mountain range (Central Spain).