Staff Information

Name:

Masahito Kawai

Job Title:

Associate Professor

E-mail:

m_kawai@fsc.hokudai.ac.jp

URL:

http://www.fsc.hokudai.ac.jp/center/shizunai/

Summary:

Hokkaido native horses, which were established over about two centuries on Hokkaido island located in the northern part of Japan, is one of the kinds of Japanese horses. They have been believed to have high resistance to cold as well as outstanding ability to digest low quality roughage. Therefor, they have been kept outdoors all year round, including woodland pasture during winter, and graze on sasa growing under trees. Japanese shorthorn is one of the kinds of Japanese cattle “Wagyu”. They have been believed to have considerable aptitude for grazing and kept in the roughage main constituent including grazing pasture from spring to autumn. I’m studying for achieving sustainable horse and beef-cattle production system by the pasturage main constituent including woodland. My research topics are clarifying the nutritional and behavioral characteristics of grazing horses and cattle to perform effective animal production by using grazing system.

Keywords:

Agronomy, Livestock, Field work, Forest, Farmland, behavior, grassland, grazing pasture