A technique to record automatically some aspects of grazing and ruminating behaviour in sheep

Penning, P. D.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2494.1983.tb01626.x

Cited by 90 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…A simple device for recording grazing activity in sheep or cattle on short swards, in terms of the lowering of the head to represent grazing, has been available for many years (Vibracorder, Kienzle Apparate GmbH, Villingen, Germany; Allden, 1962); tilt switches have also been used. Since such devices are not capable of recording individual bites, equipment has been developed to record jaw movements by various means, including pneumatic balloons, strain gauges and, more recently, a C-packed rubber tube which, upon stretching, exhibits a change in its electrical resistance (Penning, 1983). Microphones to monitor the sound of jaw activities have also been used (Laca et al 1994).…”

Section: Estimating Intake and Diet Composition From Behavioural Obsementioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of dietary nutrient intake in free-ranging mammalian herbivores

Mayes¹,

2000

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The nutrient intakes of mammalian herbivores depend on the amount and the nutrient content of the plant species and plant parts which they eat. We review the merits of oesophageal-®stulated (OF) animals, microhistological procedures, stable C-isotope discrimination and plant cuticular-wax markers as methods for estimating diet composition and intake in both ruminant and non-ruminant herbivores. We also brie¯y discuss methods based on grazing behaviour measurements or on H 2 O or Na turnover, and methods for estimating supplement or soil intake. Estimates of intake in ruminants are often based on separate measurements of faecal output and herbage digestibility. We review this approach and emphasize that, under some circumstances, the applicability of in vitro digestibility estimates based on OF extrusa is questionable. We discuss how plant-wax marker patterns can be used to check whether OF and test animals are consuming similar diets, but also emphasize that a major advantage of the use of plant-wax markers is that this approach may obviate altogether the need for OF animals. Estimates of total herbage intake can be partitioned into the intakes coming from different plant species and=or parts, provided diet composition can be measured. Diet composition estimates based on C-isotope discrimination have the major disadvantage that they cannot be taken to species level. By contrast, microhistological methods can identify many plant species in extrusa, digesta or faeces, but often a large proportion of plant fragments remains unidenti®able. Plant-wax hydrocarbons show great promise as markers for estimating diet composition and intake. However, we suggest that to be applicable in complex plant communities there is a need with this method either to recruit a wider range of wax markers (e.g. alcohols, sterols, fatty acids) or to use it in combination with other methods. We suggest that, in turn, this generates an urgent need for research on statistical aspects of the combined use of markers or methods, in relation to the error structures of the data or methods being combined and the standard errors of the resultant estimates of diet composition and intake. We conclude by discussing the extension of intake and=or diet Abbreviation: OM, organic matter.

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Section: Estimating Intake and Diet Composition From Behavioural Obsementioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement of dietary nutrient intake in free-ranging mammalian herbivores

Mayes¹,

2000

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“…Further study of the data presented by Penning (1983) and observations of grazing animals showed that jaw movements whilst the sheep were biting herbage produced signals of a lower amplitude than those associated with masticating, i.e. chewing the herbage just harvested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Further development and use of an automatic recording system in sheep grazing studies

Penning¹,

Steel²,

Johnson³

1984

Grass and Forage Science

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Comparisons between some aspects of grazing and ruminating behaviour by sheep recorded automatically and by manual observation are reported.Behaviour was recorded manually and automatically on four swards with surface heights of 3, 6. 9 and 12 cm. The automatic recording method gave significantly higher biting rates (78 v 67 + 2-4 bites min^') than manual recording. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed. For recordings during ruminating there was no significant difference between the two recording methods.As sward surface height increased biting rate decreased by 4-6 (±0-65) and 2 9 (±0-87) bites min"' cm~', and masticating rate increased by 4-5 (± 113) and 3 7 (±0-95) chews min'' cm"' for the manual and automatic recording methods respectively.It is concluded that the automatic recording system gives higher rates for jaw movements during grazing than manual recording but there is little difference between the two methods for activities recorded during ruminating.

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“…On 1 d during each period, when no other experimental measurements were being taken, the sheep were fitted with jaw recorders (Penning, 1983), to record automatically each animal's chewing and ruminating activity throughout one 24 h period. The recorders were fixed to the sheep at least 30 min before the starch was administered, and were removed 24 h later.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of supplementation with maize starch and level of intake of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne cv. Endura) hay on the removal of digesta from the rumen of sheep

1986

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1. Eight wether sheep were offered a diet of perennial ryeigrass (Loliumperenne cv. Endura) hay once daily at two levels of intake (1 1 and 16.5 g dry matter (DM)/kg live weight (LW)) with or without maize starch (175 g DM/kg hay DM). The experiment consisted of four periods. each lasting 32 d. Rates of digestion of the hay were measured by incubation in dacron bags and rates of passagc using chromium-mordanted hay. Rumen pool sizes of DM, organic matter and fibre were measured by emptying the rumen.2. The inclusion of starch in the diet appeared to increase significantly (P < 0.01) the lag phase before the start of fibre digestion, as observed both in the dacron bag studies and in the slower initial disappearance of digestible neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) from the rumen recorded by emptying of rumen contents. However, there was no significant effect of starch on apparent digestibility of fibre in the whole tract.3. The main effect of increasing the level of feeding wax, to increase the rate of passage with a consequent decrease in overall digestibility. The fractional rate of passage increased from 0.0318 to 0.0400 as the level of feeding increased, while apparent digestibility of NDF decreased from 0.755 to 0,724.4. On all treatments the weight of indigestible fibre in the rumen remained more or less constant between 5, 10 and 15 h after feeding, but was significantly lower at 24 h. These results suggest that a high proportion of the outflow of material from the rumen not associated with feeding appears to occur during the second half of the feeding cycle.The quantity of digesta present in the rumen can be an important factor in influencing the voluntary intake of roughage diets by ruminants (Balch & Campling, 1969). Roughages contain a high level of fibre and since the rate of digestion of fibre is slower than that of other fractions (Van Soest, 1975), factors affecting this rate may thus be implicated in intake control. The effect of soluble carbohydrates in depressing cellulolysis is well documented (El-Shady et al. 1961; Terry et al. 1969;Mertens & Loften, 1980) and often leads to a depression in voluntary intake. However, the relation between this depression and rumen volume has not been studied in detail.The relation between rumen pool sizes and intake level has been studied by a number of workers, mainly with diets of oat straw (Pearce, 1967) , 1984;Ulyatt et al. 1984). The increase in rumen pool size has generally been less than the increase in intake, presumably due to the increase in rate of passage as intake level increased. The effect of concentrate: forage on the rate of passage is not clear, since Uden (1984) observed no effect of an increased ratio while Colucci et al. (1982) reported higher rates of passage with high-forage diets compared with low-forage diets.or forages (Moseley & JonesThe experiment reported here was designed to study the effects of supplementation of a forage diet with starch and to see how the responses obtained were influenced by level of feeding. The responses measured w...

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A technique to record automatically some aspects of grazing and ruminating behaviour in sheep

Cited by 90 publications

References 10 publications

Measurement of dietary nutrient intake in free-ranging mammalian herbivores

Measurement of dietary nutrient intake in free-ranging mammalian herbivores

Further development and use of an automatic recording system in sheep grazing studies

The effect of supplementation with maize starch and level of intake of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne cv. Endura) hay on the removal of digesta from the rumen of sheep

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