Effect of breed, season and pasture moisture gradient on foraging behaviour in cattle on semi-natural grasslands

Hessle, Anna; Rutter, S. M.; Wallin, Karin

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.05.017

Cited by 50 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Compared with botanical composition, season significantly affected percent Grasses, which were lower in summer (P , 0.05) and Composites (P , 0.05), which increased in summer. In agreement with Hessle et al (2008), in both pasture and hand-plucked samples chemical composition was affected by season. In particular, DM (P , 0.001), crude fibre (P , 0.01) and NDF (P , 0.05) increased during summer as compared with spring.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 81%

Podolian beef production on pasture and in confinement

Braghieri

Pacelli

Rosa

et al. 2011

Animal

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the effect of rearing system (confined (C) v. free ranging (FR)) and season (spring v. summer) was evaluated on behaviour, immune and blood parameters and beef production (experiment 1). From February to August 2008, the effect of rearing system was only evaluated on beef production (experiment 2). A total of 12 Podolian young bulls were used each year. They were slaughtered at 18 and 15 months of age in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Herbage mass and pasture composition were monitored during the 2 years. Pasture availability, in terms of herbage mass and composition, as well as its seasonal development, was similar in the 2 years. In the first experiment, FR animals spent more time walking ( P , 0.05), feeding ( P , 0.001) and standing ( P , 0.01) and showed a lower number of agonistic ( P , 0.05) and non-agonistic social interaction than C animals ( P , 0.01). Significant lower concentrations of serum urea nitrogen ( P , 0.001) and creatinine ( P , 0.10) in FR animals indicated a lower protein nutritional status due to inadequate protein availability at pasture. As a consequence, average daily gains ( P , 0.05), slaughter weight ( P , 0.05) and body condition score ( P , 0.01) were lower in grazing animals as compared with C bulls. Cellular immune responsiveness was higher in FR animals ( P , 0.05). Similarly, antibody titre to keyhole limpet hemocyanin was higher in FR bulls at the 2nd and 3rd month after antigen injection ( P , 0.05), whereas it tended to be higher at the 4th month ( P , 0.10). In both experiments, grazing negatively affected meat colour in terms of lightness. Eighteenmonth-old bulls also showed lower final weight, weight gain and body conditions when kept outdoor: a possible consequence of nutrient deficits, as suggested by the metabolic status of FR animals. The same animals, however, benefited from FR in terms of natural behaviour expression and immune responsiveness. When the experiment was replicated the subsequent year, on animals slaughtered at 15 months of age, no differences between the performances of FR and C animals were detected. The earlier slaughter age system was also proportionally less dependent on external inputs as grazing was not extended to the dry season when herbage mass availability was lower.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 81%

Podolian beef production on pasture and in confinement

Braghieri

Pacelli

Rosa

et al. 2011

Animal

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“…In this study, herbage from Cyperaceae‐rich wet areas had a higher NDF concentration than herbage from herb‐rich dry areas (Table 1) which may be a reason for only half of the areas of the two dominating plant species in the wet areas, D. cespitosa and J. effusus , being grazed. As reported elsewhere (Hessle et al. , 2007), the heifers spent only 0·09, 0·05 and 0·08 of their foraging time in the wet areas in spring, summer and autumn respectively.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Effect of breed of cattle and season on diet selection and defoliation of competitive plant species in semi‐natural grasslands

Hessle

Wissman

Bertilsson

et al. 2008

Grass and Forage Science

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To maintain biodiversity in semi-natural grasslands, the choice of breed of livestock and season of grazing can be important. The objective was to determine the effects of breed and season on the composition of plant fragments in the faeces of cattle grazing a heterogeneous seminatural grassland. Twelve heifers of the traditional Swedish Vä neko breed (live weight 309 kg) and twelve heifers of the Charolais breed (live weight 431 kg) were allocated to three pastures per breed. Faeces samples were collected in spring, summer and autumn for micro-histological examination of plant fragments. On the same occasion, defoliation of four competitive plant species was recorded. Faecal plant fragments mainly consisted of grasses but also herbs, whereas Cyperaceae, despite their abundance on the pastures, only composed a small proportion of fragments. Season affected the composition of plant fragments in the faeces, with a higher proportion of Cyperaceae and herbs in spring than later in the grazing period (P < 0AE001), and the heifers ingesting more grasses and woody plants in autumn. In spite of a clear difference in live weight between the two breeds, no effects of breed on the composition of plant fragments in faeces were observed, although Vä neko heifers defoliated more Filipendula ulmaria in spring than the Charolais heifers (P < 0AE01). In addition, defoliation of Alnus glutinosa increased later in the grazing period (P < 0AE05), especially for the Vä neko heifers, indicating control of pernicious brushwood by grazing may be more effective in autumn.

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“…On average, over the whole experiment CHA cows tended to walk more horizontal and vertical distances than AxL and LUI (Table 4). These results differed from those reported by Hessle et al (2008), probably due to the fact that they used a smaller grazing area (2.2 to 4.1 ha), younger cattle (8 mo old), and more homogeneous vegetation than those in the present study. With 6-to 9-yr-old lactating beef cows, Funston et al (1991) observed that Simmental × Hereford cows tended to walk longer distances than pure Hereford and its crosses with Aberdeen Angus even though no differences in BW were reported.…”

Section: Activitycontrasting

confidence: 99%

Does diverse grazing behavior of suckler cows have an impact on predicted methane emissions?1

Ricci

Umstätter

Holland

et al. 2014

Journal of Animal Science

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A modeling study based on a dataset from a large-scale grazing study was used to identify the potential impact of grazing behavior and performance of diverse cow genotypes on predicted methane (CH4) emissions. Lactating cows grazing extensive seminatural grassland and heath vegetation were monitored with Global Positioning System collars and activity sensors. The diet selected by cows of 3 different genotypes, Aberdeen Angus cross Limousin (AxL), Charolais (CHA), and Luing (LUI), was simulated by matching their locations during active periods with hill vegetation maps. Measured performance and activity were used to predict energy requirements, DMI, and CH4 output. The cumulative effect of actual performance, diet selection, and actual physical activity on potential CH4 output and yield was estimated. Sensitivity analyses were performed for the digestibility of intake, energy cost of activity, proportion of milk consumed by calves, and reproductive efficiency. Although with a better performance (P < 0.05), LUI required less total energy than the other genotypes (P < 0.001) as the other 2 spent more energy for maintenance (P < 0.001) and activity (P < 0.001). By selecting a better quality diet (P < 0.03), estimated CH4 of CHA cow-calf pairs was lower than AxL (P = 0.001) and slightly lower than LUI (P = 0.08). Energy lost as CH4 was 0.17 and 0.58% lower for LUI than AxL and CHA (P < 0.002). This study suggests for the first time that measured activity has a major impact on estimated CH4 outputs. A 15% difference of the cow-calf pair CH4 was estimated when using different coefficients to convert actual activity into energy. Predicted CH4 was highly sensitive to small changes in diet quality, suggesting the relative importance of diet selection on heterogeneous rangelands. Extending these results to a farm systems scale, CH4 outputs were also highly sensitive to reductions in weaning rates, illustrating the impact on CH4 at the farm-system level of using poorly adapted genotypes on habitats where their performances may be compromised. This paper demonstrates that variations in grazing behavior and grazing choice have a potentially large impact on CH4 emissions, illustrating the importance of including these factors in calculating realistic national and global estimates.

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Effect of breed, season and pasture moisture gradient on foraging behaviour in cattle on semi-natural grasslands

Cited by 50 publications

References 28 publications

Podolian beef production on pasture and in confinement

Podolian beef production on pasture and in confinement

Effect of breed of cattle and season on diet selection and defoliation of competitive plant species in semi‐natural grasslands

Does diverse grazing behavior of suckler cows have an impact on predicted methane emissions?1

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