Recent progress in the study of behavior and management in grazing cattle

Abstract

Recent progress in studies concerning behavior of, and management for, grazing cattle are reviewed. Since 1950, much study has been conducted on 'How', 'When', 'Where' and 'How long' regarding grazing. After the 1980s, grazing ecology introduced the concept of hierarchy at different spatial and temporal scales, and since then grazing behavior has been investigated on the foraging hierarchy of large grazing herbivores: bite, feeding station (FS), patch, feeding site, camp and home range. From the sequence of activities, FS is grouped within a feeding patch, and movement of grazing cattle has been studied between FSs, feeding patches, feeding sites and between camps. Grazing behavior and production relates closely with defoliation, and grazing management should control both grazing behavior and vegetation according to three rules: planning, operational and adaptation rules. Planning rules relate the stocking rate of cattle; operational rules relate to defoliation; and adaptation rules vary with regional situations. Recent studies on grazing have been carried out in the fields of animal diversity and welfare. Future studies in this field should be conducted on the ecology, neurophysiology and psychology of grazing. Nonlinear analysis will also be significant in this field. Grazing cattle production should also utilize supplementation by roughage and/or grains.

A meta-analysis of nutrient intake, feed efficiency and performance in cattle grazing on tropical grasslands

“…The difficulties involved in measuring intake of grass under grazing conditions, as recently reviewed by Cottle et al (2013), might explain these contradictory results, as very few studies have been conducted under real grazing conditions. The published studies utilizing pasture conditions have typically focused on short-term ingestive behavior and intake rate alone and have rarely combined these factor with more integrative parameters on a daily scale that would demonstrate a real link between nutrient inputs and performance (Gregorini et al, 2008;Kondo, 2011). Our meta-analysis showed that assessment of the amount of DM consumed via big bites provided more robust results than increasing the quality of grass offered under grazing conditions, as previously reported by Sollenberger and Vanzant (2011).…”

The importance of grasslands for animal production and other functions: a review on management and methodological progress in the tropics

“…The optimum SR for a particular forage-livestock system will be a compromise between production per individual animal and production per hectare (Inyang et al, 2010). It will also depend upon the production goals over both the short and long terms, and will vary according to the amount and quality of herbage available through seasonal fluctuations as determined by, for example, rainfall and temperature (O'Reagain et al, 2009 and2011).…”

“…Bite mass has been shown to be the variable generally most sensitive to changes of sward structure (Benvenutti et al, 2009;Hirata et al, 2010;Kondo, 2011). However, few studies have been reported relationships between measurements of feeding behaviour and intake (Boval et al, 2007b) or LW gain.…”

Group sizes effects on growth performance and behavioural characteristics in Korean native calves

“…High stock density is documented to lead to lower performance of the animals and impairs animal welfare and behaviour. Thus it can adversely affect the immune system of the animals (Rind and Phillips 1999;Kondo 2011;Lee et al 2012). For practical reasons and due to the labour costs, fattening Hanwoo steers are usually housed as 4-12 heads, forming a dynamic group based on their fattening characteristics and local environmental conditions (Ha et al 2017;Yang et al 2016).…”