Studies on the behaviour of cattle and sheep in relation to the utilization of grass

Hughes, G. Pearson; Reid, David

doi:10.1017/s0021859600049534

Cited by 68 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Similarly, decreasing pasture availability has been correlated with an increase in the number of steps [41]. The daily distance travelled was comparable to previous studies, ranging from 1.7 [42] to 12.6 km [43]. Therefore, the number of steps taken or daily distance travelled can be indicative of the underlying pasture availability.…”

Section: Distance Travelledsupporting

confidence: 82%

The Behavioural Responses of Beef Cattle (Bos taurus) to Declining Pasture Availability and the Use of GNSS Technology to Determine Grazing Preference

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Combining technologies for monitoring spatial behaviour of livestock with technologies that monitor pasture availability, offers the opportunity to improve the management and welfare of extensively produced beef cattle. The aims of the study were to investigate changes to beef cattle behaviour as pasture availability changed, and to determine whether Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology could determine livestock grazing preference and hence improve pasture management and paddock utilisation. Data derived from GNSS collars included distance travelled and location in the paddock. The latter enabled investigation of individual animal interactions with the underlying Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and pasture biomass of the paddock. As expected, there was a significant temporal decrease in NDVI during the study and an increase in distance travelled by cattle (P < 0.001; r 2 = 0.88). The proportion of time budget occupied in grazing behaviour also increased (P < 0.001; r 2 = 0.71). Cattle showed a partial preference for areas of higher pasture biomass/NDVI, although there was a large amount of variation over the course of the study. In conclusion, cattle behaviour changed in response to declining NDVI, highlighting how technologies that monitor these two variables may be used in the future as management tools to assist producers better manage cattle, to manipulate grazing intensity and paddock utilisation.

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Section: Distance Travelledsupporting

confidence: 82%

The Behavioural Responses of Beef Cattle (Bos taurus) to Declining Pasture Availability and the Use of GNSS Technology to Determine Grazing Preference

et al. 2017

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“…Ruminants a t pasture usually graze for 8-9 hr per day, and most of this time is spent in one major period of fairly continuous eating (Hughes & Reid, 1951; Arnold, 1962). In the present work, both the grazing and the penned sheep spent a fairly continuous period of 6-9 hr consuming 6 0 4 0 % of their day's total feed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Diurnal Changes in the Concentrations of Micro-organisms in the Rumens of Sheep Fed to Appetite in Pens or at Pasture

Warner¹

1966

Journal of General Microbiology

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SUMMARYThe concentrations of the various groups of micro-organisms in the rumens of sheep when feeding on a roughage diet to appetite or grazing a mixed pasture, changed with time in patterns very similar to those previously found in sheep fed restricted diets once daily. It is postulated that these patterns will be present wherever the daily eating behaviour of the animal includes a major fairly continuous period during which all or most of the ration is eaten, and long periods during which little or no feed is consumed.

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“…It was observed animals grazing in the sun and shade, ruminating in the sun and shade, and idling in the sun and shade. The activities were noted in specific ethograms and, at the end of the performance evaluation, they were totalized in minutes per system, in each period per day, according to the methodology used by Hughes & Reid (1951) and Marques et al (2005).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavior of beef cattle in silvipastoral systems with eucalyptus

Souza¹,

Barbosa

Marqués

et al. 2010

R. Bras. Zootec.

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-It was aimed to verify the effect of the presence of trees and their heights in silvipastoral system on the intake behavior of Nellore heifers in the summer. Ten heifers for the following systems were used: system without shade, silvipastoral system with 8-meter and 18-meter trees. The data were collected in three days during 12 hours, subdivided in morning (7:15 a.m. to 1. p.m.) and afternoon (1:15 p.m. to 7 p.m.). It was evaluated the times and frequency of grazing, rumination, idle and the percentage of time that the animals remained in the shade; black globe-humidity index, whose average and minimum values (86 and 82) were equal for 8-meter tree system and 18-meter tree system; however they were lower when compared to the without shade system (89 and 86). There was an interaction between the systems and the periods for all the analyzed variables, except for the rumination frequency. For system without shade, the grazing time did not differ between morning (202 min) and afternoon (187 min); however the grazing frequency was lower for the afternoon (3.17). For 8-meter trees systems and 18 meter trees system, the grazing time in the afternoon, respectively, with 195.50 and 219.00 min was higher than in the morning, respectively, with 128.00 and 158.50 minutes. The rumination time was higher in the morning for all systems. The grazing frequency for 8-meter trees was 3.58, for the without shade system it was 3.05 and for 18-meter tree system it was 2.22. A higher idle time and the idle frequency was found in system without shade (97.50 min and 3.80 respectively) in the afternoon. For 8-meter tree system (98.50 min and 4.47 respectively) and 18-meter tree system (127.00 min and 4.27 respectively), they were higher in the morning.

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Studies on the behaviour of cattle and sheep in relation to the utilization of grass

Cited by 68 publications

References 7 publications

The Behavioural Responses of Beef Cattle (Bos taurus) to Declining Pasture Availability and the Use of GNSS Technology to Determine Grazing Preference

The Behavioural Responses of Beef Cattle (Bos taurus) to Declining Pasture Availability and the Use of GNSS Technology to Determine Grazing Preference

Diurnal Changes in the Concentrations of Micro-organisms in the Rumens of Sheep Fed to Appetite in Pens or at Pasture

Behavior of beef cattle in silvipastoral systems with eucalyptus

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