Effect of Restricted Grazing Time on the Foraging Behavior and Movement of Tan Sheep Grazed on Desert Steppe

Abstract

To investigate the effect of restricted grazing time on behavior of Tan sheep on desert steppe, forty 4-months old male Tan sheep with an original body weight (BW) of 15.62±0.33 kg were randomly allocated to 4 grazing groups which corresponded to 4 different restricted grazing time treatments of 2 h/d (G2), 4 h/d (G4), 8 h/d (G8) and 12 h/d (G12) access to pasture. The restricted grazing times had a significant impact on intake time, resting time, ruminating time, bite rate and movement. As the grazing time decreased, the proportion of time spent on intake, bite rate and grazing velocity significantly (p<0.05) increased, but resting and ruminating time clearly (p<0.05) decreased. The grazing months mainly depicted effect on intake time and grazing velocity. In conclusion, by varying their foraging behavior, Tan sheep could improve grazing efficiency to adapt well to the time-limited grazing circumstance.

Herd Size-Dependent Effects of Restricted Foraging Time Allowance on Cattle Behavior, Nutrition, and Performance

“…These findings are consistent with the findings of several studies conducted on domestic ruminants elsewhere (Smith, 1961;Bayer, 1986;Ayantunde et al, 2000b;Kristensen et al, 2007;Moyo et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2013). Increased focus on grazing by daytime-only foraging cattle is necessary if they are to offset decreased forage intake due to restricted foraging time.…”

Influence of Restricted Grazing Time Systems on Productive Performance and Fatty Acid Composition of <i>Longissimus dorsi</i> in Growing Lambs

“…Dairy cows can modify their intake rates in response to a constraint of access to pastures to maintain their intake and nutrient supply ( Perez-Ramirez et al, 2008 ). In previous studies, we detected that lambs under shorter grazing time systems always had higher pasture intake rates and higher intake time percentages during grazing ( Chen et al, 2013 ; Zhang et al, 2014 ). Lambs must improve their efficiency of grazing activities to consume more fresh pasture in a limited time.…”

“…The effects of restricted grazing time systems on the pasture intake, milk production and grazing behavior of dairy cows ( Kristensen et al, 2007 ; Perez-Ramirez et al, 2008 ) and sheep ( de Renobales et al, 2012 ) have previously been studied. In our previous research, we examined restricted grazing time systems on the ingestive behavior, dry matter intake, weight gain and other performances of growing lambs ( Xu et al, 2011 ; Chen et al, 2013 ; Zhang et al, 2014 ) and on the grassland (unpublished data); these data showed that moderate grazing time with the proper concentrate is a better way to produce lamb meat when considering animal performance. Additionally, a very long lamb grazing time (12 h/d) significantly reduced the quality and productivity of the grassland compared to an area experiencing less grazing hours (<8 h/d), but there were no significant differences in the productivity of the grasslands in which lambs grazed for 2 h/d, 4 h/d, and even 8 h/d.…”

Grazing behaviour, intake and performance of dairy ewes with restricted access time to berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) pasture

“…Similarly, in continuously stocked lactating meat sheep grazing a temperate perennial grassland, the time devoted to grazing was 87% of access time in the ewes whose access to pasture was restricted to about 9 h d −1 , as compared to 52% of access time in the unrestricted counterparts (Iason et al ., ). Recent data on meat sheep (Chen et al ., ) and lambs (Zhang et al ., ) confirm this general trend.…”