Foraging strategies of goats in a pasture of wheat and shrubland

Tölü, Cemil; Yurtman, İsmail Yaman; Baytekin, Harun; Ataşoğlu, C.; Savaş, Türker

doi:10.1071/an11251

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In an extensive West African system, goats could browse to an equivalent height as cattle (1 m), and Sanon et al (2007) reported goats browsing up to a height of 2.1 m. In a small Brazilian study, Pfister et al (1988) found that goats spent up to 8% of their time feeding on their rear legs despite ample availability of lower level forage. Interestingly, in a Turkish extensive shrubland, there were breed differences, with Turkish Saanens bipedal standing at least twice as much as the other breeds ( Tölü et al, 2012 ).…”

Section: Natural Behavior Of Goatsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Understanding natural behavior to improve dairy goat (Capra hircus) management systems

Zobel

Neave

Webster

2018

Translational Animal Science

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Public interest is stimulating farming industries to improve animal welfare in production systems. Indoor housing of ruminants has received scrutiny because of perceived intensiveness and lack of naturalness. Animal welfare has traditionally focused on health benefits (e.g., bedding management and reducing disease) and reducing negative experiences (e.g., painful husbandry practices). Recent attention to animals having “a life worth living” extends expectations to provide increased care and opportunities for positive experiences and natural behaviors. Although not all natural behaviors necessarily contribute to improved welfare, we present evidence for why many are important, and for how they can be promoted in commercial systems. Worldwide, commercial dairy goats (Capra hircus) are frequently housed in large open barns with space to move and soft bedding for lying; however, this is not sufficient to promote the range of natural behaviors of goats, which in turn suggests that commercial housing could be improved. The basis for this thinking is from the range of behaviors expressed by the Capra genus. Collectively, these species have evolved cognitive and behavioral strategies to cope with harsh and changing environments, as well as variable and limited vegetation. The rocky and often steep terrain that goats inhabit allows for predator avoidance and access to shelter, so it is not surprising that domesticated goats also seek out elevation and hiding spaces; indeed, their hoof structure is designed for the movement and grip in such rugged environments. The browsing techniques and flexibility in diet selection of wild, feral and extensively managed goats, appears to be equally important to housed goats, highlighting the need for more complexity in how and what goats are fed. Goats naturally live in small, dynamic groups, governed by complex social structures in which horns play a strong role. Commercial housing systems should consider the benefits of more natural-sized social groups and revisit the rationale behind horn removal. We suggest that cognitive stimulation is a potential welfare improvement for goats in commercial settings. Goat cognitive abilities, which enabled success in complex and variable social and physical environments, are unchallenged in uniform environments, potentially leading to negative affective states. We make suggestions for housing improvements that could be readily adopted into current systems without compromising production efficiency.

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Section: Natural Behavior Of Goatsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Understanding natural behavior to improve dairy goat (Capra hircus) management systems

Zobel

Neave

Webster

2018

Translational Animal Science

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“…Thus it can be stated that Gökçeada sheep walked more during the resting periods through travelling between the paddocks and rangeland compared with the grazing periods. In a study carried out on goats of different breeds and ages, Tölü et al (2012) determined with 8 h of daily observation that goats demonstrated walking behaviour 18•5-51•7 times daily per animal and also determined that Gökçeada goats walked the least. Slightly lower walking frequencies in the present study were because the sheep were continuously free to go to the rangeland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Odds ratio was defined here as the ratio of observation to non-observation of behaviour. This ratio was calculated from the equation ψ = e b , where ψ is the odds ratio, b is the regression coefficient, and 'e' is the exponential constant (Yurtman et al 2002;Tölü et al 2012). The post-hoc analyses were made according to Wald χ 2 test.…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behaviour of sheep freely grazed on Gökçeada Island (Turkey) rangeland reclaimed by different methods

et al. 2017

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SUMMARYExtensive sheep and goat farming is common in the rangelands of Gökçeada Island, NW Turkey. The aim of the current study was to investigate the behaviour of indigenous Gökçeada sheep over these rangelands and factors influencing their behavioural characteristics. Grubbing (with chisel ploughing to a depth of 20 cm), burning (the entire top part of plants) and cutting (10–15 cm stalk on the surface of the soil) were carried out on selected rangeland to reduce prickly burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum (L.) Spach) from the vegetative covering, then forage crop seeds were sown to improve plant cover. Forty head of Gökçeada-bred sheep were placed in eight fenced plots (half seeded, half unseeded) on reclaimed and natural rangeland for 2 years. Sheep behaviour was observed for a period of 1 year. Each plot was arranged with a stocking rate of 2·67 sheep/ha and contained five sheep that grazed freely within each plot. Sheep behaviour was observed diurnally through direct observation by time sampling (10 min) and continuous sampling methods. During the period of 1 year, the observed sheep spent an average of 0·53 of their time grazing in daylight, 0·30 of their time in rangelands on other activities and 0·17 in the paddocks. Significant differences were observed in the time of grazing, resting, locomotion and rumination by season. The highest grazing ratio was noticed in spring while the lowest was in summer. Sheep exhibited walking behaviour 10·6 times/day. The sheep mostly (0·66) grazed on prickly burnet throughout the year although, when available, they tended to prefer herbaceous plants. The behaviour of sheep in the two natural (unreclaimed) plots was significantly different from those placed in other plots, mainly due to the mass of prickly burnet shrub found in the natural plots.

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“…Dry matter contents of feed samples were determined in accordance with the methods specified in AOAC (1990) and carbohydrate analyses were carried out in accordance with the methods specified in ANKOM (2005) . Nitrogen (N) content was determined in a Carbon-Nitrogen Auto Analyzer (LECO TruSpec CN, St Joseph, MI, USA) and then crude protein content was determined using the formula of CP = N×6.25 ( Tölü et al, 2012 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Weaning and Spatial Enrichment on Behavior of Turkish Saanen Goat Kids

Tölü

Göktürk²,

Sava³

2015

Asian Australas. J. Anim. Sci

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As is in all economic activities, the highest yield per unit area is the main goal in animal production, while addressing the temperamental needs of animals often is ignored. Animal welfare is not only an ethical fact; it also has an economic value. Spatial environmental enrichment contributes positively to animal welfare by addressing their behavioral and mental requirements. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of weaning and spatial environmental arrangements on behaviors of goat-kids. Experimental groups were arranged in structured and unstructured spatial environments. Roughage feeder, semi-automatic concentrate feeder, bunk, bridge, and wood block were placed in the structured environment. No equipment was placed in the unstructured environment and paddock sides were enclosed with an iron sheet to prevent bipedal stance and to provide environmental isolation. In the study 10 male and 10 female Turkish Saanen goat kids were used in each group. Spatial environmental arrangements did not have significant impacts on the growth performance of kids (p>0.05). All objects in the structured group were accepted by the kids. Average use ratios of roughage feeder, semi-automatic concentrate feeder, bunk, bridge and wood block were observed as 19.3%, 14.0%, 12.6%, 3.8%, and 0.7%, respectively. There were significant differences between before- and after-weaning in use of all objects except for underneath bridge (p≤0.05). Concentrate feed consumption, locomotion, and resting behaviors in kids showed significant differences by structural group and growth period. Roughage consumption was similar between groups, while it differed by growth period (p≤0.05). Interaction frequency was significantly higher in structured group (p = 0.0023). Playing behavior significantly differentiated based on the growth period rather than on groups (p≤0.05). Playing behavior significantly decreased after weaning. Abnormal oral activity was significantly higher in the structured group before weaning (p≤0.05). Despite there being no installations facilitating climbing and bipedal stance, the kids of the unstructured group were able to exhibit 1/3 as much bipedal stance behavior as the kids of the structured group through leaning over slippery paddock wall or over their groupmates. Bipedal stance behavior of unstructured group was similar before and after weaning, while bipedal stance behavior before weaning was about 2 times that of after weaning in structured group. It was concluded that unstructured environmental arrangement limited the behavior repertoire of the goat kids.

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Foraging strategies of goats in a pasture of wheat and shrubland

Cited by 15 publications

References 27 publications

Understanding natural behavior to improve dairy goat (Capra hircus) management systems

Understanding natural behavior to improve dairy goat (Capra hircus) management systems

Behaviour of sheep freely grazed on Gökçeada Island (Turkey) rangeland reclaimed by different methods

Effects of Weaning and Spatial Enrichment on Behavior of Turkish Saanen Goat Kids

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