Grazing behavior and energy expenditure by sheep and goats co-grazing grass/forb pastures at three stocking rates

Animut, Getachew; Goetsch, A.L.; Aiken, Glen E.; Puchała, R.; Detweiler, G.; Krehbiel, C. R.; Merkel, R.C.; Sahlu, T.; Dawson, L.J.; Johnson, Z. B.; Gipson, T.A.

doi:10.1016/j.smallrumres.2005.05.014

Cited by 81 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Different stocking rates in an experiment conducted at the same time and on similar pastures influenced grazing behavior of sheep and goats (Animut et al 2005a). The lack of differences between treatments in the present experiment is, therefore, in line with similar forage mass.…”

Section: Grazing Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 73%

Effects of Pasture Inclusion of Mimosa on Growth by Sheep and Goats Co-Grazing Grass/Forb Pastures

Animut

Goetsch

Aiken

et al. 2007

Journal of Applied Animal Research

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Section: Grazing Behaviorsupporting

confidence: 73%

Effects of Pasture Inclusion of Mimosa on Growth by Sheep and Goats Co-Grazing Grass/Forb Pastures

Animut

Goetsch

Aiken

et al. 2007

Journal of Applied Animal Research

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“…The total daylight grazing, ruminating, and idling times for sheep and goats on dry grassland plant communities were similar and corresponded more or less to activity times recorded on other types of pastures (Kronberg and Malechek, 1997;Animut et al, 2005aAnimut et al, , 2007. No difference was found in activity bout patterns between sheep and goats, although sheep with a higher portion of grass and forbs in their diet (Hejcmanová, unpublished data) could have longer grazing bouts with a lower rate during the day in contrast to browse foraging patterns assuming shorter and more frequent bouts (Hofmann, 1989).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Diurnal patterns in time spent grazing or on other activities were particularly related to seasonal dynamics of forage availability and quality in tropical environments (Kronberg and Malechek, 1997;Ouédraogo-Koné et al, 2006;Sanon et al, 2007) or to different management systems, either on highly productive ryegrass/white clover swards (Penning et al, 1997) or on grass/forb pastures at different stocking rates (Animut et al, 2005a) and with or without food supplement (Animut et al, 2007). Complex behaviour of co-grazing sheep and goats in conservation grazing systems that are not focused on an outcome for animal production has not been investigated.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Activity time budget patterns of sheep and goats co-grazing on semi-natural species-rich dry grassland

Pokorná¹,

Hejcmanová²,

Hejcman³

et al. 2013

CZECH J ANIM SCI

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Activity time budget patterns and grazing response to sward and environmental conditions were investigated for paddocks of sheep and goats co-grazing for conservation purposes on a semi-natural speciesrich dry grassland community endangered by shrub and tall perennial plant encroachment in a protected nature reserve in South Moravia (Czech Republic). Grazing was conducted by a rotational stocking system for 14 weeks in late grazing season in 2008 with 60 dry ewes and 20 goats. Twelve ewes and four goats were observed; grazing, ruminating, idling and other activities (salt licking, social interactions, walking), along with topographical position in the paddock were recorded at 5-minute intervals within 14 hours of daylight. Sheep and goats did not differ in their principal activity time budgets, such as the average total daylight time spent grazing (sheep: 8.57 h, goats: 8.59 h), ruminating (sheep: 1.42 h, goats: 1.44 h), or idling (sheep: 3.23 h, goats: 3.18 h), the duration of bouts of each activity, or the number of bouts of grazing and ruminating. There was no pattern in activity time budgets indicating dynamics in progressing season, nor was there a response to daily average temperature or to paddock size. Sheep and goats showed similar responses to groundcover of particular plant functional types. The animals showed a positive trend in response of total daylight grazing time to grass available biomass and a negative response of total daylight grazing time to herbaceous biomass for both sheep and goats. The total daylight grazing time was independent of availability of woody plants. Goats devoted more time (1.51 h) to other activities than sheep (1.34 h), especially to social interactions and salt licking. On the other hand, sheep spent proportionally more time walking. Both sheep and goats showed similar patterns in spatial use of paddocks on hill slopes, spending the most time in the middle part and the least time in the lower part of paddocks.

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“…The benefits of the warm sheds would also be related to the reduced walking and grazing activity of the sheep, as well as reduced exposure to wind chill. These physical activities can account for 25-50% of daily energy requirements by grazing ruminants and the additional energy expenditure for these activities can reduce productivity (Osuji 1974;Animut et al 2005). This was likely to be the main reason for the difference in liveweight of ewes after the first year feeding in warm sheds.…”

Section: Effects Of Different Sheds On Sheep Liveweightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of shed modifications on ewe reproductive performance and lamb growth rate in Inner Mongolia

et al. 2016

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Abstract. The effects of warm sheds on the performance of ewes and their lambs in winter are poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of traditional sheds (TS + grazing) and modified warm sheds (WS, no grazing) on the reproductive performance of ewes (as well as their liveweight) and their lambs during the winter-spring period. Cross-bred ewes (n = 120) were randomly assigned to two treatments, either TS (+ grazing) or WS (no grazing), during the winter-spring period of 2011, 2012 and 2013. This study was conducted on two adjacent farms with the two treatments applied on each. The ewes in the TS treatment were grazed continuously on pasture in the day and housed in traditional sheds each evening, whereas the ewes in the WS treatment were not grazed. The animals in each treatment were fed the same amount of feed. Ewes housed in the WS group had a higher liveweight and lower weight loss than ewes in the TS group (P = 0.004 and 0.005 respectively); over the 3 years, the weight loss of the ewes in both groups was worst in the first 2 months (December-January) compared with the later 2 months, and was significantly alleviated after the first year (2011; P < 0.001). Lamb liveweight and gain were higher in the WS than TS treatment group (P < 0.001) and the growth rates of the lambs increased continuously as shed temperatures increased. Lamb weight gain and birthweight increased significantly with increasing years of the experiment (P < 0.001). There were more lambs born in the WS than in the TS groups (P = 0.020), with higher survival and twinning rates (P < 0.05). As shed temperatures increased, lambing, survival and twinning rates increased continuously. Therefore, keeping livestock in warm sheds during the winter and spring period will lift animal productivity, leading to improved household incomes. Elimination of winter grazing will reduce damage to already degraded grasslands and will assist herders to develop more positive attitudes towards animal production enterprises.

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Grazing behavior and energy expenditure by sheep and goats co-grazing grass/forb pastures at three stocking rates

Cited by 81 publications

References 31 publications

Effects of Pasture Inclusion of Mimosa on Growth by Sheep and Goats Co-Grazing Grass/Forb Pastures

Effects of Pasture Inclusion of Mimosa on Growth by Sheep and Goats Co-Grazing Grass/Forb Pastures

Activity time budget patterns of sheep and goats co-grazing on semi-natural species-rich dry grassland

Effects of shed modifications on ewe reproductive performance and lamb growth rate in Inner Mongolia

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