The effect of grazing systems on cattle behavior
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Date
1988
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Abstract
Research was conducted on the effects of rotational grazing (RG) compared to continuous grazing (OS) on the behavior of cattle grazing on rangelands. Different livestock densities in the RG treatments were created by varying the size of paddocks in a 465-ha, 16-paddock, cell designed RG treatment stocked at a rate of 3.6 ha/cow/yr. Paddock sizes of 30 and 10-ha were used to simulate RG with 14 (RG-14) and 42-paddocks (RG-42), respectively. The OG treatment consisted of a 248-ha pasture stocked at 5.9 ha/cow/yr. Data were collected during 8 seasonal trials using vibracorders, pedometers and observation to estimate time (min/day) spent: intense grazing, search grazing, trailing, or sleeping; distance walked (km/day), and individual animal space (M^2/animal) in grazing subherds. Relative electivity (RE), a preference index and a selectivity index (SI), that measures departures from random distribution were calculated from the observation data. Preference for plant communities was not affected by grazing treatment. However, cattle were less selective for plant communities as livestock density decreased from the RG-42 to the OG treatment. In the RG-14 treatment, the cattle were either unaffected or less selective on the last day than on the first day in a paddock. Total grazing time did not vary among grazing treatments, but the components of total grazing (i.e., intense and search grazing) did vary among treatments. Cattle in the RG-14 paddocks spent less time search grazing compared to the ones in the other treatments. Time spent trailing and the distance walked increased as the frequency of rotation increased among the different treatments. Sleeping was similar among grazing treatments. Individual animal space within a grazing subherd decreased as the stock density increased because of the grazing treatment. A simulation model was developed to provide a tool for the investigation of data from a field trial beyond that typically available from statistical analysis. The results indicated that the cumulative effect of small (statistically non-significant) differences in the driving variables could result in observed differences in animal performance...
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Major range science