• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.12
• /
• pp.1717-1725
• /
• 2013

The objectives of this study were to compare visual observation and an electronic grazing time method and to evaluate the effects of nutritional plans on intake, grazing behavior and horizontal and vertical locomotion of young bulls in a tropical pasture. Thirty-nine Nellore young bulls with an average body weight of $345{\pm}9.3$ kg kept in pasture were used. The experimental treatments consisted of: restricted: animals kept in a plot with a low mass of forage receiving mineral mixture only; control: animals receiving mineral mixture only; HPHC: a high protein and high carbohydrate supplement; HPLC: a high protein and low carbohydrate supplement; LPHC: a low protein and high carbohydrate supplement; LPLC: a low protein and low carbohydrate supplement. GPS collars equipped with activity sensors were used. Information about head position, latitude, longitude and altitude were recorded. Daytime grazing behavioral patterns monitored by a continuous focal animal recording method was compared to behavior estimated by the activity sensor. Feed intake was estimated by a marker method. The Restricted group presented lower (p<0.05) intake of dry matter and TDN. However, difference in dry matter intake was not found (p>0.05) between non-supplemented and supplemented animals. Difference was not found (p>0.05) in daytime grazing time obtained by visual observation or the activity sensor method. The restricted group showed longer (p<0.05) grazing time (9.58 h/d) than other groups, but difference was not found (p>0.05) in the grazing time between Control (8.35 h/d) and supplemented animals (8.03 h/d). The Restricted group presented lower (p<0.05) horizontal locomotion distance (2,168 m/d) in comparison to other groups (2,580.6 m/d). It can be concluded that the use of activity sensor methods can be recommended due to their being similar to visual observation and able to record 24-h/d. While supplements with high carbohydrates reduce pasture intake, they do not change grazing behavior. Moderate supplementation (until 50% of protein requirement and 30% of energy requirement) of beef cattle on tropical pasture has no effect on daily locomotion.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.745-750
• /
• 2002

The effects of recording interval (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 min) on the estimation of some grazing behavior variables in beef cows and calves (<4 months old) were investigated in a daytime grazing (7 h) system utilizing a bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flugge) pasture (a 1.1 ha paddock and a 0.4 ha resting area). Recording intervals of 10-30 min tended to underestimate the time spent grazing and ruminating and overestimate the time spent resting by animals, whereas intervals of 1-5 min resulted in almost constant estimates. In all grazing activities, the errors of estimation became larger when the recording interval exceeded 5 min. The accuracy of estimation was higher for grazing time>rumination time>resting time. An increase in recording interval always decreased estimates of the distance walked by animals. It was concluded that recording intervals of 1-5 min provide reliable estimates of the time spent grazing, ruminating and resting. It was also concluded that positioning of animals at 1 min intervals may provide estimates of walking distance with acceptable bias toward underestimation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.428-435
• /
• 2016

The objective of this study was to clarify the most effective component of grazing for improving welfare of fattening pigs. This study compared welfare indicators of 20 fattening pigs aged 100 to 124 days (the prior period) and 138 to 164 days (the latter period) in an indoor housing system (IS), an outdoor pasturing system (OP), a concrete floor paddock system (CF), a concrete floor paddock system with fresh grass (FG), or a soil floor paddock system (SF). The last three treatments include important components of a grazing system: extra space, grass feed, and soil floor. Behavior, wounds on the body, and performances, measured as average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio, were observed. CF pigs behaved similarly to IS pigs. FG pigs showed higher levels of foraging, chewing and activity. SF pigs engaged in higher levels of foraging, exploring, activity, and rooting, and showed a similar amount of playing behavior as OP pigs. ADG was the same in all treatments at the prior period, and increased in the order FG, IS, CF, SF, and OP at the latter. The behaviors and performance of SF pigs resembled those of OP which seemed to indicate a consistently higher standard of welfare than the other treatments. In conclusion, the existence of a soil floor is the most important component of a pasture for improving the welfare of pigs.

• ALGAE
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.149-161
• /
• 2009

Characteristics of benthic microalgae and sediment properties were investigated for the intertidal flats of Kwangyang Bay, Korea. Sampling stations were selected every 100 m in the intertidal flats from land-side to open ocean at two different sampling sites. Samples were collected in June 2004, July, September, November, February and May 2005. Sediments properties were measured including temperature, water contents, sediment bulk density, nutrient concentrations in porewater. Chlorophyll a concentrations in surface sediment (0.5 cm) were measured and relationships between the chlorophyll a and various sediment properties were analyzed to identify major mechanisms regulating biomass of benthic microalgae in the intertidal flats using simple linear regression analysis. Sediment chlorophyll a concentrations were maximum during winter and minimum during warm seasons ranging from 4.4 mg $m^{-2}\;to\;81.2\;mg\;m^{-2}$. No clear spatial variations were observed for the sediment chlorophyll a in the study sites. Results from regression analysis suggested that benthic microalgae biomass was affected by sediment temperature and nutrients especially ammonium and silicate. Grazing effect was estimated using chlorophyll: pheopigments ratio, indirect indicator of grazing activity, and the positive correlation of the ratio and chlorophyll a implied that microalgae biomass is affected by grazing of zoobenthos although direct measurement of grazing activity is required to determine the importance of top-down controls in the benthic microalgae dynamics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.500-508
• /
• 2011

Forty-four Gansu Alpine Fine-wool lambs were used to study changes in the activities of three gastric and five pancreatic enzymes under grazing conditions between 0 and 56 days of age. The lambs were slaughtered on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42 and 56, the abomasal contents, mucosa and pancreas were immediately removed and placed into liquid nitrogen and enzyme activities were determined. Gastric enzyme (chymosin, pepsin and pregastrc esterase) activities were relatively high at birth, especially chymosin, but decreased quickly between day 0 and 21. The activity of pepsin changed insignificantly with increasing age. There was no significant change in the pancreatic enzyme activities (trypsin, chymotrypsin, ${\alpha}$-amylase, lipase and lactase). The activity of trypsin was relatively higher than that of the other pancreatic enzymes, and lactase activity was low. These ontogenic patterns might be under the control of many gut regulatory peptides, the plasma concentrations of which changed simultaneously. Some gastric and pancreatic enzymes were correlated with plasma concentrations of these gut regulatory peptides.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.61 no.5
• /
• pp.260-271
• /
• 2019

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of different stocker management programs on skeletal muscle development and growth characteristics, satellite cell (SC) activity in growing-finishing beef cattle as well as the effects of SC-conditioned media on preadipocyte gene expression and differentiation. Fall-weaned Angus steers (n = 76; $258{\pm}28kg$) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 stocker production systems: 1) grazing dormant native range (NR) supplemented with a 40% CP cottonseed meal-based supplement ($1.02kg{\cdot}steer^{-1}{\cdot}d^{-1}$) followed by long-season summer grazing (CON, 0.46 kg/d); 2) grazing dormant NR supplemented with a ground corn and soybean meal-based supplement fed at 1% of BW followed by short-season summer grazing (CORN, 0.61 kg/d); 3) grazing winter wheat pasture (WP) at high stocking density (3.21 steers/ha) to achieve a moderate rate of gain (LGWP, 0.83 kg/d); and 4) grazing winter WP at low stocking density (0.99 steers/ha) to achieve a high rate of gain (HGWP, 1.29 kg/d). At the end of the stocker (intermediate harvest, IH) and finishing (final harvest, FH) phases, 4 steers / treatment were harvested and longissimus muscles (LM) sampled for cryohistological immunofluorescence analysis and SC culture assays. At IH, WP steers had greater LM fiber cross-sectional area than NR steers; however, at FH, the opposite was observed (p < 0.0001). At IH, CORN steers had the lowest Myf-5+:Pax7+ SC density (p = 0.020), while LGWP steers had the most Pax7+ SC (p = 0.043). At FH, CON steers had the highest LM capillary density (p = 0.003) and their cultured SC differentiated more readily than all other treatments (p = 0.017). At FH, Pax7 mRNA was more abundant in 14 d-old SC cultures from HGWP cattle (p = 0.03). Preadipocytes exposed to culture media from proliferating SC cultures from WP cattle isolated at FH had more $PPAR{\gamma}$ (p = 0.037) and less FABP4 (p = 0.030) mRNA expression compared with NR cattle. These data suggest that different stocker management strategies can impact skeletal muscle growth, SC function, and potentially impact marbling development in growing-finishing beef cattle.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.293-299
• /
• 2002

We investigated seasonal variation of diurnal activity patterns in Jeiu ponies (Equus caballus). The data were collected from a semi-natural herd during daylight hours from March to September 1998. Over all months the mean proportion of time spent grazing was 83.7% ( $\pm$29.7 S.D.): that resting was 15.7$\pm$17%, grooming 0.7$\pm$1.2%, and moving 0.56$\pm$5.4%, Activity patterns varied with the seasons. The mean proportion of grazing mares peaked during late winter and early spring (March), when there was not enough food, and declined during other seasons (between May and September), when food was abundant. The mean proportion of mares that were resting and mutual grooming peaked in spring (April and May), at which time the weather was warm and food became abundant. During other seasons when grasses started to grow and the weather was mildly cool, these activities were less common. The mean proportion of mares that were moving peaked in June, although it was a small proportion of the total activity. For those mares without foals, resting periods were longer in older mares than in younger mares, but for the mares with foals this pattern was not evident. From these data, we hypothesize that the dominance hierarchy of the mares effects the diurnal activity pattern.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.21 no.9
• /
• pp.1252-1261
• /
• 2008

Twenty-four yearling Boer$\times$Spanish goats were used in a crossover design experiment to determine effects of tethering on forage selection, intake and digestibility, grazing behavior and energy expenditure (EE) with forage high in nutritive value and low to moderate in mass. Objectives were to determine if tethered goats could be used as a model for study of unrestrained animals and to characterize tethering as a production practice. Four 0.72-ha pastures of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrium) were grazed in December and January. Each pasture hosted six animals, three with free movement and three attached to a 4.11-m tether for access to a circular area of $53.1m^2$. Tethering areas were moved each day. One animal of each treatment and pasture was used to determine forage selection, fecal output or grazing behavior and EE; therefore, there were eight observations per treatment. Mass of forage DM before grazing in Tethered areas averaged 1,280 and 1,130 kg/ha in periods 1 and 2, respectively. The CP concentration in ingesta was greater ((p<0.05) 239 and 209 g/kg; SE = 8.0) and the NDF level was lower (p<0.05) for Free vs. Tethered animals (503 and 538 g/kg; SE = 12.0); in vitro true DM digestion was similar between treatments (0.808 and 0.807 for Free and Tethered, respectively; SE = 0.0096). Intakes of DM (1,013 and 968 g/d; SE = 78.6), NDF (511 and 521 g/d; SE = 39.9) and ME (10.9 and 10.7 MJ/d; SE = 0.90) were similar between treatments, but CP intake was greater (p<0.05) for Free vs. Tethered animals (241 and 203 g/d; SE = 17.2). There were small treatment differences in in vivo apparent digestibility of OM ((p<0.05) 0.780 and 0.814; SE = 0.0049), CP ((p<0.05) 0.800 and 0.817; SE = 0.0067) and NDF ((p<0.09) 0.777 and 0.760 for Free and Tethered, respectively; SE = 0.0078). There were no treatment effects on time spent ruminating or grazing (346 and 347 min/d for Free and Tethered, respectively; SE = 42.5), but EE was considerably greater (p<0.05) for Free vs. Tethered animals (571 and 489 kJ/kg $BW^{0.75}$; SE = 8.9). In conclusion, with forage of high nutritive value and low to moderate in mass, tethering can offer a production advantage over free grazing of less energy used for activity despite similar grazing time. With forage removal considerably less than that available for grazing, effects of tethering on chemical composition of selected forage were small and less than needed to markedly affect digestion. Tethering may offer a means of studying some aspects of grazing by ruminants, but would not seem suitable for energy metabolism.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.727-731
• /
• 2009

The aim of this study was to understand the effects of skin pigmentation on physiological parameters of thermoregulation and grazing behaviour of dairy goats in a hot and humid climate. The study used 26 crossbred Saanen yearling goats (95% Saanen+5% Local Hair Breed). The animals were raised at semi-intensive private farms in Adana (36 59'N, 35 18'E). Groups were selected 2 d before the start of observations. Goats were categorized as predominantly pigmented (P) skin and unpigmented (UP) skin. All observations and measurements were collected on grassland during the grazing period of June and July 2007 (60 d). Air temperature and relative humidity were recorded at 10 min intervals by a portable data logger. The physiological data (rectal temperature, respiration and pulse rate, and skin temperatures from head and udder) were recorded twice weekly in the morning (07:00-08:00); at midday (13:00-14:00); and in the evening (18:00-19:00). Additionally, the activity of the animals was observed and classified (eating, ruminating, drinking, standing, walking, lying) for 12 h during the day twice weekly, using a portable camera system linked directly to a computer. Panting behaviour was also observed. According to the THI values, the experimental goats were subjected to stressful conditions. The pigmented goats had significantly lower rectal temperatures (39.68 vs. $29.89^{\circ}C$), pulse rate (74.08 vs. 84.10 beat/min) and respiration rate (65.65 vs. 88.23 breath/min.) compared with unpigmented goats at midday when the THI exceeded 92. The rectal, head and udder temperatures, pulse and respiration rates of the non-pigmented group exceeded $40^{\circ}C$, $37^{\circ}C$, $37.5^{\circ}C$, 84 beats/min and 78 breaths/min, respectively. Higher activity was observed among pigmented compared with unpigmented goats. Unpigmented goats grazed (4.3 vs. 5.6 h), ruminated (2.0 vs. 2.4 h), and stood (0.8 vs. 1.2 h) less, but lay down (2.2 vs. 1.8 h) more than pigmented goats. The data obtained in this experiment support the hypothesis that unpigmented goats are more adversely affected by climatic stress, likely due to their decreased activity and increased water consumption, as demonstrated by previous studies.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.30 no.9
• /
• pp.1253-1260
• /
• 2017

Objective: Purpose was to determine the effects of grazing system and floor type on concentrations of blood metabolites, activity of creatine kinase, body weight and carcass characteristics of castrated Nguni goats. Methods: Forty eight, 7 month old goats were randomly allocated to herding and tethering treatments from 0800 to 1300 hours and accommodated on slatted and earth floors daily. Blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture every fifteenth day for metabolite analysis. Slaughter was done at a commercial abattoir following 5 months of monitoring. Results: Tethered goats had significantly higher concentrations of urea (5.19 mmol/L) (p<0.001), creatinine ($55.87{\mu}mol/L$) (p<0.05), total protein (64.60 g/L) (p<0.01), and globulin (49.79 g/L) (p<0.001), whereas herded goats had higher glucose (3.38 mmol/L) (p<0.001), albumin (15.33 g/L) (p<0.05), albumin/globulin ratio (0.34) (p<0.01), and body weight (24.87 kg) (p<0.001). Slatted floors caused higher (p<0.01) albumin at 15.37 g/L. The interaction of grazing system and floor type affected creatinine, total protein, globulin at (p<0.01) and albumen/globulin ratio at (p<0.01). The least creatinine concentration and albumin/globulin ratio was in herded and tethered goats that were accommodated on earth floors, respectively. The highest total protein and globulin concentrations were in serum of tethered goats that were accommodated on earth floors. The highest (p<0.05) dressing percentage (45.26%) was in herded goats accommodated on slatted floors. Conclusion: Herding of goats lowered globulin concentration, improved estimated feed intake, blood glucose and albumin concentrations, albumin globulin ratio, increased body weights and weight related carcass characteristics. Floor type had very little effects on metabolites where earth floors only reduced albumin concentration. Tethering and housing goats on earth floors resulted in double stress that increased chronic infections.