S.M. Rutter

Use of GPS to identify the grazing areas of hill sheep

Abstract Within flocks grazing land contaminated with radioactive fallout following the Chernobyl nuclear accident, certain sheep have comparatively high levels of radiocaesium. To understand why only certain sheep are affected, the precise grazing areas of these animals need to be identified. An animal behaviour and tracking system, that utilises the Global Positioning System (GPS), has been developed and was tested in upland West Cumbria, UK. Although there was evidence that hilly terrain did occasionally affect the function of the GPS receiver, this was for only 2.5% of the time in the worst case. The study clearly demonstrates that GPS can be used to track domestic sheep, and could be used to identify home ranges and the specific areas giving rise to contaminated animals.

Impact of grazing management on biodiversity of grasslands

This paper reviews recent work carried out by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research and collaborating organizations that addresses some of the impacts of grazing management on both species-rich and species-poor lowland neutral grassland. Results indicate that for species-rich grassland, lenient grazing pressure maintained botanical diversity and the abundance of positive indicator species of nature conservation value over a 5-year period and also enhanced faunal diversity and abundance reflecting improvements in spatial, architectural and temporal structure. However, there was no enhancement in positive indicator species and there was also an increase in pernicious weeds suggesting that grazing alone may not suffice to deliver all the biodiversity goals for these grasslands and that additional management interventions may be required. For species-poor grassland, results indicate that distinctive differences in structure can lead to differences in faunal diversity. There is also some tentative evidence that livestock breed may affect invertebrate species assemblages.

Review: Grazing preferences in sheep and cattle: Implications for production, the environment and animal welfare

The evolutionary and domestic ancestors of sheep and cattle will have evolved diet selection behaviours that enabled them to select a diet that met their individual nutrient requirements whilst minimising the risk of being killed through predation or by eating toxins. Modern intensive farming generally involves grazing monocultures or feeding total mixed rations and these restrict the ability of livestock to select their own diet. Research has shown that grazing sheep and cattle have a partial preference of approximately 70% for clover (when offered as a monoculture sward alongside grass), and they show a consistent diurnal pattern of preference. Dairy cattle and sheep that are given the ability to select their own diet show higher levels of production than animals grazing mixed swards. There is some evidence that animals that can select their own diet are optimising their own efficiency of nutrient capture, and this potential environmental benefit warrants further research. Further research is also neede...

An automatic system to monitor lying, standing and walking behaviour of grazing animals

Abstract Sensors incorporating mercury tilt switches were used to measure lying, standing and walking behaviour of grazing cattle and sheep. The lying/standing sensor was suspended below the animal, whilst the walking sensor was fitted to the shin of the animals foreleg. Both switches gave a digital-low output when vertical or near vertical and a digital-high output when more than 45° from vertical. The lying/standing sensor was operated when the animal lay down and the walking sensor was operated by leg movement, and also by the animal lying down. The sensor outputs were connected to digital recorders mounted on the animals. Sheep fitted with lying/standing recording equipment were observed every 5 min during daylight over 24 h. The index of concordance between the automatic and manual observations of lying/standing was 0.953. Cattle and sheep, fitted with equipment to record walking, were filmed by video camera for at least 10 min each. The number of steps counted by observers of the video recordings were compared with results from the automatic system. Mean square prediction error (MSPE) analysis of the automatic-system results showed they had an error of 7.7% for both cattle and sheep. This error was a percentage of the mean of the actual observed results. Cattle fitted with equipment to record lying/standing and walking were observed every 10 min during daylight over 24 h. The concordance between automatic and manual observations of lying/standing was 0.990 using the lying/standing sensor and 0.996 using the walking sensor. The presence or absence of walking behaviour was also noted and the concordance for the automatic system results with this was 0.96. The automatic system described provides a reliable means of recording lying, standing and walking behaviour of cattle and sheep over 24 h periods.

Effects of providing total mixed rations indoors and on pasture on the behavior of lactating dairy cattle and their preference to be indoors or on pasture.

Grazing is considered a normal behavior for dairy cattle, although they may not be able to meet their nutritional requirements from grazing alone, and so to sustain higher yields requires access to a total mixed ration (TMR). The study aim was to provide dairy cows with access to TMR indoors and on pasture to establish influence on behavior and preference for each location. The study took place from August to November, 2009, using 36 late-lactation Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. The cows were allocated to 1 of 3 26-d study periods (n=12×3). Within each period the cows were further divided into a control (n=6) or treatment (n=6) group using a crossover design, where the cows were changed between the control and treatment group after 13 d. Treatment cows had access to TMR indoors and on pasture, whereas control cows only had access to TMR indoors. Following a.m. and p.m. milkings the cows were taken to a point equidistant between indoors and pasture and given the choice of going to pasture (1.5 ha) or to a freestall barn. Between milkings the cows had free access between the locations. Initial choice was recorded and a video camera was used to record time spent in each location. Behavior observations were recorded to establish how the cows spent their time during the day. To determine what factors influenced preference, weather conditions, milk yield, body condition score, and lameness were recorded. Initially, the cows chose indoors following milking (96.4±0.80%). Overall, the cows expressed a partial preference for pasture (71.1±1.82%), which was different from 100, 50, and 0%. Study period influenced preference with cows spending less time on pasture as the season progressed (86.7 vs. 68.3 vs. 58.3% for study periods 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Providing the cows with TMR outdoors did not affect pasture use, but resulted in an increase in TMR intake of 2.2±0.41 kg of dry matter/d. The cows spent more time on pasture as the temperature-humidity index indoors (55.6±0.92) and outdoors (54.6±0.82) increased, but rainfall and milk yield did not influence preference. Cows with lameness score >1.5 spent more time indoors (35.4±4.52 vs. 25.2±2.64% for cows with >1.5 vs. ≤1.5 lameness score, respectively). In conclusion, the cows expressed a partial preference for pasture, which was not influenced by providing TMR on pasture.

The integration of GPS, vegetation mapping and GIS in ecological and behavioural studies

Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation receivers are increasingly being used in ecological and behavioural studies to track the movements of animals in relation to the environments in which they live and forage. Concurrent recording of the animals foraging behaviour (e.g. from jaw movement recording) allows foraging locations to be determined. By combining the animal GPS movement and foraging data with habitat and vegetation maps using a Geographical Information System (GIS) it is possible to relate animal movement and foraging location to landscape and habitat features and vegetation types. This powerful approach is opening up new opportunities to study the spatial aspects of animal behaviour, especially foraging behaviour, with far greater precision and objectivity than before. Advances in GPS technology now mean that sub-metre precision systems can be used to track animals, extending the range of application of this technology from landscape and habitat scale to paddock and patch scale studies. As well as allowing ecological hypotheses to be empirically tested at the patch scale, the improvements in precision are also leading to the approach being increasing extended from large scale ecological studies to smaller (paddock) scale agricultural studies. The use of sub-metre systems brings both new scientific opportunities and new technological challenges. For example, fitting all of the animals in a group with sub-metre precision GPS receivers allows their relative inter-individual distances to be precisely calculated, and their relative orientations can be derived from data from a digital compass fitted to each receiver. These data, analyzed using GIS, could give new insights into the social behaviour of animals. However, the improvements in precision with which the animals are being tracked also needs equivalent improvements in the precision with which habitat and vegetation are mapped. This needs some degree of automation, as vegetation mapping at a fine spatial scale using the traditional manual approach is far too time consuming. This paper explores these issues, discussing new applications as well as approaches to overcoming some of the associated problems.

Aversiveness of mechanical conveying to laying hens

Abstract 1. Passive avoidance was used to investigate the aversive‐ness to laying hens of the sound and motion associated with travel on a short section of flat‐belt conveyor. 2. Three groups of 7 birds were trained to key‐peck for food at an operant panel and then exposed to a passive avoidance schedule in which the treatment stimuli were activated by key‐pecking. 3. Birds exposed to both sound and motion (SM), or sound only (S) showed significantly greater suppression in key‐pecking than birds in the control group (C) which had not been exposed to either stimulus. No significant difference was found in aversion levels between the S and the SM groups. 4. Sound alone appeared to be as aversive as sound and motion combined, although certain caveats to this conclusion are given.

Preference and behavior of lactating dairy cows given free access to pasture at two herbage masses and two distances1

A number of factors influence dairy cow preference to be indoors or at pasture. The study reported here investigated whether herbage mass and distance affects preference and if continuously housed cows exhibited behavioral and production differences compared to cows that had free access to pasture. Dairy cows (n = 16) were offered a free choice of being in cubicle housing (1.5 cubicles/cow) or at pasture with a high (3,000 ± 200 kg DM/ha) vs. low (1,800 ± 200 kg DM/ha) herbage mass. A control group (n = 16) was confined to cubicle housing for the duration of the study. Each herbage mass was offered at either a near (38 m) or far (254 m) distance in a 2 × 2 factorial crossover design to determine motivation to access pasture. Overall, dairy cows expressed a partial preference to be at pasture, spending 68.7% of their time at pasture. This was not affected (P > 0.05) by herbage mass. Both grass intake (P = 0.001) and grazing time (P = 0.039) was greater when cows were offered the high herbage mass. Neither total mixed ration intake (P > 0.05) nor milk yield (P > 0.05) was affected by herbage mass or distance. Additionally, no interaction existed between herbage mass and distance (P > 0.05). Distance affected preference: overall time on pasture was greater at the near distance (P = 0.002); however, nighttime use was not affected by distance (P = 0.184). Housed cows produced less milk than free-choice cows and this was potentially due to a combination of decreased lying time in housed cows (P < 0.001) and grass intake (1.22 kg/d) in free-choice cows. This study shows that herbage mass is not a major factor driving dairy cow preference for pasture, but distance does affect preference for pasture during the day. Additionally, there are clear production and welfare benefits for providing cows with a choice to be at pasture or cubicle housing over being continuously housed. Further research is necessary to quantify the effect of lying time on milk yields.

Factors affecting dairy cow preference to be indoors or at pasture

Introduction Indoor housing and pasture can have both positive and negative effects on the welfare of dairy cows, and environmental conditions can influence the location that dairy cows prefer. For example Krohn et al. (1992) reported pasture to be the preferred lying place for dairy cows during the summer months, but preference shifted towards indoor straw housing with deep bedding in the winter. However, it is unclear whether high yielding dairy cows have a preference for indoor housing or pasture and how environmental conditions and cow factors influence their choice. The aim if the study reported here was to determine whether high genetic merit dairy cows have a preference to be indoors or on pasture and to assess which environmental factors influence their preference.