Studies of grazing behaviour in relation to grassland management: III. Rotational compared with continuous grazing

Extract

1. A series of observations on the grazing behaviour of identical twin cattle on two contrasting systems of pasture management—rotationally and continuously grazed—is described.

2. The rotationally grazed cows averaged only 11 min. (day/cow) shorter feeding time and 18 min. shorter ruminating time than their continuously grazed co-twins. The total time they spent in work was thus 29 min. shorter.

3. While the average differences in total work over the whole trial was not great, the continuously grazed cows worked for appreciably longer daily periods at the time of seasonal feed shortage during which time the rotationally grazed cows were buffered by their pasture diet being supplemented with silage.

4. The differences in grazing behaviour between the cows of the two treatments, together with the magnitude of the seasonal variations which occurred in both groups, indicated that dairy cows attempt to maintain a stable production in the face of adverse pasture conditions by increasing their feeding time.

5. Previous conclusions based on observations of uniformly treated twins regarding the importance of heredity in the determination of grazing behaviour were fully confirmed.