slugFeeding behavior of beef cattle fed different forages and housed in individual or collective pens
Journal Title: Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology - Year 2017, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
The understanding of feeding behavior may be useful to evaluate the performance of animals fed different diets. Twenty-four non-castrated Red Norte × Nelore males with an average initial body weight of 439.8 ± 59.6 kg and 21.7 ± 2.7 months of age were distributed in three experimental groups, and housed in individual (twelve animals) or collective pens (twelve animals in three collective pens) at the Dairy and Beef Research and Education Center of the Instituto Federal Goiano (Iporá Campus). The experiment lasted 84 days (14 of adaptation and 70 days for data collection). Animals were fed diets containing sugar cane in natura (CI), sugar cane silage (SCS) or corn silage (CS) as sources of forage. Feeding behavior was determined every 14 days for one-hour intervals beginning at 0, 1, 5, and 9 hours post-feeding. Eating, resting and rumination activities were monitored for three-minute intervals through visual observations from individual animals. Time spent with eating was greater (P<0.05) for CS (21.8 ± 1.2 minutes/hour) and time spent with resting was greater (P<0.05) for CI and SCS (38.8 and 36.5 ± 1.5 minutes/hour, respectively). Animals housed individually increased (P<0.05) time spent with both eating (19.7 ± 1.0 minutes/hour) and rumination (8.2 ± 0.6 minutes/hour), while time spent with resting was greater (P<0.05) for the collective pen-housing (38.9±1.2 minutes/hour). Corn silage can be recommended for beef cattle feeding in feedlot system due to an increased time spent with eating.
Authors and Affiliations
Sergio Antonio Schwartz Custodio ▪ Marcus Paulo Pereira Tomaz ▪ Diego Azevedo Leite da Silva ▪ Rodrigo de Oliveira Goulart ▪ Kaique Moreira Dias ▪ Eduardo Rodrigues de Carvalho
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP17928
- DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.14269/2318-1265/jabb.v5n1p20-28
- Views 445
- Downloads 22
slugBehavioral and thermoregulatory characteristics of Dorper sheep
The objective of this study was to evaluate the behavioral and thermoregulatory characteristics of Dorper sheep. The experiment involved 12 adult females in which the respiratory frequency (RF), heart rate (HR), and r...
slugTemperamento de búfalas em sala de ordenha sobre índices produtivos e adaptabilidade ao ambiente: uma revisão
Buffaloes have become an economically viable source of protein, due to its adaptability, precocity and longevity. The dogma that high productivity cannot be related with the animal welfare needs to be effectively bro...
slugWelfare quality applied to the Brazilian dairy cattle
Due to the necessity of establishing animal welfare standards for the Brazilian dairy sector in harmony to the new consumer’s requirements and legislation, it was drawn up the project Welfare Quality (WQ) - Brazil, ba...
slugInfluence of macro-and microclimatic conditions on thermal comfort of dairy cows
The goal was to assess the influence of thermal environment on thermal comfort of 15 multiparous lactating Holstein cows. Thermal comfort of the cows in the barn was assessed from the changes in their rectal temperatu...
slugProductive and reproductive performance, behavior and physiology of cattle under heat stress conditions
This review aimed to detail the main information pertinent to the physiological and behavioral mechanisms evidenced in cattle under heat stress conditions. Brazilian cattle-breeding represents the second largest herd...