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Grazing behaviour and performance of lactating suckler cows, ewes and goats on partially improved heathlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2008

R. Celaya ,
R. Benavides ,
U. García ,
L. M. M. Ferreira ,
I. Ferre ,
A. Martínez ,
L. M. Ortega-Mora  and
K. Osoro
R. Celaya
Affiliation:
Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario (SERIDA), Apartado 13 – 33300, Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain
R. Benavides
Affiliation:
Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario (SERIDA), Apartado 13 – 33300, Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain
U. García
Affiliation:
Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario (SERIDA), Apartado 13 – 33300, Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain
L. M. M. Ferreira
Affiliation:
CECAV – Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, PO Box 1013, 5000-911 Vila Real, Portugal
I. Ferre
Affiliation:
SALUVET – Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
A. Martínez
Affiliation:
Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario (SERIDA), Apartado 13 – 33300, Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain
L. M. Ortega-Mora
Affiliation:
SALUVET – Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
K. Osoro*
Affiliation:
Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario (SERIDA), Apartado 13 – 33300, Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain
*
E-mail: kosoro@serida.org
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Abstract

The foraging behaviour (grazing time and diet composition), live-weight (LW) changes and parasitic infection (faecal egg counts of gastrointestinal nematodes) of 12 beef cows, 84 ewes and 84 goats suckling their offspring, managed in mixed grazing on heathlands with 24% of improved pasture of perennial ryegrass-white clover, were studied during the years 2003 and 2006. The results showed that goats tended to graze for a longer time, and utilised significantly more heathland vegetation than cattle and sheep, including in their diet in an average of 0.39 herbaceous plants, 0.11 gorse and 0.51 heather over the grazing season, comparing with respective mean values of 0.85, 0.02 and 0.13 in cattle and sheep. Dietary overlap was higher between cattle and sheep (0.76) than between sheep and goats (0.53) or between cattle and goats (0.47). Despite the high performance of autumn-calving cows in spring, sheep had the best LW changes per livestock unit (LU) during the whole grazing season. Goats’ performance per LU was lower than in sheep but higher than in spring-calving cows. Regarding offspring production, lambs had higher LW gains per LU than calves and kids. Mean nematode eggs/g fresh faeces (epg) during the grazing season were higher in goats (91 epg) compared with sheep (34 epg) and cattle (14 epg), particularly from September to December. In conclusion, sheep performed best on these heathlands with improved pasture areas if the entire grazing season was considered, despite the good level of production in spring from autumn-calving cows. The results suggested the complementary use of goats in order to increase the effective utilisation of the available vegetation, achieving production levels similar to those from spring-calving cows. Therefore, mixed flocks of sheep and goats would be the most appropriate sustainable systems from the animal production and vegetation use points of view.

Keywords

domestic ruminantsgastrointestinal nematodegrazinglive weightmarginal land
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 2 , Issue 12 , December 2008 , pp. 1818 - 1831
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2008

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