Description

Although it is important to estimate the ingested plant species and the amount of forage intake by grazing animals, recording these items at the 1-bite scale has been difficult under diverse vegetation. Recent research confirmed that a small and inexpensive wearable camera is useful to determine ingested plant species and their proportion in total bites with high accuracy. In this study, we attempted to generate bite codes for cattle under diverse vegetation using wearable cameras. We used two cows which had a grazing experience in the previous year (GE) and the other two which had no grazing experience (NE). They grazed on a mountainous area (3 ha of sown pasture and 17 ha of forest) from late spring to mid-summer. A wearable camera (Panasonic HX-A500, 185 g) was fixed on the right cheek of the cows. Foraging behavior was continuously recorded for 120 min during morning foraging bouts, and direct observation was also conducted simultaneously. Bite codes were generated based on the morphological characteristics of ingested plants and the characteristics of foraging manner of the cows. Bite codes were classified into A (> 100 cm), B (100–60 cm), and C (< 60 cm) based on foraging height, then further classified into 5 types in A, 4 types in B, and 16 types in C (total 25 types) based on the differences in feeding manner. NE cows showed more frequent occurrence of the codes with low bite size than GE cows when foraging at a height of B in immediately after the start of grazing season. The results suggest that bite codes reflect bite size and thus can provide a precise understanding of their foraging behavior. It was also suggested that changes in bite codes due to the accumulation of grazing experience may affect foraging efficiency of grazing cattle.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.13023/zc73-7452

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Analysis of Foraging Behavior of Cattle Using a Wearable Camera under Diverse Vegetation

Although it is important to estimate the ingested plant species and the amount of forage intake by grazing animals, recording these items at the 1-bite scale has been difficult under diverse vegetation. Recent research confirmed that a small and inexpensive wearable camera is useful to determine ingested plant species and their proportion in total bites with high accuracy. In this study, we attempted to generate bite codes for cattle under diverse vegetation using wearable cameras. We used two cows which had a grazing experience in the previous year (GE) and the other two which had no grazing experience (NE). They grazed on a mountainous area (3 ha of sown pasture and 17 ha of forest) from late spring to mid-summer. A wearable camera (Panasonic HX-A500, 185 g) was fixed on the right cheek of the cows. Foraging behavior was continuously recorded for 120 min during morning foraging bouts, and direct observation was also conducted simultaneously. Bite codes were generated based on the morphological characteristics of ingested plants and the characteristics of foraging manner of the cows. Bite codes were classified into A (> 100 cm), B (100–60 cm), and C (< 60 cm) based on foraging height, then further classified into 5 types in A, 4 types in B, and 16 types in C (total 25 types) based on the differences in feeding manner. NE cows showed more frequent occurrence of the codes with low bite size than GE cows when foraging at a height of B in immediately after the start of grazing season. The results suggest that bite codes reflect bite size and thus can provide a precise understanding of their foraging behavior. It was also suggested that changes in bite codes due to the accumulation of grazing experience may affect foraging efficiency of grazing cattle.