R. Bras. Zootec.01/May/2009;38(5):818-26.
Vegetation structure and ingestive behavior of steers in natural pasture in the state of Rio Grande do Sul
DOI: 10.1590/S1516-35982009000500006
The experiment was performed in a natural pasture to evaluate the effect of the forage offer level on the pasture structure and ingestive behavior of steers. A completely randomized block design with four daily green forage offer levels (4, 8 12 and 16 kg GFDM/100 kg LW) and two replicates was used. The continuous grazing method with variable stocking rate was used. The increasing forage offer enhanced the higher strata frequency and determined higher inferior strata height. The increasing inferior stratum height decreased the grazing time and increased the ruminating time in the autumn, winter and spring, indicating improvements in the grazing environment. However, in this type of vegetation, the increase in height with increasing forage offer was not adequate to elevate the inferior strata height to the desirable levels so that the daily forage intake could be optimized. Increasing forage offer and inferior strata height indicate decreasing linear response of the grazing time and allow a feeding system with shorter time and higher number of meals.
Keywords: forage offer; grazing time; natural pasture; number of meals; rumination time