Data from: Knowledge co-production with traditional herders on cattle grazing behaviour for better management of species-rich grasslands
Data files
May 21, 2020 version files 20.84 KB
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Molnar_grazing-behaviour_JAE.xlsx
Abstract
Methods
We observed ingestive bite selection and avoidance behaviour of cattle at and just above the feeding station level in May, June, August, October 2014 and May, June, August, September, October 2015, altogether during 22 days, both during morning and afternoon meals (4-5 hours each) on three nearby pastures. Livestock were calm, individuals were selected randomly. We went as close as possible (0.8-2 m) keeping impact on cattle to the minimum while having a good view of plants near each animal’s mouth. When plants were difficult to identify to the species level, we visited the feeding station just after the animal departed. We documented how and how often certain plant species were approached, eaten or avoided by cattle (see behavioural elements in Table 1). To avoid differences among observers, most observations were done by the first author who had a full knowledge of the local flora and was experienced using binoculars (Nikon, 8*40 mm).
We grouped bite-level observations (ca. 33 000 bites) into frequency categories as our goal was to document behaviour towards as many plant species as possible instead of quantifying daily intake or forage preference (cf. Agreil et al., 2005). We did not study grazing preference (i.e. choice given alternatives, comparing intake and available biomass for each species separately) which would have been impossible in such species-rich pastures. Frequency category 3 (see Appendix S3) means more than 6 (usually 20<) observations per meal, 2 means 3-6 observations per meal, and 1 means 1-2 observations per meal (category boundaries were set arbitrarily). We analysed 117 species (from a total of 241) for which we had observations on at least 3 independent days in spring and autumn, respectively. We developed a desirability index using the proportion of intake-positive elements (the first 5 in Table 1) divided by the total frequency of all 10 elements.
Usage notes
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