Resumo
The aim of this note is to describe preliminary results on assessment of land use by cattle, obtained in a pilot study using Geographic Information System (GIS). The research was carried out on a semi-natural pasture in Sweden, where the geographic positions of one cow were recorded during 25 consecutive days during summer. The cow, wearing a GPS collar, was integrated in a herd of 53 Hereford cattle. Each location point registered for the animal was considered as a sampling unit (N=3,097). The spatial distribution of ground declivity, water sources, cattle tracks, and classes of woody vegetation cover (forest, grassland with trees and open grassland) were recorded. The storage, processing and data analysis were carried out using the Idrisi and GS+ softwares. Three occupation zones were identified in function of the variation in the space used by the animal, which were occupied in a cyclical pattern; with the animal moving from one zone to another in cycles of five days. It was also clear that the cattle distribution in the area was neither random nor uniform, and it was affected by environmental characteristics that act as conditioners on its distribution. These preliminary results suggest that definition of zones of occupation and the environmental conditioners are promising tools to understand the land use by cattle
O objetivo desta nota é apresentar resultados preliminares sobre a avaliação do uso do espaço por bovinos, obtidos em um estudo piloto com o uso de Sistema de Informação Geográfico. O trabalho foi realizado em uma pastagem seminatural na Suécia, onde as posições geográficas de uma vaca foram registradas durante 25 dias consecutivos no verão. O animal, equipado com colar GPS, fazia parte de um rebanho de 53 bovinos da raça Hereford. Cada ponto de localização registrado foi considerado como uma unidade amostral (N=3.097). As distribuições espaciais do bovino, da declividade do terreno, das fontes de água, das trilhas formadas pelo gado e das classes de cobertura vegetal (floresta, pastagem com árvores e pastagem aberta) foram registradas. O processamento e análise de dados foram feitos com uso dos softwares Idrisi e GS+. Três zonas de ocupação foram identificadas em função da variação no uso do espaço pelo animal, caracterizando um padrão cíclico de ocupação, com deslocamento de uma zona para outra a cada cinco dias. Ficou claro também que a distribuição do bovino na área não foi aleatória nem uniforme, sendo influenciada por características ambientais, que atuaram como condicionadores do uso do espaço. Estes resultados preliminares sugerem que a definição de zonas de ocupação e de condicionadores ambientais são ferramentas promissoras para esclarecer o uso do espaço pelo gado
Resumo
The aim of this note is to describe preliminary results on assessment of land use by cattle, obtained in a pilot study using Geographic Information System (GIS). The research was carried out on a semi-natural pasture in Sweden, where the geographic positions of one cow were recorded during 25 consecutive days during summer. The cow, wearing a GPS collar, was integrated in a herd of 53 Hereford cattle. Each location point registered for the animal was considered as a sampling unit (N=3,097). The spatial distribution of ground declivity, water sources, cattle tracks, and classes of woody vegetation cover (forest, grassland with trees and open grassland) were recorded. The storage, processing and data analysis were carried out using the Idrisi and GS+ softwares. Three occupation zones were identified in function of the variation in the space used by the animal, which were occupied in a cyclical pattern; with the animal moving from one zone to another in cycles of five days. It was also clear that the cattle distribution in the area was neither random nor uniform, and it was affected by environmental characteristics that act as conditioners on its distribution. These preliminary results suggest that definition of zones of occupation and the environmental conditioners are promising tools to understand the land use by cattle
O objetivo desta nota é apresentar resultados preliminares sobre a avaliação do uso do espaço por bovinos, obtidos em um estudo piloto com o uso de Sistema de Informação Geográfico. O trabalho foi realizado em uma pastagem seminatural na Suécia, onde as posições geográficas de uma vaca foram registradas durante 25 dias consecutivos no verão. O animal, equipado com colar GPS, fazia parte de um rebanho de 53 bovinos da raça Hereford. Cada ponto de localização registrado foi considerado como uma unidade amostral (N=3.097). As distribuições espaciais do bovino, da declividade do terreno, das fontes de água, das trilhas formadas pelo gado e das classes de cobertura vegetal (floresta, pastagem com árvores e pastagem aberta) foram registradas. O processamento e análise de dados foram feitos com uso dos softwares Idrisi e GS+. Três zonas de ocupação foram identificadas em função da variação no uso do espaço pelo animal, caracterizando um padrão cíclico de ocupação, com deslocamento de uma zona para outra a cada cinco dias. Ficou claro também que a distribuição do bovino na área não foi aleatória nem uniforme, sendo influenciada por características ambientais, que atuaram como condicionadores do uso do espaço. Estes resultados preliminares sugerem que a definição de zonas de ocupação e de condicionadores ambientais são ferramentas promissoras para esclarecer o uso do espaço pelo gado
Resumo
To cope with the changes imposed by high technology in animal production, farmers must be aware of some strategies to overcome the difficulties, however, they have to pay attention to minimize the impact of stress generated by some handling practices on the development of animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adaptation of calves to the handling routine of restricted suckling and their effects on calves performance. The breeding season (with 90 days of duration) was carried out for 50 Bos indicus calved cows (Nellore and Guzerath purebreds), and two bulls (Guzerath). The cows and their calves were randomly allocated into two treatments: permanent suckling (PS) cow and calf remained together all the day and; restricted suckling (RS) - they remained together during only 7 hours per day. For the RS group, during the first ten days of the breeding season, the time taken to apart the dyad (TA) was recorded, and was performed a 30 min. behavioral observation, recording the suckling frequency (SF). The thoracic girth was used as indicator of calves development, being measured at the beginning (time 0) and final of breeding season (90 days) The differences of time to apart and suckling frequency over the 10 days of assessment were analyzed by the Friedman test (with Bonferroni correction), followed by linear (for TA) and quadratic regression analysis (for SF). Mann-Whi
O artigo não apresenta resumo em português.
Resumo
To cope with the changes imposed by high technology in animal production, farmers must be aware of some strategies to overcome the difficulties, however, they have to pay attention to minimize the impact of stress generated by some handling practices on the development of animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adaptation of calves to the handling routine of restricted suckling and their effects on calves performance. The breeding season (with 90 days of duration) was carried out for 50 Bos indicus calved cows (Nellore and Guzerath purebreds), and two bulls (Guzerath). The cows and their calves were randomly allocated into two treatments: permanent suckling (PS) cow and calf remained together all the day and; restricted suckling (RS) - they remained together during only 7 hours per day. For the RS group, during the first ten days of the breeding season, the time taken to apart the dyad (TA) was recorded, and was performed a 30 min. behavioral observation, recording the suckling frequency (SF). The thoracic girth was used as indicator of calves development, being measured at the beginning (time 0) and final of breeding season (90 days) The differences of time to apart and suckling frequency over the 10 days of assessment were analyzed by the Friedman test (with Bonferroni correction), followed by linear (for TA) and quadratic regression analysis (for SF). Mann-Whi
O artigo não apresenta resumo em português.