The department of animal nutrition and management has, within the area of environmental monitoring and assessment, conducted research on cattle’s grazing behavior along with estimations of yield and nutritional content of herbage from five different vegetation types found on Swedish heterogeneous semi-natural pastures. One of the main aims was to understand whether cattle prefer certain types of vegetation on semi natural pastures and if they contribute to the redistribution of nutrients within the grazing area, i.e transport of nitrogen from nutrient rich previously fertilized areas to unfertilized areas with high botanical biodiversity?
(Photographer: Eva Spörndly)
The vegetation types we studied were vegetation growing on mesic, dry, shaded, wet and previously fertilized soils (fertilized several decades back). The study showed, that when herbage allowance was sufficiently high to permit selective grazing, cattle generally prefer the vegetation type with the highest nutrient content. In the present study this was the naturalized vegetation growing in areas that showed signs of fertilization a few decades back or more. In most cases the animals preferred to rest in the same areas as where they grazed. From animal behavior observations, nutrient redistribution within the grazing area did not seem to be a major problem in the 9 different pastures that were studied as defecation and urination in the different vegetations types was largely proportional to the grazing activity, i.e. occurred in the same areas as where the animals were grazing. However, it is important to emphasize that no actual measurements of nitrogen removed or added to different vegetation types was performed. The present study focused on behavior observations of selective grazing and location of defecation and urination activities.
An ongoing national environmental monitoring and assessment program of the Swedish landscape (NILS) is funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Within the framework of NILS there is a special project to assess the biodiversity of semi-natural pastures and monitor changes over time. The department of Animal Nutrition and Management participates in this project by developing routines to register the number of grazing animals and assess the stocking rate in the semi-natural pastures that are being studied.
More information?
Contact Eva Spörndly, eva.sporndly@slu.se