Cattle may improve their feeding efficiency by altering their ingestive behaviour in response to changes in the quality of their pastoral environments. To test this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted in a native ...Cattle may improve their feeding efficiency by altering their ingestive behaviour in response to changes in the quality of their pastoral environments. To test this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted in a native pasture that has been managed in continuous stocking at different daily forage allowances （4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% of live weight） for twenty two years thus creating different pastoral environments. For the current experiment, the animals were allocated to their respective experimental units on April 27, 2007. Two experiments were conducted; one was performed at the end of winter （experiment 1）, and the other was undertaken at the end of spring （experiment 2）. Four tester animals were observed per experimental unit （3-5 ha each）. The animals increased their daily grazing time when forage allowance decreased. Most of this increased time was devoted to harvesting, whereas searching was reduced to a few minutes per day. Under conditions of ideal range of forage allowance （between 12% and 14%）, the grazing time was reduced, and the search activity increased. These results suggest that the monitoring of indicators of ingestive behaviour can be used to determine the attributes of forage resources.展开更多
In order to receive a licence to produce, poultry farmers have to take into account societal demands, among others： animal welfare, healthy working conditions for the workers and landscape quality. A way to reach a c...In order to receive a licence to produce, poultry farmers have to take into account societal demands, among others： animal welfare, healthy working conditions for the workers and landscape quality. A way to reach a combination of these goals is to create a design for the poultry house and outdoor run. We propose a methodology based on five steps, which enables us to create a design that takes into consideration societal demands and that can be tested on its effects. These five steps are： 1. Giving a theoretical background on the societal demands （hen ethology, farm management and landscape quality） and based on this; 2. Giving a set of design criteria. 3. Describing the cttrrent state of the farm, in order to know its current qualities, 4. Making a design of the farm using the sets of criteria as guiding principle. 5. Reflecting on the design, to show whether the different criteria can be combined and where compromises are needed. A case study on an organic farm in the centre of the Netherlands showed that hen welfare, farm management and landscape quality can be improved together, although some measures do not add to all design criteria. Especially the effect on landscape quality and farm management is variable： the latter is also depending on the personal motivation of the farmer.展开更多
文摘Cattle may improve their feeding efficiency by altering their ingestive behaviour in response to changes in the quality of their pastoral environments. To test this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted in a native pasture that has been managed in continuous stocking at different daily forage allowances （4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% of live weight） for twenty two years thus creating different pastoral environments. For the current experiment, the animals were allocated to their respective experimental units on April 27, 2007. Two experiments were conducted; one was performed at the end of winter （experiment 1）, and the other was undertaken at the end of spring （experiment 2）. Four tester animals were observed per experimental unit （3-5 ha each）. The animals increased their daily grazing time when forage allowance decreased. Most of this increased time was devoted to harvesting, whereas searching was reduced to a few minutes per day. Under conditions of ideal range of forage allowance （between 12% and 14%）, the grazing time was reduced, and the search activity increased. These results suggest that the monitoring of indicators of ingestive behaviour can be used to determine the attributes of forage resources.
文摘In order to receive a licence to produce, poultry farmers have to take into account societal demands, among others： animal welfare, healthy working conditions for the workers and landscape quality. A way to reach a combination of these goals is to create a design for the poultry house and outdoor run. We propose a methodology based on five steps, which enables us to create a design that takes into consideration societal demands and that can be tested on its effects. These five steps are： 1. Giving a theoretical background on the societal demands （hen ethology, farm management and landscape quality） and based on this; 2. Giving a set of design criteria. 3. Describing the cttrrent state of the farm, in order to know its current qualities, 4. Making a design of the farm using the sets of criteria as guiding principle. 5. Reflecting on the design, to show whether the different criteria can be combined and where compromises are needed. A case study on an organic farm in the centre of the Netherlands showed that hen welfare, farm management and landscape quality can be improved together, although some measures do not add to all design criteria. Especially the effect on landscape quality and farm management is variable： the latter is also depending on the personal motivation of the farmer.
