Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks

The present study was conducted to evaluate if cattle supplemental block consumption was associated with the spatial pattern of environmental use. In Phase I the environmental factors which affected these patterns of usage were studied. Cattle distribution was estimated using an indirect method base...

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Autores principales: Cassini, Marcelo Hernán, Hermitte, Gabriela
Publicado: 1992
Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini
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Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id paper:paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini
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spelling paper:paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini2023-06-08T15:17:13Z Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks Cassini, Marcelo Hernán Hermitte, Gabriela The present study was conducted to evaluate if cattle supplemental block consumption was associated with the spatial pattern of environmental use. In Phase I the environmental factors which affected these patterns of usage were studied. Cattle distribution was estimated using an indirect method based on the distribution of scats accumulated from 1 October 1986 to 26 October 1986. Cattle spent more time in the shelter and in the area surrounding the watering place than in any other area of the same size within the field, and preferred the richest vegetation communities. In Phase II we investigated the best field distribution of supplemental food blocks, testing three hypotheses: (1) use is random, (2) use is correlated with cattle presence, and (3) use is directly related to the activity in which the cattle engage in each area of the field. Blocks were assigned to shelter, water and meadow areas. and the weight of each block as well as the number of scats around each block were determined at the beginning and at the end of the study (2 February 1987 to 4 April 1987). Although the meadow area had presented the least use (per sample unit) at the beginning of the trial, block consumption was significantly greater in this area, indicating that hypothesis (3) best predicts block consumption. In Phase III we tried to replicate the previous results on a larger scale. A 3100-ha field with 1097 animals was used from 10 June 1987 to 10 October 1987. Three types of area were determined with respect to the distance to the watering place. A similar tendency as in previous phases was obtained. Blocks located near the watering place were less consumed than those in an adjacent foraging area. The overall results suggest that placement of supplemental blocks near watering sites will not lead to optimum utilization and should not be recommended. © 1992 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved. Fil:Cassini, M.H. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Hermitte, G. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 1992 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
description The present study was conducted to evaluate if cattle supplemental block consumption was associated with the spatial pattern of environmental use. In Phase I the environmental factors which affected these patterns of usage were studied. Cattle distribution was estimated using an indirect method based on the distribution of scats accumulated from 1 October 1986 to 26 October 1986. Cattle spent more time in the shelter and in the area surrounding the watering place than in any other area of the same size within the field, and preferred the richest vegetation communities. In Phase II we investigated the best field distribution of supplemental food blocks, testing three hypotheses: (1) use is random, (2) use is correlated with cattle presence, and (3) use is directly related to the activity in which the cattle engage in each area of the field. Blocks were assigned to shelter, water and meadow areas. and the weight of each block as well as the number of scats around each block were determined at the beginning and at the end of the study (2 February 1987 to 4 April 1987). Although the meadow area had presented the least use (per sample unit) at the beginning of the trial, block consumption was significantly greater in this area, indicating that hypothesis (3) best predicts block consumption. In Phase III we tried to replicate the previous results on a larger scale. A 3100-ha field with 1097 animals was used from 10 June 1987 to 10 October 1987. Three types of area were determined with respect to the distance to the watering place. A similar tendency as in previous phases was obtained. Blocks located near the watering place were less consumed than those in an adjacent foraging area. The overall results suggest that placement of supplemental blocks near watering sites will not lead to optimum utilization and should not be recommended. © 1992 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved.
author Cassini, Marcelo Hernán
Hermitte, Gabriela
spellingShingle Cassini, Marcelo Hernán
Hermitte, Gabriela
Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks
author_facet Cassini, Marcelo Hernán
Hermitte, Gabriela
author_sort Cassini, Marcelo Hernán
title Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks
title_short Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks
title_full Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks
title_fullStr Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks
title_full_unstemmed Patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks
title_sort patterns of environmental use by cattle and consumption of supplemental food blocks
publishDate 1992
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_01681591_v32_n4_p297_Cassini
work_keys_str_mv AT cassinimarcelohernan patternsofenvironmentalusebycattleandconsumptionofsupplementalfoodblocks
AT hermittegabriela patternsofenvironmentalusebycattleandconsumptionofsupplementalfoodblocks
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