title: Effects of the presence of grazing-experienced heifers on the development of foraging behavior at the feeding station scale for first-grazing season calves.
abstract: In this study, effects of grazing-experienced heifer presence on foraging behavior development at the feeding station (FS) scale for first-grazing season calves were determined. A group of four calves grazing alone (C), and another comprising four calves (Wc) and three grazing-experienced heifers (Wh), were alternately stocked every day for 2 h on the same pasture for 26 days. The foraging time budget for Wc was significantly longer than that for C (P < 0.05) on day 7, and was similar to that for Wh on all days. Bite rate per FS was significantly higher for Wc (15.5 bite/min) than for C (13.2 bite/min) from day 1 to 14 (33.4 vs. 29.0 bite/min, respectively; P < 0.01) and significantly lower than that for Wh on all days. The number of steps taken between adjacent FSs by Wc (4.7) was significantly lower than that for C (7.2) on days 1 and 14 (2.1 vs. 2.9 steps, respectively; P < 0.01) and was similar to Wh on all days. This suggests that grazing-experienced heifers have positive effects on the foraging behavior development of new-season grazing calves through 14 days after the start of stocking.
authors.affiliation: Dairy Cow Group, Konsen Agricultural Experiment Station, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shingu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Production System, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.affiliation: Dairy Production Research Division, Hokkaido Agricultural Research Center, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.affiliation: Field Science Center for Norther Bioshere, Hokkiado University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Production System, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kondo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002417:Cattle / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D060434:Herbivory / Q000502:physiology*; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology
keywords: feeding station; first-grazing season calves; foraging behavior; grazing-experienced heifer