Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influences of the vegetational conditions, namely grass standing crop, herbage deterioration and herbage distribution, on the spatial pattern of grazing cattle. First, the spatial patterns of grazing cattle on the paddocks of various standing crops were investigated for determining the influence of standing crop. Secondly, changes of the spatial patterns of grazing cattle under the continuous grazing were investigated for determining the influence of herbage deterioration. Thirdly, the contrasts between the spatial patterns of grazing cattle on the mixed paddocks which consisted of 8 plots replicated twice of 4 grasses and the single paddocks (Fig.1) were investigated for determining the influence of bherage distribution. The methods of the early report (Sato et al., 1976 and Morishita 1959) were used to measure the spatial pattern of grazing cattle. The results observed were as follows: 1) The influence of standing crop The only spatial pattern of grazing cattle on the paddock cut with mower, in which the herbage uniformity reduced and herbage deteriorated, became dispersedly. 2) The influence of herbage deterioration As the paddocks were progressively eaten, cattle grazed gradually dispersedly. When the poddocks were further eaten, cattle again grazed aggregatively. 3) The influence of herbage distribution The spatial patterns of grazing cattle on the mixd paddocks became more dispersedly than those on the single paddocks.
