An Analysis of Sheep Grazing and Ingredients of Grass in Pasturelands on the Island of Yagishirito with GPS and Acceleration Data Logger
2020 Volume 2020 Issue 57 Pages 1-9
Details
2020 Volume 2020 Issue 57 Pages 1-9
This study aims to analyze the sheep grazing and ingredient of grass in the pasturelands on the Island of Yagishirito with GPS and acceleration data logger.
The moving area of the sheep subjects (3 males and 8 females) in 24 hours has a radius of 260 m, the size is 212 m2, and the circumference is 1,640 m.
The general behaviors of the grazing sheep in 24-hour continuous measurement based on GPS movement information and acceleration data logger can be classified into three types : resting, grazing/moving, and moving. Based on the acceleration data logger, the following ratios were obtained during the daytime (from sunrise to sunset) : 37.5±6.7%, 44.4±5.8%, and 16.7±6.2% for females, and 59.6±6.6%, 27±16.5%, and 13.3±10.4% for males. The ratios at night (from sunset to just before sunrise) were 63.7±6.2%, 29.7±5.9%, and 6.6±5.2% for females, and 62.3±9.3%, 23.3±15.6%, and 14.3±12.1% for males. There were differences in the ratio of male and female behaviors during the day and night, and the differences were significant (P＜0.01).
There are individual, siginificant differences in the moving distances of the subjects (P＜ 0.05)- those for females is 2.11±0.86 km in daytime and 1.39±0.43 km in night time, while those for male is 1.89±0.34 km in daytime and 1.21±0.22 km in night time. While comparing these figures, the daytime values of both male and female are significantly longer than those at night (P＜0.001).
The average speed of movement was significantly higher during the day than that at night for both sexes (P＜0.01), and the females were significantly faster than the males during the day (P＜0.05).
Major plants in the mixed grasslands of the pasturelands are Trifolium repens, Dactylis glomerata, Lolium multiflorum. Analysis of grass sample shows crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, and minerals with no significant differences among different samples. The values of general components in all samples indicate the current state of the pasture components as roughage for grazing sheep. The captioned area can be considered as pasturelands with a large amount of minerals such as high Na and Cu required by sheep, a ruminant.
