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The effects of work on food intake and ingestive behaviour of draught cattle and buffalo given barley straw

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

R. A. Person  and
D. G. Smith
R. A. Person
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG
D. G. Smith
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG
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Abstract

In the first experiment the animals were worked for 5h/day and/or given 17 h access to food. In the second experiment they were worked for 4 h/day and/or given 20 h access to food. When animals were prevented from feeding on barley straw for 7 h/day their dry-matter intake (DMI) was significantly less than when they were given 24 h access to food. When feeding was prevented for only 4 h/day food intake was not significantly different from that with 24-h access.

A study of feeding behaviour (experiment 2) suggested that when most animals were deprived of food for 4 h they maintained similar intakes to those on ad libitum feeding by increasing their rate of eating, rather than by increasing the time they spent eating. Preventing food intake for 4 h/day was associated with little change in time spent ruminating during the day. On all treatments, the buffalo spent significantly less time eating and more time ruminating than the cattle.

Work, during the periods when food was withheld, had little effect on the DMI of either the buffalo or cattle compared with restricted feeding. No rumination occurred during the time that the animals were at work. However on working days, time spent ruminating was similar to that seen on restricted feeding days, but the animals spent more time ruminating later in the day than when they were able to ruminate during the middle of the day.

Keywords

buffaloescattlefeeding behaviourfood intakework
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , June 1994 , pp. 339 - 346
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1994

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