Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T06:29:43.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The act of rumination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

John G. Gordon
John G. Gordon
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeenshire
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. A detailed analysis was made of the rumination behaviour of one caged sheep on four combinations of diet, ranging from 100% hay to 100% concentrate meal.

2. When hay was fed there was no relationship between the quantity of it ingested and the amount of rumination, which averaged 8 hr. daily. When concentrates were fed alone rumination time fell to 2½ hr. per day and much of this was ‘pseudorumination’.

3. Evidence is produced to show that the number of chews and not the time chewing is the accurate way of measuring rumination quantitatively. This particular sheep made an average of 39,000 rumination chews per day when hay was fed.

4. The duration of the intervals between boli was constant at 15% of total rumination time, but the rate of chewing varied from 83–99 chews per minute, being slower during the midnight to noon half of the 24 hr., when most rumination occurred.

5. Rumination periods last from under 1 min. up to about 2 hr.

6. Tiring during a rumination period was reflected by an increase in the intervals between boli but the number of chews per bolus remained unchanged.

7. The first bolus of each period of rumination was chewed less than those following. This sheep averaged fifteen periods of rumination per day, a daily total of 500 boli were regurgitated. There were 2500 chews per period and seventy-eight chews per bolus.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , February 1958 , pp. 34 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1958

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Balch, C. C. (1952). Brit. J. Nutr. 6, 366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castle, M. E., Foot, A. S. & Halley, R. J. (1950). J. Dairy Res. 17, 215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colin, G. (1871). Traité de Physiologie Comparée des Animaux, vol. 1. Paris: Baillière.Google Scholar
Duckworth, J. E. & Shirlaw, D. W. (1955). Brit. J. Anim. Behav. 3, 56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, J. M. (1928). Tech. Bull. New Hamp. Agric. Exp. Sta. 35.Google Scholar
Gordon, J. G. (1955). Rumination in the Sheep. Thesis. Aberdeen University.Google Scholar
Grant, J. C., Millar, P. G., & Worden, A. N. (1942). Vet. J. 98, 72.Google Scholar
Hancock, J. (1954). J. Agric. Sci. 45, 80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harker, K. W., Taylor, J. I. & Rollinson, D. H. L. (1954). J. Agric. Sci. 44, 193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnstone-Wallace, D. B. (1953). J. Roy. Agric. Soc. Engl. 114, 11.Google Scholar
Johnstone-Wallace, D. B. & Kennedy, K. (1944). J. Agric. Sci. 34, 190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kick, C. H. & Gerlaugh, P. (1936). Amer. Soc. Anim. Prod., Proc. 28th Ann. Meet., p. 93.Google Scholar
Schalk, A. F. & Amadon, R. S. (1928). Bull. North Dak. Agric. Exp. Sta. no. 216.Google Scholar