Grazing behaviour of buffalo heifers

Abstract

From November 2005 to October 2006, sixteen buffalo heifers were used to evaluate the effect of season on grazing behaviour. They grazed a fenced Mediterranean maquis of ~40ha. Approximately 10% of this area was covered by woodland and shrub vegetation and the rest of the area by grassy habitat. From December to March, animals were supplemented with dehydrated beet-pulps and meadow hay administered in the barn. Behavioural data were collected from March to October. During a 6-h period the behaviour of a focal animal, chosen at random, was continuously monitored. All observations were conducted during daylight (between 05.30 and 15.00). During the behavioural observations, the ingestion of woody or shrub vegetation was rarely observed. The proportion of time spent grazing was not affected by season (0.600, 0.409, and 0.434, for spring, summer and autumn, respectively). Animals lay more in summer and autumn than in spring (P<0.05). Ruminating was higher in summer and autumn than in spring (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). The results indicated that buffalo heifers can be considered grazers rather than browsers, as they did not ingest shrub vegetation, and that in summer and autumn the animals displayed higher levels of inactivity, as shown by increased lying down and ruminating behaviours.

Keywords

• Italian Mediterranean buffalo, Grazing behaviour, Mediterranean maquis, Southern Italy.