Foraging behaviour of sheep at pasture with different types of paddock | Obnašanje ovc na kraškem pašniku z različno vegetacijo

English. This experiment was designed to study the foraging behaviour of ewes on a pasture with paddocks with three different types of vegetation, herbaceous (n = 3), woody (n = 2), and semi open (n = 1). Forty sheep were bred on a farm in the Karst region of Slovenia. Ten sheep were focally observed during day light (5 a.m.–9 p.m.). Ewes were observed for 2 days in each paddock with one rotation, so 12 days in total. Grazing time, circadian rhythm of grazing, drinking frequency, and frequency of salt consumption were the observed behaviours. On average, ewes grazed for 10.5 hours a day (mean ± SD = 626.2 ± 47.2 min), with a significant difference between individual variation  (P < 0.001). Sheep grazed the most in herbaceous paddocks (P < 0.001), with lower yet similar levels observed in woody and semi open paddock. The frequency of drinking and salt consumption was low. Individual grazing sheep would drink slightly less than once per day, while consuming salt on average 1.25 times per day. Drinking frequency was the highest in the semi open paddock with some trees and bushes, whereas salt consumption was most frequently observed in the woody paddocks.

Slovenian. Poskus je bil zastavljen z namenom proučiti obnašanje ovc na pašniku s čredinkami, v katerih so obstajale tri različne vrste vegetacije: travna ruša (n = 3), gozdna (n = 2) in delno zaraščena z drevesi in grmovjem (n = 1). Trop 40 ovc se je pasel na kmetiji na kraškem svetu v Sloveniji. Deset individualnih ovc je bilo direktno opazovanih v času dnevne osvetlitve (od 5. do 21. ure). Ovce so bile opazovane 2 zaporedna dneva v posamezni čredinki z eno ponovitvijo, torej skupaj 12 dni. Opazovana je bila dolžina zauživanja zelinja (+ listje iz grmovja in dreves), dnevni ritem zauživanja travne ruša, pogostost pitja in zauživanja soli. Na dan so se ovce pasle povprečno 10,5 ur (povprečje ± SD = 626,2 ± 47,2 min), vendar so bile značilne razlike med ovcami (P < 0,001). Najdaljši čas za pašo so ovce imele v čredinkah s travno rušo (P < 0,001). Podoben čas paše je bil opazovan v gozdnih čredinkah in pol odprti čredinki. Pogostost pitja in zauživanja soli je bila nizka. Živali so pile malo manj kot enkrat na dan, medtem ko so zaužile sol 1,25 krat na dan. Pogostost pitja je bila največja v pol odprti čredinki, kjer so bila prisotna tudi drevesa in grmovje, medtem ko je bila največja pogostost zauživanja soli v gozdnih čredinkah.