Some factors affecting the grazing behaviour of sheep in winter in New South Wales [Australia]
1982
Arnold, G.W. (Division of Land Resources Management CSIRO, Wembley WA (Australia))
The effects of weather conditions in winter on the grazing behaviour of sheep was studied on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Minimum screen temperatures were in the range -7 to 9 deg C, maximum temperatures 5 to 18 deg C and wind speeds between 26 and 226km per day. Most observations were restricted to days with little or no rain. Data were obtained from vibrarecorder charts. Night grazing began earlier the lower the temperature, but temperature only accounted for 35% of the variation in the time that grazing began at night. The time that the first grazing period began in the morning was later the shorter the day, and the lower the maximum and minimum temperatures. If the diurnal fluctuation in temperature was high, grazing started later; this suggests that the sheep could sense the sort of day temperatures that would occur. These variables accounted for 52% of the variation in time that grazing began. Total time spent grazing over 24 hours was also influenced by the temperatures during the day, and by the temperature and wind-run the day before. The amount of grazing done the previous day had no effect. In all, 58% of the variation in grazing time was accounted for by weather effects.
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