The feeding behaviour of milking goats in woody rangeland in the Judean mountains
1992
Kababia, D. (Agricultural REsearch Organization (Israel). Agronomy and Natural Resources Dept.)
The feeding behaviour of 24 Anglo-Nubian X Damascus goats in a natural Mediterranean rangeland, in the Sataf region of the Western Judean hills, was studied. The goats were taken to pasture 6 hours daily. The contribution of various vegetation formations (herbaceous vs. woody) to the goats' diet was determined. Goats from both nutritional groups spent 84.5% of the grazing time on actual eating. Nutritional treatment, habitats and seasons (except spring) had no effect on the time spent in feeding. Trees and bushes accounted for 87,79 and 86% of the dry matter intake (DMI) in winter, spring and summer, respectively, wheras grasses accounted for 13,21 and 14% of DMI in the same seasons. Supplementation level had also no effect on diet composition. The plant species grazed most frequently were herbaceous vegetation, cypress, Sarcopoterium, and common oak, but all together they consituted not more than 64% of the eating time. The goats' diet comprised more than 20 perennial species. Pistacia palastina, oak and olive trees were most preferred by the goats, but their preference index was not significantly different from that of many other species. In vitro dry matter digestibility of the materials sampled was lowest in February (45.2%), peaked in March (52.3%) and decreased gradually until the beginning of summer (45.9%). The crude protein content was 10%-11% in all periods, with the exception of April (12.6%). The nutritional value of the selected diet was higher than that of the ominant species in thr rangeland
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