This annotated slide show overviews the principles of diet selection of livestock and how learning and experience shape livestock food preferences and dietary habits. It gives several examples of how managers can use these behavioral principles to 1) help livestock make efficient use of foods, 2) train livestock to eat weeds, 3) use strategic supplementation to improve livestock distribution and save money by lengthening the grazing season.
1. Principles of Diet
Selection
Or why animals eat certain foods
Beth Burritt
Area Rangeland Resources Extension Agent
Website: extension.usu.edu/behave
9. Lambs Eat What Mom Eats and
Avoids What She Avoids
Number of bites/lamb
25
Mom eats serviceberry and …
20
15
10
avoids mountain mahogany
5
0
1 2 3 4 5
Day of Exposure
10. . . .even after weaning
100 100
% of bites by lambs
serviceberry
75 75
serviceberry
50 50
25 mountain mahogany 25
mountain mahogany
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 62 63 64 65 66 67 68
Days after weaning
18. Flavors apart from feedback are
neither palatable or unpalatable
Feedback tells the body
whether a particular food
flavor is useful or harmful.
What is the purpose of flavor?
Flavor allows animals to
discriminate between foods.
19. They can’t be that smart.
1. Changes in preferences
for foods are automatic.
2. They don’t have to think
about them.
3. At times, they are not
rational.
34. How do livestock select their diets?
They prefer to eat:
1. with companions
2. familiar foods
3. foods high in nutrients and low
in toxins
4. a variety of foods
5. familiar foods that are rare in
the environment
44. Experience Influences Performance
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Body weight * * *
Body condition * * *
Milk production * * -
Post-partum interval * * -
45. Strategic
supplementation
improves use of forage
and landscapes
46. • Low moisture blocks (LMB) contain 2 – 4 % moisture.
• LMB are available in 125 - 250 lb containers.
• LMB (250 lb) only need to be replaced about once
every 2 weeks when fed 1 barrel per 25 cows.
47. Low moisture block
(LMB) effectively
increased and
focused grazing in
moderate terrain.
LMB attracted
cows to graze
difficult terrain
that typically
was not used.
49. Training is critical for
supplement to be an effective tool
to improve grazing distribution.
Animals must also know where
supplement is located.
50. The question isn’t:
Do animals learn?
They learn everyday.
The question is:
Do we as managers want to be
part of the process?
Website: extension.usu.edu/behave
Notas do Editor
Most behaviors are learned are are shaped by experience. There really is no difference between most natural and trained behavior. We view natural behavior as a behavior we normally see all members of a species engaging in. Unnatural behavior we often view as behaviors animals are trained to do, but not always.
Necessity is the mother of invention. What's a young girl to do when mom and dad won't buy her a horse? Why not teach one of the family cows to jump.Regina Mayer, 15-year old girl in Germany, taught cow "Luna" to jump fences. It took her two years of training. The pair also likes to go for rides in the countryside.
In this study, two groups of ewes were either averted (with lithium chloride) to serviceberry or mountain mahogany. Then their lambs were allowed to eat with their mothers (trained ewes) and given a choice of the two shrubs. Lambs ate what mom ate and avoided what she avoided.The slide above is data from lambs whose mothers ate serviceberry but avoided mountain mahogany. Lambs whose mothers ate mountain mahogany but that avoided serviceberry did the reverse.See the fact sheet Mother knows best: https://extension.usu.edu/behave/files/uploads/Fact_sheets_basic/Mother.pdfREF: Mirza, S.N. and F.D. Provenza. 1990. Preference of the mother affects selection and avoidance of foods by lambs differing in age. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 28:255-263.
Even after weaning lambs continued to prefer the shrub mom ate and avoided the shrub she avoided.
Read slide. This is a time for audience participation. Ask the audience why do you like the foods you like? Be positive regardless of answer but the answer you’re looking for is because they taste good.
The next few slides are from a pdf document entitled Beijing Fast Food. If you think new or novel foods are no big deal to eat. How about trying some of these foods sold on the streets of Beijing?
This slide is self-explanatory except perhaps for point 5. When a food is preferred and rare in the environment, animals are more likely to eat that food than if it is abundant in the environment. It’s like finding a treasure.
Before teaching any animal to eat a weeds, make certain you know something about the nutrition of the weed, whether or not the plant contains toxins that may be harmful to the animal. And lastly, if there is anything known about the effect of nutrients on the toxins in the plant. For example, if a weed is a nitrate accumulator, providing a molasses block might keep animals from suffering from nitrate poisoning.
REF: Bailey, D.W. and G.R. Welling. 1999. Modification of cattle grazing distribution with dehydrated molasses supplement. J. Range Manage. 52:575-582.Bailey, D. W., G. R. Welling, and E. T. Miller. 2001. Cattle use of foothills rangeland near dehydrated molasses supplement. J. Range Manage. 54: 338-347.
Read the slide.
Remember animals have to be trained to use low moisture blocks either in dry lot or during winter when alternative forages are limiting. As you move blocks from one location to the next, animals need to know where the new blocks are located.