PASTOREIO DE PRECISÃO: MONITORIZAR O COMPORTAMENTO DOS ANIMAIS PARA ADAPTAR A OFERTA À PROCURA

Abstract

The precision agriculture approach can be used in grazing management. The underlying principle is the same, understanding the variability of a system components, in this case pasture and animals, in order to adapt supply to demand. And there is no more variable agricultural system than grazing systems. Preserving the dynamic balance among pasture and animals is always a challenge, and grazing livestock are frequently the most disruptive piece of the grazing system. With a food environment inherently diverse, animal foraging decisions influences the grazing system not just in the short-term but more importantly, in the long-term. To understand the relations between resources and grazing animals underlying diet choice we used GNSS position loggers and point-of-view cameras to observe the undisturbed grazing behaviour. Cattle and sheep behaviour changed in response to pasture decline of nutritive value. Data on pasture biomass availability as well as nutritive value were obtained and the number of grazing days estimated using the protein and energy requirements of the cattle herd as well as its spatial distribution. Changes in the diet where linked with a change in microhabitat locations and an increase in the number feeding stations. Sheep show a preference for greener microhabitats and increase the amount of grass and a decrease in legumes in the diet, along the pasture growing season.