New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts

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Preference of goats and sheep for browse species under field conditions

R. S. Pande*
P. D. Kemp^†
J. Hodgson

Institute of Natural Resources
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North, New Zealand
*Present address: Chababil, GPO Box 10 245, Kathmandu, Nepal. Email: p.kemp@massey.ac.nz

Abstract  The preference of goats and sheep for browse species in mixed browse and pasture conditions in New Zealand was determined using 6 goats and 6 sheep observed for 2-h periods on 6 occasions between February and December. The goats and sheep were given free access to established nurseries. The 2 nurseries contained 6 types of leguminous shrubs, 3 non-leguminous shrub species, and 2 erect grass species, growing in rows with a grass-dominant temperate pasture. Preference was determined with an index that took into account the proportion of browsing observations and the relative abundance of each browse species. Goats browsed in 45% and sheep in 12% of the observations. The three most preferred species for goats and sheep were the same, but the order of preference differed. The overlap coefficient for all browse species (where 0 = no overlap and 1 = identical diets) ranged from 0.47 in winter to 0.79 in summer. The results are contrasted with those from a cafeteria-style indoor experiment that used the same browse and animal species.

Keywords  grazing ecology; goats; sheep; browsing; preference; diet selection; browse species

A01009 Received 29 March 2001; accepted 14 February 2002
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2002, Vol. 45: 97–102
0028–8233/02/4502–0097 $7.00/0 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2002

PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality (22K)

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