Monitoring grazing behaviour of cattle with access to a Greenfeed methane monitoring system (GEM)

1. To determine if access to a GEM unit influences grazing behaviours with these being: a. grazing habits b. grazing distribution c. animal social groups in a paddock situation d. paddock utilisation Grazing behaviours will be identified by measuring livestock residency index, walking distance, walking speed etc thus allowing grazing behaviour to be characterised and habit identified. This is in addition to partitioning the paddock to identify if certain behaviours and patterns of grazing were due to GEM unit presence. 2. To determine if there is a relationship between methane emission and the above mentioned grazing behaviours, the following will be conducted: a. Association study whereby livestock residency index is correlated with methane production measurements to identify if an even grazing distribution and pattern has a different level of methane production than an uneven biased grazing distribution, where a single point in a paddock may be excessively grazed b. Measurement of any differences in methane production associated with walking distance, walking time and rumination time

Project Summary