Data from: Can measurements of foraging behaviour predict variation in weight gains of free-ranging cattle?

Technologies are now available to continuously monitor livestock foraging behaviours, but it remains unclear whether such measurements can meaningfully inform livestock grazing management decisions. Empirical studies in extensive rangelands are needed to quantify relationships between short-term foraging behaviours (e.g. minutes to days) and longer-term measures of animal performance. The objective of this study was to examine whether four different ways of measuring daily foraging behaviour (grazing-bout duration, grazing time per day, velocity while grazing, and turn angle while grazing) were related to weight gain by free-ranging yearling steers grazing semiarid rangeland. These data include measurements interpreted from yearling steer outfitted with neck collars supporting a solar-powered device that measured GPS locations at 5 minute intervals and used an accelerometer to predict grazing activity at 4 second intervals. Average daily weight gains of steers are included as well as an estimate of standing forage biomass derived from the Harmonized Landsat-Sentinel remote-sensing product. These data support research to advance knowledge regarding the use of on-animal sensors that monitor foraging behaviour, which have the potential to transmit indicators to livestock managers in real time (e.g. daily). This approach can help inform decisions such as when to move animals among paddocks, or when to sell or transition animals from rangeland to confined feeding operations.

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Shared (this field will be removed in the future) Open
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GUID 64146540-f90c-4cec-b347-d4945f4b1649
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dcat_modified 2022-09-07
dcat_publisher_name Agricultural Research Service
harvest_object_id f81c222c-eeb2-4eba-9a07-e5ebe4addd55
harvest_source_id 2c0b1e04-ba48-4488-9de5-0dab41f9913f
harvest_source_title USDA Open Data Catalog