ArticleTropical animal health and production2025
GPS monitoring of sheep behavior in integrated crop-livestock systems in the Caatinga biome.
Article in Tropical animal health and production, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Sheep grazing behavior stems from a direct interaction between the animal and the environment. Thus, traditional methods for monitoring ruminant animals are often challenging. The global positioning system (GPS) provides real-time remote sensing of grazing herds. This study aimed to assess the performance and grazing behavior of sheep in integrated cropping systems in the Caatinga biome using GPS. We hypothesized that GPS would accurately identify behavioral patterns in sheep placed in diverse integrated crop-livestock (ICL) systems in the Caatinga biome and that ICL systems would improve final body weight and weight gain of sheep grazing. The treatments included three ICL systems implemented in the Caatinga, comprised of sheep livestock integrated with (i) bean crops, (ii) maize crops, and (iii) herb-cotton crops. The control treatment consisted of exclusive Caatinga rangeland. The experiment, conducted over two years in a thinned Caatinga site enriched with Buffel and Urochloa grasses, involved 24 non-castrated male lambs (Santa Inês × Dorper crossbreed) each year. Before being placed in the pastures, animals were equipped with GPS collars to monitor their behaviors. Ingestive behavior was evaluated using the scanning method over 24 h. The integrated systems did not significantly affect walking distance, elevation, grazing time, or grazing speed (P > 0.05). However, lambs grazing in the exclusive Caatinga rangeland (control treatment) showed higher Kernel density (grazing sites), fewer fixed grazing sites, and grazing routes that did not explore the entire pasture area. The maize ICL system had a longer ingestion time (P < 0.05) than the control treatment. Rumination and idle time did not show significant differences across treatments (P > 0.05). GPS is a useful tool for identifying routes and grazing sites in different ICL systems and monitoring the behavior of Santa Inês × Dorper crossbred sheep finished on Caatinga rangeland. Therefore, GPS monitoring aids in determining the spatial distribution of animals that show irregular forage use, and reduces performance in exclusive Caatinga rangeland. In addition, crop-livestock integration systems improve the bromatological composition, sward structure, and animal performance, and can be recommended for sheep finished on Caatinga rangeland.
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