Principles of diet selection
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This annotated slide show overviews the principles of diet selection of livestock and how learning and experience shape livestock food preferences and dietary habits. It gives several examples of how managers can use these behavioral principles to 1) help livestock make efficient use of foods, 2) train livestock to eat weeds, 3) use strategic supplementation to improve livestock distribution and save money by lengthening the grazing season.
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Principles of diet selection
- 1. Principles of Diet Selection Or why animals eat certain foods Beth Burritt Area Rangeland Resources Extension Agent Website: extension.usu.edu/behave
- 4. Behavior Consequences Consequences
- 5. Behavior Consequences
- 6. Most Behaviors are Learned Sheep Chase Dog
- 7. Her parents refused to buy her a horse
- 9. Lambs Eat What Mom Eats and Avoids What She Avoids Number of bites/lamb 25 Mom eats serviceberry and … 20 15 10 avoids mountain mahogany 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 Day of Exposure
- 10. . . .even after weaning 100 100 % of bites by lambs serviceberry 75 75 serviceberry 50 50 25 mountain mahogany 25 mountain mahogany 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 Days after weaning
- 11. Experience Changes the Body Neurology Structure Physiology
- 12. Experience changes the body • Brain structure and function • Liver function • Nitrogen recycling • Rumen size • Rumen papilla size and number
- 13. Foraging Skills
- 14. Palatability is more than a matter of taste
- 16. Nutrients Increase Palatability
- 17. Toxins Decrease Palatability
- 18. Flavors apart from feedback are neither palatable or unpalatable Feedback tells the body whether a particular food flavor is useful or harmful. What is the purpose of flavor? Flavor allows animals to discriminate between foods.
- 19. They can’t be that smart. 1. Changes in preferences for foods are automatic. 2. They don’t have to think about them. 3. At times, they are not rational.
- 20. Variety is the spice of life
- 21. Monotony – Same Flavor 2500 2500 2000 coconut 2000 maple Intake (g) 1500 1500 1000 1000 coconut 500 maple 500 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 Day Day
- 22. Preference for Nutrients Preference Meal Energy Protein High Energy High Protein
- 23. Toxins Limit Intake 600 Intake of oats, g 0% LiCl 450 .75% LiCl 300 150 1.5% LiCl 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Day
- 24. Most toxins limit intake causing animals to eat a variety of foods
- 25. Plants with Toxins Poisonous Plants
- 26. Neophobia - the fear of anything new
- 27. Animals Sample Novel Foods 500 novel flavor 400 Intake (g) 300 200 100 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Day
- 31. How does neophobia keep animals safe and help them learn about new foods?
- 33. Familiar-Novel Dichotomy 250 Barley 200 Oats Intake (g) Alfalfa 150 Corn 100 50 LiCl Rye – Novel Food 0 1 2 3 4 Day
- 34. How do livestock select their diets? They prefer to eat: 1. with companions 2. familiar foods 3. foods high in nutrients and low in toxins 4. a variety of foods 5. familiar foods that are rare in the environment
- 35. Training Cows to Eat Weeds
- 36. . . . by reducing novelty and providing variety and positive feedback.
- 37. Know your weed • Nutrients • Toxins • Nutrient/Toxin Interactions
- 38. 2. Work with the right animals • Young • Female • Healthy • Manageable in Number and Temperament
- 39. 3. Build on how animals learn • Reduce fear of new things • Make the unfamiliar seem familiar
- 40. 4. Test animals in trial pastures • Small • Provide a variety of forages
- 41. Early Experience Matters Most
- 44. Experience Influences Performance Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Body weight * * * Body condition * * * Milk production * * - Post-partum interval * * -
- 45. Strategic supplementation improves use of forage and landscapes
- 46. • Low moisture blocks (LMB) contain 2 – 4 % moisture. • LMB are available in 125 - 250 lb containers. • LMB (250 lb) only need to be replaced about once every 2 weeks when fed 1 barrel per 25 cows.
- 47. Low moisture block (LMB) effectively increased and focused grazing in moderate terrain. LMB attracted cows to graze difficult terrain that typically was not used.
- 48. Low-moisture block can be placed with an ATV and trailer in steep, rocky terrain
- 49. Training is critical for supplement to be an effective tool to improve grazing distribution. Animals must also know where supplement is located.
- 50. The question isn’t: Do animals learn? They learn everyday. The question is: Do we as managers want to be part of the process? Website: extension.usu.edu/behave
Editor's Notes
- Most behaviors are learned are are shaped by experience. There really is no difference between most natural and trained behavior. We view natural behavior as a behavior we normally see all members of a species engaging in. Unnatural behavior we often view as behaviors animals are trained to do, but not always.
- Necessity is the mother of invention. What's a young girl to do when mom and dad won't buy her a horse? Why not teach one of the family cows to jump.Regina Mayer, 15-year old girl in Germany, taught cow "Luna" to jump fences. It took her two years of training. The pair also likes to go for rides in the countryside.
- In this study, two groups of ewes were either averted (with lithium chloride) to serviceberry or mountain mahogany. Then their lambs were allowed to eat with their mothers (trained ewes) and given a choice of the two shrubs. Lambs ate what mom ate and avoided what she avoided.The slide above is data from lambs whose mothers ate serviceberry but avoided mountain mahogany. Lambs whose mothers ate mountain mahogany but that avoided serviceberry did the reverse.See the fact sheet Mother knows best: https://extension.usu.edu/behave/files/uploads/Fact_sheets_basic/Mother.pdfREF: Mirza, S.N. and F.D. Provenza. 1990. Preference of the mother affects selection and avoidance of foods by lambs differing in age. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 28:255-263.
- Even after weaning lambs continued to prefer the shrub mom ate and avoided the shrub she avoided.
- Read slide. This is a time for audience participation. Ask the audience why do you like the foods you like? Be positive regardless of answer but the answer you’re looking for is because they taste good.
- The next few slides are from a pdf document entitled Beijing Fast Food. If you think new or novel foods are no big deal to eat. How about trying some of these foods sold on the streets of Beijing?
- This slide is self-explanatory except perhaps for point 5. When a food is preferred and rare in the environment, animals are more likely to eat that food than if it is abundant in the environment. It’s like finding a treasure.
- Before teaching any animal to eat a weeds, make certain you know something about the nutrition of the weed, whether or not the plant contains toxins that may be harmful to the animal. And lastly, if there is anything known about the effect of nutrients on the toxins in the plant. For example, if a weed is a nitrate accumulator, providing a molasses block might keep animals from suffering from nitrate poisoning.
- REF: Bailey, D.W. and G.R. Welling. 1999. Modification of cattle grazing distribution with dehydrated molasses supplement. J. Range Manage. 52:575-582.Bailey, D. W., G. R. Welling, and E. T. Miller. 2001. Cattle use of foothills rangeland near dehydrated molasses supplement. J. Range Manage. 54: 338-347.
- Read the slide.
- Remember animals have to be trained to use low moisture blocks either in dry lot or during winter when alternative forages are limiting. As you move blocks from one location to the next, animals need to know where the new blocks are located.