Behrendt, A.

Fischer, G. Schalitz

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge International Grassland Congress Proceedings 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress Behaviour of Fallow Deer and Sheep on Large Unit Fen Pastures in North East Germany G. Schalitz Fischer Leibniz‐Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Germany A. Behrendt Leibniz‐Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Germany Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Plant Sciences Commons, and the Soil Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/21/3-1/15 The 21st International Grassland Congress / 8th International Rangeland Congress took place in Hohhot, China from June 29 through July 5, 2008. Proceedings edited by Organizing Committee of 2008 IGC/IRC Conference Published by Guangdong People's Publishing House This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Grassland Congress Proceedings by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. 瞯 ]448　 瞯 　 Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World 　 Volume Ⅰ 　Grasslands/Rangelands Resources and Ecology ——— Soil‐Plant‐Animal InterrelationshipsBehaviour of fallow deer and sheep on large unit fen pastures in north east GermanyFischer , G . Schalitz 1 and A . BehrendtLeibniz‐Centre f or A gricultural L andscape Research , D 15374 Müncheberg Germany .E‐mail :f sp aul＠ z al f .deKey words : Fallow deer , sheep , common pasture , behaviour , winterIntroduction The fodder grown on fen pastures is hardly any more completely consumed by fallow deer during the vegetationperiod . Reasons to favour winter pastures of sheep are the reduced costs for the production of hay , the maintenance of buildingsand the input of labour .There is only small information available concerning the grazing behaviour of jointly grouped fallow deer and sheep in winter .Material and methods The study of the joint keeping of fallow deer and sheep on winter pastures were carried out in a fen areanear Berlin . The jointly grouped sheep and fallow deer were counted and registered by the pasture activities in the winterperiods of １９９９ /２０００ ( I) and ２０００ /２００１ ( II) . There were approximately ０ ,５ large animal units , which corresponds to ２５０kilograms of animal living mass per hectare . From November till late February , the grazing activities of sheep and the fallowdeer were visually observed in a two‐weeks rhythm at intervals of five minutes over the day‐light periods of day . The statisticalassessment of the data material was aided by SPSS software which is based on the application of a ２‐factorial variance analysis( A × B‐n) . correlation coefficients ( Pearson) .Results and discussion We found marked differences between sheep and fallow deer in different features . Sheep spend altogethermuch longer time for eating than fallow deer ( Table １) .Table 1 Ethological analyses o f behav iour on w inter pasture ( I and I I ) .Distinctive markX Species total ( n ＝ １０ )Fallow deer Sheept‐Testspecies andyearMarginaldifferencecorrelationTotal ingesting time ( min 爛 d － １ ) ２１８ �.０ ３４５  .６ 倡 ３８ 灋.４ ５４ b.３Mean grazing time ( min 爛 d － １ ) １７３ �.７ ２３３  .８ 倡 ６０ 灋.０ ８４ b.９Mean f requency of grazing periods ( n 爛 d － １ ) ２ 剟.８ ３ 揶.２ 倡 ０ u.７８ １ 9.１０Mean duration of hay intake ( min 爛 d － １ ) ４４ 槝.３ １１１  .８ 倡 ４３ 灋.６ ６１ b.７Mean f requency of hay intake periods ( n 爛 d － １ ) １ 剟.７ ３ 揶.４ 倡 １ u.０１ １ 9.４３Although the animals were jointly kept in a paddock , no common ingestion rhythm developed between fallow deer and sheep , w ith theindividuals of both species g razing mainly in their own groups . T he two groups of animals usually ate hay independently of one another . Whilethe one group was eating , the other one either rested / ruminated , or g razed . T here was only one instance w hen rivalry development overfodder . In this case , the sheep group forced the fallow deer away f rom the hay racks . T he animals of the tw o groups of species ( race Skuddenby sheeps) under examination are well adapted to the prevailing climatic condition ( Fischer et al . ２００７ ) .Conclusions The results obtained show that the animals maintained their species‐specific ingestive behaviour despite commonkeeping . As compared to fallow deer , the sheep spent markedly longer time with ingestive activities . There were only rareinstance of rivalry and conflict ( over grazing positions or hay‐feeding points) between the two species .ReferenceFischer , A . , Schalitz , G . and Behling , C . , ２００７ : Breed specific classification potentials of sheep in different grasslandbiotopes . A rchiv T ierz ucht , ５０ , ２ , １７４‐１８５ .

Behaviour of Fallow Deer and Sheep on Large Unit Fen Pastures in North East Germany

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Behaviour of Fallow Deer and Sheep on Large Unit Fen Pastures in North East Germany

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