Abstracto
- It is intended to present different behavioral studies of sheep and goats in different regions of Colombia, mainly aimed at identifying which are the activities that animals carry out most frequently during the time that they remain in the pastures or places dedicated to grazing (system predominant in the country), in this way the studies have focused mainly on ingestive behavior, this being one of the different types of behavior that could be evaluated in animals. The methodologies used for this type of research exercise are based on mainly diurnal observation, with the measurement of 10 to 15 possible behaviors of the animals and a maximum number of four animals per observer, the frequency of observation is in the range of five to 15 minutes (Pullin, A. N., et al 2017). The animals are identified with collars of different colors that allow their visualization in the distance, as well as binoculars are used to facilitate the observation and manual digital timers to mark the time between one and another observation. In addition, climatic variables such as temperature and relative humidity are evaluated at different heights of the ground, in spaces with and without shade through hygrometers or automated equipment such as Datalogger. To analyze the information, descriptive statistics are used obtaining a frequency table for the evaluated behaviors and in some cases multiple correspondence analysis relating the schedules and behaviors or behaviors and environmental variables, this in statistical software R. In a first study carried out in 12 goat females in milk production in the Colombian Andean region in a silvopastoral feeding system of natural succession, 876 observations of behaviors were obtained per day, finding that the most frequent behavior was grazing (26%), followed by the behavior of resting standing (20%) and resting lying down (11%), less frequently the behaviors of drinking water, sleeping, salting and browsing (Rúa B. 2013). In another study carried out in nine cross-breed hair sheep, males of 10 months of age on average, in the fattening stage under a grazing feeding system in paddocks composed of trees and native trees, weeds and grasses, in the Caribbean region Colombian dry day behavior was recorded, finding 56.4% of the time of the animals carrying out the grazing activity, 12.4% consumption of mango fruit, 9.8% browsing, 7.6% rest, 6.4 % walking, 5% rumination, 0.1% drinking, 0.1% others (Rúa B. 2020). Both studies showed that herbaceous forage grazing is the most frequent behavioral event in the day and that it is influenced by climatic variables, it could be thought that less frequent behaviors are possible during the night confinement. In conclusion, it is considered that this type of observational studies of the ethology or behavior of animals during grazing allows to identify critical points and establish strategies to increase the animals' food consumption favoring their natural development and the welfare of the animals. themselves but at the same time contributing to maximize the productive efficiency of meat and milk as the case and the species. Studies of nocturnal ingestive behavior could also be carried out using current technologies for this purpose, as well as continuing to carry out this type. © 2021, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. All rights reserved.
