Feed intake on pastures plays a vital role in cattle rearing in West Africa. However, the scarcity of pastures during the dry season may result in changing grazing behaviour by cattle. Therefore, we studied the management practices of transhumant herders on communal rangelands through monitoring of cattle herds’ behaviour in southern Benin. We expected changes in grazing behaviours of cattle and shifts in diet composition and diet overlaps between herds. Therefore, feeding and spatial behaviours of cattle were studied on six transhumant herds monitored daily, each during three consecutive days on communal rangelands of Djidja. In each herd, three adult cows of four to five years old were equipped with two GPS data loggers (GT-730FL-S) to monitor animals’ movements. The data loggers were set to record the positions of the animals every 10 s and direct observations of the animal activities were made. The results indicated that the activities of cattle varied greatly according to site (p < 0.05). Moreover, feed ingested varied with site. The ration was dominated by woody species with 70% Fabaceae, whereas shrubs and grasses were less represented, indicating a shift in diet. This analysis is required for better monitoring of grazing cattle.

中文翻译：

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贝宁南部转人牛的饲养和空间行为：对牧场可持续管理的影响

牧场的采食量在西非的牛饲养中起着至关重要的作用。然而，旱季牧场的稀缺可能会导致牛的放牧行为发生变化。因此，我们通过监测贝宁南部的牛群行为，研究了公共牧场上跨人类牧民的管理实践。我们预计牛的放牧行为会发生变化，以及牛群之间饮食构成和饮食重叠的变化。因此，在吉贾的公共牧场上连续三天监测每天监测的六个迁徙牛群，对牛的饲养和空间行为进行了研究。在每个牛群中，三头 4 到 5 岁的成年奶牛配备了两个 GPS 数据记录器 (GT-730FL-S) 来监测动物的运动。数据记录器被设置为每 10 秒记录一次动物的位置，并直接观察动物的活动。结果表明，牛的活动因地点而异（p < 0.05）。此外，摄入的饲料因地点而异。日粮以木本植物为主，豆科植物占 70%，而灌木和禾本科植物较少，表明饮食发生了变化。为了更好地监测放牧牛，需要进行这种分析。