In a two-year study, grazing, resting and fouling behaviour of cattle grazing on heterogeneous semi-natural/naturalised continuously grazed, fenced pasture areas (sites), were examined using two and nine sites in year 1 and 2. Five vegetation types were identified and mapped out on the sites used in the study: four typical species-rich semi-natural vegetation types (dry, mesic, wet, shaded), and one naturalised, grass-dominated type on former fertilised arable land. The two sites used in year 1 and seven sites in year 2 contained all five vegetation types, while one or two vegetation types (dry and wet) were absent on the remaing two sites in year 2. Behaviour was recorded over 24 h on three occasions in year 1, and on one occasion in year 2. During observation hours, animal behaviour (grazing/resting/other) and vegetation type grazed were recorded at 5-minute intervals and time and location of defecation and urination were recorded continuously. Vegetation types were sampled for herbage analysis directly after behaviour observations by cutting the vegetation in three random plots per type. Relative preference for grazing, resting and fouling was calculated for each vegetation type by dividing proportion of behaviour observations spent on a specific vegetation type by proportion of total area occupied by this vegetation type. The results showed that during both years, animals showed the greatest relative preference for the naturalised vegetation type when grazing or fouling (urination and defecation). The naturalised vegetation type also had the greatest content of metabolisable energy (from 9.8 to 10.1 MJ/kg DM) and crude protein (from 131 to 157 g/kg DM) and the least content of neutral detergent fibre (from 453 to 456 g/kg DM).

在一项为期两年的研究中，在第1年和第2年使用两个和九个地点检查了在异种半自然/自然化连续放牧，围栏的牧场区域（地点）上放牧的牛的放牧，休息和结垢行为。在研究中使用的地点进行识别和规划：四种典型的物种丰富的半自然植被类型（干，中度，湿，阴影），以及一种在以前的耕地上以草为主的自然化类型。在第1年使用的两个地点和在第2年使用的七个地点包含所有五种植被类型，而在第二年的其余两个地点则缺少一种或两种植被类型（干湿的）。行为在24小时内记录了3次在第1年，在第2年，有一次。每隔5分钟记录一次动物行为（放牧/休息/其他）和放牧的植被类型，并连续记录排便和排尿的时间和位置。通过观察每种类型的三个随机地块上的植被，在行为观察之后，直接对植被类型进行采样以进行草本分析。通过将对特定植被类型的行为观察所占比例除以该植被类型所占总面积的比例，可以计算出每种植被类型对放牧，休息和结垢的相对偏好。结果表明，在这两年中，放牧或结垢（排尿和排便）时，动物都对自然植被类型表现出最大的相对偏爱。天然植被类型也具有最大的可代谢能量含量（从9.8到10）。