III International and XII National Animal Science Conference, Bursa, Türkiye, 27 Kasım 2021, cilt.1, ss.59
The effects of different F:C feed ratio and the use of straw litter on the frequency of normal and abnormal behavior in sheep-lambs and goat-kids were investigated. The study was carried out with 18 lambs of between 135 days of age and 18 goat-kids of between 130 days of age. Lambs and kids were divided into 3 groups in which the ratio of F:C feed was determined as 20:80, 60:40 and 80:20. The animals were designed with slatted wooden floor (1.25x1.10 m, 5 cm wide, 2 cm apart) placed on the concrete floor in individual paddocks side by side, and straw litter on the slatted wooden floor. Straw litter was used in 18 paddocks, with three animals from each species and each group housed in a total of 36 paddock. Each group was given alfalfa hay and lamb concentrated feed at 07:30 in the morning and 16:30 in the evening. Water was supplied as ad libitum in plastic buckets of 30 cm in diameter and 15 liters. The study was completed in 5 weeks. Direct observations were made for between 8:30-16:30. The frequency of equipment manipulation, floor manipulation, wool-biting, scratching, bleating, lying and rumination was recorded by continuous observation method with 8 hours of behavior observation per day on a weekly basis. The frequency of scratching, lying and rumination behavior in lambs was similar in the 60:40 and 80:20 groups, while the 20:80 group differed from the two groups with a higher frequency of scratching and lying, a lower frequency of rumination behavior (P≤0.05). While the frequency of equipment manipulation behavior was similar in the 60:40 and 80:20 groups in the kids, equipment manipulation behavior frequency of the 20:80 group was found to be approximately 4 times higher than the two groups (P≤0.05). The frequency of rumination behavior in kids was the lowest in the 20:80 group and the highest in the 80:20 group, and the difference among the three groups was statistically significant (P≤0.05). The frequency of scratching behavior in lambs significantly differed according to the presence of straw floor and higher frequency of scratching behavior was observed in the straw litter group (P≤0.05). In kids, floor manipulation was higher in the straw litter group, while the frequency of wool-biting and bleating behavior was higher in the group without straw litter (P≤0.05). The higher frequency of lying and scratching in lambs suggests that the behaviors may be related. However, the fact that scratching behavior is significantly higher in the presence of straw litter although the lying frequencies are similar, it is thought that scratching behavior in lambs may be an abnormal stereotypical behavior. It can be said that the goat-kids are more severely affected at the low forage rate. In fact, the frequency of equipment manipulation behavior in the 20:80 group of goat-kids was significantly higher than the other groups. In addition, the presence of straw litter in goat-kids increased litter manipulation behavior.
Keywords: Roughage, concentrate, equipment manipulation, floor manipulation scratching