| Abstrakt: |
Simple Summary: Developing sustainable livestock management requires knowledge and monitoring of which habitats within an enclosure the livestock prefers to stay in and in what way they utilise the available habitats. The technology of virtual fencing provides the ability to both monitor and adapt enclosures, thus adding value to the expense related to fencing for farmers and livestock managers. To this end, the possibilities this new technology offers need to be explored and methods developed. In this paper, we explore the monitoring capabilities of virtual fencing technology on a herd of cattle in a coastal dune landscape. We explore to what extent a herd of cattle prefers some habitats over others, and in what way they utilise each of the available habitats. We find clear differences in the amount of time the herd spends in each habitat and in the ways they utilise each habitat. The herd spend a disproportionately large amount of time in salt meadow, and likely spend most of their time there resting and ruminating. We conclude that the method for monitoring of cattle applied in this study, using existing virtual fencing technology, is a relatively precise method useful in year-round monitoring, with room for improvement. There has been an increased focus on new technologies to monitor habitat use and behaviour of cattle to develop a more sustainable livestock grazing system without compromising animal welfare. One of the currently used methods for monitoring cattle behaviour is tri-axial accelerometer data from systems such as virtual fencing technology or bespoke monitoring technology. Collection and transmission of high-frequency accelerometer and GNSS data is a major energy cost, and quickly drains the battery in contemporary virtual fencing systems, making it unsuitable for long-term monitoring. In this paper, we explore the possibility of determining habitat preference and habitat utilisation patterns in cattle using low-frequency activity and location data. We achieve this by (1) calculating habitat selection ratios, (2) determining daily activity patterns, and (3) based on those, inferring grazing and resting sites in a group of cattle wearing virtual fencing collars in a coastal setting with grey, wooded, and decalcified dunes, humid dune slacks, and salt meadows. We found that GNSS data, and a measure of activity, combined with accurate mapping of habitats can be an effective tool in assessing habitat preference. The animals preferred salt meadows over the other habitats, with wooded dunes and humid dune slacks being the least preferred. We were able to identify daily patterns in activity. By comparing general trends in activity levels to the existing literature, and using a Gaussian mixture model, it was possible to infer resting and grazing behaviour in the different habitats. According to our inference of behaviour the herd predominantly used the salt meadows for resting and ruminating. The approach used in this study allowed us to use GNSS location data and activity data and combine it with accurate habitat mapping to assess habitat preference and habitat utilisation patterns, which can be an important tool for guiding management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
