Determining cattle pasture utilization using GPS-collars

Sammanfattning: This study was conducted in Jaboticabal, Brazil, on Nelore cattle. Three heifers on the same pasture were equipped with GPS-collars registering position and activity, allowing us to calculate distance to the other collars and distance to the water source. After one week the GPS-collars were taken of and put on three heifers on another pasture. This was repeated on seven different pastures on total 21 heifers. The results indicate that the cattle are more active during the afternoons than in the mornings and have a shorter avtiviyu period during the night. In conjunction with the results of Einemo (2008) it is concluded that the high activity during the afternoon means the animals are mainly grazing during that period. Results show the cattle spread out when active but like to huddle up together while resting. Compared to when active, the animals also seem to prefer to rest at a distance from the water.