Grazing behavior of the Greek breed of sheep S»Serres« in lowland and mountainous pastures

Abstract

The grazing activities of indigenous sheep of the Greek breed a»Serresa« was investigated in a typical lowland, and in a mountainous pasture in northern Greece during the vegetative period (April-October) of 2008. Grazing time, resting and ruminating time, distance travel and air temperature in relation to pasturing month and altitude were examined. It was remarked significant effect ( P <0.001) of the pasturing month on grazing time, and resting time of sheep. Mean grazing time was greater in the lowland (315.71 min/day ±4.57) than in the mountainous pasture (283.57 min/day ±4.79). On the contrary, the resting time and the distance travel of sheep were shorter in the lowland pasture. The resting time had significant ( P <0.01) positive relationship to air temperature (rCombining double low line0.777).