SYNCHRONIZATION OF EATING, RUMINATING AND IDLING ACTIVITY BY GRAZING SHEEP

The synchronisation of eating, ruminating and idling activity of non-lactating ewes grazing either grass or clover swards was studied. Synchronisation was defined as the proportion of the number of pairs of sheep engaged in a common activity to the total possible number of pairs and was compared to the random expectation using a kappa statistic. Ewes on both swards showed significantly non-random synchronisation of activities. Overall proportion of synchronisation was greater for clover than grass (0.703 vs. 0.554) but synchronisation of eating was less (0.130 vs. 0.223). Bouts of eating were more synchronised at the start than at the end. It is concluded that, wherever possible, individual animals should not be treated as replicates in grazing experiments.