• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.1085-1089
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• 2001

Metabolites, such as isopropyl alcohol (IPA) produced by rumen fermentation, were intravenously infused into a jugular vein of goats during feeding to explore the mechanism and roles of IPA in ruminating behavior (number of boli and ruminating time). Three female goats were confined in metabolism cages with a stanchion, The ruminating behavior measured by the number of ruminations, ruminating time, number of remastications, and remasticating time decreased (p<0,05) with intravenous IPA infusion. The IPA concentrations and VFA concentrations increased in the blood circulation. Our data suggest that sensitive receptors of rumination to IPA are more likely to be in an area such as the brain stem where they can respond to blood metabolite levels.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.1134-1138
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• 2002

Isopropyl alcohol (IPA), produced from acetone by rumen bacterial action, was infused into the rumen of three female goats kept in a climatically controlled experimental room during feeding to investigate the mechanism and roles of IPA in ruminating behavior (number of boli and ruminating time). The ruminating behavior measured by the number of boli, ruminating time, number of remastications, and remasticating time increased (p<0.05) with intraruminal IPA infusion. The concentrations of IPA and acetone in the rumen and the plasma significantly increased (p<0.05) during intraruminal IPA infusion. These data suggest that rumination receptors sensitive to IPA and acetone may be in an area such as the rumen epithelium and the brain stem where they can respond to metabolite levels.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.187-193
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• 1990

In the present experiment, the relationship between rumination and the amount of roughage eaten by sheep was investigated in detail. Daily time spent eating was obviously changed along with an increase or decrease in daily hay intake. Daily time spent ruminating and daily number of boli regurgitated was also linearly increased or decreased with an increase or decrease of daily hay intake, and there were regression lines between daily amount of hay eaten and daily ruminating time or daily number of boli with statistical significant coefficients. Cyclic rate (total rumination time(s)/number of boli regurgitated) and daily number of rumination periods did not change in an outline along with the changes in daily hay intake. From these results, it can be suggested that daily dry matter intake by sheep could be presumed by measuring daily time spent ruminating when they were fed only roughage feed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.267-270
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• 1996

Experiments were conducted to study the effects of a dark (06:00-12:00), light (12:00-18:00), dark (18:00-24:00), and light (00:00-06:00) cycle on the ruminating behavior of five fasting female goats. Rumination time and number of boli were not different in the dark and light periods of the fed state or in the second and third days of fasting. Ruminating time and number of boli increased in the dark (06:00-12:00) period compared to the light (12:00-18:00) period during the first day of fasting. Ruminating time was higher after the first day of fasting than the fed state, and decreased substantially after the first day of fasting than the fed state, and decreased substantially after the second and third days of fasting compared to the fed state or the first day of fasting. Number of boli/day was not different among the fed state, the second and third days of fasting but was higher after the first day fasting compared to the fed state.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.675-690
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• 2019

Objective: This study investigated the effect of diet and roughage quality (RQ) on dry matter intake, duration and number of daytime and night-time eating bouts, idling sessions and ruminating activities in small ruminants. Methods: In Exp 1 and 2, RQ was improved by urea treatment of veld hay, while diet quality was improved by supplementing with Lucerne hay (Exp 3), sunflower meal and lespedeza (Exp 4), fish meal (Exp 5a), and sunflower meal (Exp 5b). In all experiments goats and sheep were blocked by weight and randomly allocated to experimental diets. Day-time (06:00 to 18:00 h) and night time (18:00 to 06:00 h) feeding behaviour activities were recorded. Results: RQ affected rumination index in Exp 1, but not in Exp 2, 3, and 5. Time spent eating and ruminating was affected by RQ (Exp 1, 3, and 4), period of day (all experiments) and their interaction (Exp 1). Intake rates (g/bout and g/min) were similar across diets. Period of day affected the duration of rumination sessions (Exp 1, 2, and 3); diet or RQ affected the duration of eating bouts (Exp 3) and rumination sessions (Exp 1 and 2). RQ had a significant effect on the duration of eating sessions in Exp 3 only, whilst period of day affected this same behaviour in Exp 2 and 3. Generally, goats and sheep fed on roughage alone ruminate at night and eat more during the day but those fed a roughage and supplemented with Lucerne hay spent more time ruminating than eating. Time spent eating and ruminating had positive correlations to crude protein and feed intake. Intake rates had strong positive correlations to intake. Conclusion: Chewing time, number of eating and ruminating sessions, and duration of eating bouts are physiologically controlled in small ruminants, though chewing time requires isometric scaling during modelling of intake.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1469-1475
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• 2010

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of methods of feeding a total mixed ration (TMR) on behavior patterns of growing Hanwoo steers. A total of 15 growing steers (13 months old) were assigned to the control (fed roughage and concentrate mix separately), TMR1 (fed restricted TMR), and TMR2 (fed TMR ad libitum) groups. Individual behaviors of steers were observed for 48 hours. Compared with the control, feeding restricted TMR (TMR1) resulted in short eating time, long ruminating time, short chewing time, high frequencies of defecation, urination, and drinking of water, great numbers of boluses and chews, long ruminating time per bolus, low feed value index, high eating and chewing efficiencies (p<0.05). Compared with feeding restricted TMR (TMR1), feeding TMR ad libitum (TMR2) resulted in 1.2 kg more daily feed DM intake, long eating and chewing times, short resting time, great frequencies of defecation, urination and drinking of water, more numbers of boluses and chews, long ruminating time per bolus, low feed value index, low eating and high ruminating efficiencies (p<0.05) and similar chewing efficiency (p>0.05). Considering all these results, the wet TMR feeding system induced generally more desirable eating and ruminating behaviors of growing Hanwoo steers, but made the barn floor wetter due to more defecation and urination.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.198-203
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• 2003

Acetone, which is produced from butyric acid when it passes through the rumen wall, was infused into the rumen and jugular veins of three female goats to investigate the role of acetone in ruminating and masticating behavior. The ruminating behavior, as measured by the number of boli and the ruminating time, decreased (p<0.05) with intraruminal acetone infusion. However, the ruminating behavior did not change significantly in response to intravenous acetone infusion. Feed intake significantly decreased with intraruminal acetone infusion, but not with intravenous acetone infusion. The concentrations of acetone in the plasma increased significantly (p<0.05) with both acetone infusion regions. Ruminal fluid acetone, and isopropyl alcohol (IPA), which is one of the ketone bodies, produced from acetone by bacterial action in rumen, concentrations were significantly increased (p<0.05) with both acetone infusion regions. These results suggest that the chemoreceptors sensitive to acetone are more likely to be in the rumen epithelium, portal system, or liver, where they can respond to acetone levels.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.171-175
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• 1998

To test their roles in rumination behavior, metabolites (acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and glucose) were intravenously infused into the jugular vein of goats during fasting. The heads of four female goats tested were locked in a stanchion of cages in an experimental room. Ruminating behaviors with regard to number of ruminations, ruminating time, number of remastications and remasticating time were significantly decreased by acetic acid infusion (p < 0.05), and tended to be depressed more on values in butyric acid infusion or glucose infusion than those in pre-infusions, but propionic acid infusion decreased a little. Those data suggest that rumination receptors sensitive to VFAs and glucose are more likely to be situated in the area, where they would respond too blood levels.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.397-404
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• 2012

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of stocking density on eating and ruminating behavior of Hanwoo steers (Bos taurus coreanae) in the finishing period. A total of 30 finishing Hanwoo steers ($631.3{\pm}11.4$ kg, 25 months old) were allocated to one of four stocking density groups comprising 1, 2, 3, and 4 steers per 32 $m^2$ pen [G1 (32 $m^2$), G2 (16 $m^2$), G3 (10.7 $m^2$) and G4 (8 $m^2$), respectively] in triplicate. Eating, rumination behaviors, as well as dry matter intake of steers were measured, and the results were subjected to analysis of variance with stocking density as the main effect. The results of eating behaviors over 48 hours are summarized as follows: Total intake was significantly (p<0.01) higher in G1, G2, and G3 compared to G4. Eating time was not different among the treatments, whereas ruminating time increased in the order of G1 > G2 > G3 > G4 (p<0.01). However, resting time and chewing time (sum of eating and ruminating) were not significantly different among the treatments. Number of boluses and number of total chews were highest in G1 (p<0.01), whereas number of chews per bolus was highest in G3 (p<0.01). Ruminating time per bolus as well as number of boluses per minute was not significantly different among the treatments. Number of defecations was higher in G1 and G2 animals compared to G3 and G4 animals (p<0.01). However, stocking density had no effect on drinking or urination. In conclusion, increasing stocking density (i.e. G4) per pen decreased voluntary intake, ruminating time, and total chewing number in the finishing period of Hanwoo steers. However, care must be taken in discussing stocking density in the present study as the space allowance per animal was satisfactory to meet the current animal welfare regulation in Korea and in Europe, although the beef production system in Korea is more intensive than in Europe.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.944-951
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• 2024

Objective: Parturition is crucial for dams, their calves, and cow managers. The prediction of calving time, which assists cow managers to decide on the relocation of cows to maternity pens and necessity of human supervision, is a pivotal aspect of livestock farming. However, existing methods of predicting calving time in dairy cows based on hormonal changes and clinical symptoms are time-consuming and yield unreliable predictions. Accordingly, we investigated whether heart rate variability (HRV) which is a non-invasive assessment of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and behavior during the prepartum period would be useful for predicting calving time in dairy cows. Methods: Eight pregnant cows were surveilled under electrocardiogram and video recordings for HRV and behavioral analyses, respectively. HRV parameters in time and frequency domains were evaluated. A 24-h time budget was calculated for each of six types of behavior (standing and lying with or without rumination, sleeping, and eating). Results: Heart rate on calving day is considerably higher than those recorded on the days preceding calving. Low frequency power declined, whereas high frequency power escalated on the calving day compared to the period between 24 and 48 h before calving. The time budget for ruminating while lying decreased and that while standing increased markedly on the calving day compared to those allocated on the preceding days; nonetheless, the total time budget for ruminating did not differ during the prepartum period. Conclusion: We elucidated the ANS activity and behavioral profiles during prepartum period. Our results confirm that HRV parameters and behavior are useful for predicting calving time, and interestingly indicate that the time budget for ruminating while standing (or lying) may serve as a valuable predictor of calving. Collectively, our findings lay the foundation for future investigations to determine other potential predictors and formulate an algorithm for predicting calving time.