A behavioural study of the Greek »Thrakian« sheep breed grazing on the rangelands of Rhodope, Greece

The Greek Thrakian sheep breed is under extinction and information about their grazing behaviour is important to both welfare and performances. The grazing behaviour of the Thrakian sheep breed was investigated in the mountainous rangelands of North-Eastern Thrace, Greece from April to October 2012....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archiv für Tierzucht 2014-05, Vol.57 (1), p.1-10
Main Authors: Karasabbidis, Konstantinos, Yiakoulaki, Maria, Papazafeiriou, Agapi, Mountousis, Ioannis, Papanikolaou, Konstantinos
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The Greek Thrakian sheep breed is under extinction and information about their grazing behaviour is important to both welfare and performances. The grazing behaviour of the Thrakian sheep breed was investigated in the mountainous rangelands of North-Eastern Thrace, Greece from April to October 2012. Direct observations were carried out on six female sheep for two consecutive days at each month and the time spent on grazing, resting and rumination was recorded. Also, the daily distance travel by sheep flock was recorded with a handheld Global Positioning System. Sheep travelled on average 4.5 km/day and they walked their shortest distances during the summer months (July and August). Sheep spent 324.3 min/day (64.2 % of their grazing activities) on feeding while they devoted less time (P
ISSN:2363-9822
2363-9822
DOI:10.7482/0003-9438-57-009