Towards evenly distributed grazing patterns: including social context in sheep management strategies

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Animal Behaviour
• Sustainable Agriculture

Background:

• Overgrazing causes widespread rangeland degradation and biodiversity loss.
• Selective foraging behavior of livestock complicates sustainable management.
• Understanding grazing distribution is key for resource conservation and livestock sustainability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the impact of social context on sheep grazing patterns.
• To assess how flock heterogeneity influences habitat selection.
• To inform sustainable livestock management strategies.

Main Methods:

• GPS tracking of 19 Merino sheep over one year across three paddocks.
• Estimation of resource selection functions for sheep in flocks of varying heterogeneity.
• Analysis of habitat selection based on sheep class, age, body condition, and time since release.

Main Results:

• Social rank influences habitat use; dominant sheep utilize preferred areas more intensively.
• Heterogeneous flocks resulted in more evenly distributed grazing patterns across paddocks.
• Removing dominant individuals led to more selective grazing by subordinate sheep.

Conclusions:

• Flock composition, specifically social interactions, can be leveraged for more uniform grazing.
• Managing flock heterogeneity offers a low-cost strategy for sustainable rangeland management.
• Integrating livestock behavior into management balances conservation with productivity.