Patterns behaviour of steers feedlot finished with different individual spaces

Abstract

The objective, of this study, was to evaluate the behavioral patterns from steers feedlot finished with different individual spaces. Forty eight steers, with average initial of twenty months and 243.4 kg, were used. The animals were feedlot, four for pen, allocated in treatments accorded the individual space, 2.5, 5.0 and 10 m2. The diet, with 115 g of crude protein and 705 g of total digestible nutrient by kg of diet in dry matter (DM), contained roughage: concentrate relation of 39:61 (DM basis). The individual space not influenced the time spent to feeding, idle and rumination, which showed mean of 244.1, 790.3 and 405.6 minutes/ day, respectively. Likewise, the number of times that animals showed each of the behaviour, as well the changes in posture during idle and rumination were similar between the different spaces evaluated. The total time that the animals remained standing or lying was not influenced by individual space, with average duration of 610.0 and 830.0 minutes/ day, respectively, and the realization of activities in synchronism, not difference between the different spaces, the average time that the animals fed, standing or lay down in synchrony was 85.8, 308.0 and 468.4 minutes/ day, in the same order. During the finishing phase in south of Brazil, variations in individual spaces of 2.5, 5.0 or 10 m2 for steers housed in collective pens with concrete floor, do not alter the behavioral patterns of animals.