An impact oscillator is a non-smooth dynamical system with discontinuous state jumps whose dynamical behavior illustrates a variety of nonlinear phenomena including a grazing bifurcation. This specific phenomenon is difficult to analyze because it coincides with an infinite stretching of the phase space in the neighborhood of the grazing orbit, resulting in the well-known problem of the square-...

A study was conducted to assess effects of stocking rate (SR) on grazing behavior and energy expenditure (EE) by growing sheep and goat wethers co-grazing grass/forb pastures. Grazing was for 16-week periods in 2002 and 2003. Pastures consisted of various grasses, primarily bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) and johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), and forbs (e.g., ragweed; Ambrosia spp.). Sheep (Kha...

Sixteen-month-old heifers from herds having known genetic growth patterns were compared for differences in grazing behavior in a 3-yr study. Treatments were heifers from four size-maturity groups defined by the mature size and maturing rate of cow herds in which they originated. Average growth curve parameters indicating mature BW and rate of maturing in these cow herds were 387 kg and .19%/d f...

This paper deals with the singular behavior of the diffraction of transverse magnetic (TM) waves by a perfectly conductive triangular periodic surface at a low grazing limit of incidence. The wave field above the highest excursion of the surface is represented as a sum of Floquet modes with modified diffraction amplitudes, whereas the wave field inside a triangular groove is written as a sum of...

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of agroforestry system on the feeding behavior of dairy cows in the Brazilian Amazon region. Nineteen cross breed dairy cows (14.0±3.30 kg/d of milk yield and 450±40.1 kg body weight) were used. The following treatments were evaluated: A) animals were maintained in opened pasture of Brachiaria brizantha during all the day; B) animals were...

Livestock face complex foraging options associated with optimizing nutrient intake while being able to avoid areas posing risk of parasites or disease. Areas of tall nutrient-rich swards around fecal deposits may be attractive for grazing, but might incur fitness costs from parasites. We use the example of dairy cattle and the risks of tuberculosis transmission posed to them by pastures contami...

A feeding station is the area of forage a grazing animal can reach without moving its forefeet. Grazing behavior can be divided into residence within feeding stations (with bites as benefits) and movement between feeding stations (with steps as costs). However, relatively little information has been reported on how grazing animals modify their feeding station behavior seasonally and interannual...

Studies of animal behavior are crucial to understanding animal-ecosystem interactions, but require substantial efforts in visual observation or sensor measurement. We investigated how classifying behavioral states of grazing livestock using global positioning data alone depends on the classification approach, the preselection of training data, and the number and type of movement metrics. Positi...