Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-glrdx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T16:11:53.643Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The energy costs of walking, carrying and pulling loads on flat surfaces by Brahman cattle and swamp buffalo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

P. R. Lawrence  and
R. J. Stibbards
P. R. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG
R. J. Stibbards
Affiliation:
Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG
Get access

Abstract

The extra energy for walking compared with standing still (EW) (J/m per kg live weight) was measured in three Brahman cattle and two water buffalo. Ew was not affected by species or speed within the most comfortable range of speeds (V = 0·6 to 1·0 m/s) but over the whole range tested, Ew = 0·947F + 1·99 (r = 0·66, no. = 61) with average Ew = 2·1 (s.e. 0·06).

The extra energy cost of carrying loads while walking (Ec) (J/m per kg carried) was measured using two Brahman cattle, two water buffalo and a pony. Ec was independent of load (up to 70 kg) and speed but was generally lower when loads were placed over the animals' shoulders instead of on their backs. Average values for the cattle, buffaloes and the pony were 2·6, 4·2 and 3·3, respectively.

The efficiency of doing work defined as: work done/energy expended was measured in two Brahman cattle and two water buffalo and gave average values of 0·30 and 0·37 respectively for the two species. Efficiency was proportionately about 0·03 higher for animals wearing a collar than when wearing a single yoke but was unaffected by whether the animals wore single or double yokes, by the speed of travel, the size of the load or whether the load was steady or variable.

Along with appropriate values for the energetic efficiency of raising body weight when walking uphill, these data are used to derive a factorial equation for estimating the energy expenditure of animals working in the field.

Keywords

cattleenergyworking animals

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , February 1990 , pp. 29 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The Nutrient Requirements of Ruminant Livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. Slough.Google Scholar
Brody, S. 1945. Bioenergetics and Growth. With Special Reference to the Efficiency Complex in Domestic Animals. Reinhold. New York.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization. 1972. Manual on the Employment of Draught Animals in Agriculture. FAO, Rome.Google Scholar
Goe, M. R. and McDowell, R. E. 1980. Animal traction: guidelines for utilization. Cornell International Agriculture Mimeo. Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
King, J. M. 1981. Ungulate Water Turnover in Tropical Africa. Monograph No. 6. pp. 108. International Livestock Centre for Africa, Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Koeverden, G. van 1987. Draught Animal News, Vol. 7. Edinburgh University, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine.Google Scholar
Lawrence, P. R. and Pearson, R. A. 1985. Factors affecting the measurement of the draught force, work output and power of oxen. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 105: 703–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, P. R., Sosa, R. and Campbell, I. 1989. The underlying ‘resting’ energy consumption of oxen during work. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. In press.Google Scholar
Lehninger, A. L. 1975. Biochemistry. 2nd ed.Worth, New York.Google Scholar
Ribiero, J. M. de C. R., Brockway, J. M. and Webster, A. J. F. 1977. A note on the energy cost of walking in cattle. Animal Production 25: 107–110.Google Scholar
Richards, J. I. and Lawrence, P. R. 1984. The estimation of energy expenditure from heart rate measurements in working oxen and buffalo. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 102: 711–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, C. R., Schmidt-nielsen, K. and Raab, J. L. 1970. Scaling of energetic cost of running to body size in mammals. American Journal of Physiology 219: 1104–1107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, C. K. and Pearson, R. A. 1986. Effects of ambient temperature and head cooling on energy expenditure, food intake and heat tolerance of Brahman and Brahman × Friesian cattle working on treadmills. Animal Production 43: 83–90.Google Scholar
Tucker, V. A. 1969. Energetic cost of locomotion in animals. Comparative Biochemistry and Phvsiology 34: 841–846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar