The relation between sheep-time spent and egesta accumulated within an arid zone paddock

Abstract

A small paddock on a sheep station near Whyalla, South Australia, was picked clean of egesta and marked into 30 sections. It was then stocked with 20 Merino sheep which were observed continuously for two days. The numbers of sheep in each section were scored every minute. Total accumulated egesta was recovered from each section and the relations between egesta accumulation (field weight, loose volume and oven dry weight) and sheep-time spent were examined. Regressions showed that egesta accumulation indexed sheep-time spent in the different parts of the paddock, providing a means of measuring intra-paddock stocking differences in arid-zone shrubland.