Applied Animal Behaviour Science 255 (2022) 105744

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Applied Animal Behaviour Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/applanim

Walking distance and maintenance energy requirements of sheep during

mountain pasturing (transhumance)
T. Zanon *, M. Gruber, M. Gauly
Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Sheep pasturing has become an important means for landscape management and conservation in marginal areas
Sheep of mountain regions by reducing succession with dwarf shrubs and bushes, thus creating space for valuable
Walking forage grasses. Furthermore, mountain sheep pasturing for meat production also contributes to local food se­
Maintenance energy
curity. However, little is known about the energetic expenditures of sheep during mountain pasturing, which is
Transhumance
Pasture
important information for optimizing the productivity and economic efficiency, environmental aspects (e.g.,
biodiversity) as well as animal welfare. Therefore, the aim of the following study was to estimate the mainte­
nance energy requirements of ewes over the whole mountain pasturing period (transhumance) considering
movement patterns assessed by using satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices. Energy
requirements for walking increased rapidly at the beginning of transhumance (May - June), which could be
explained by the longer walked distance and by overcoming variable altitude during that phase. Walking speed
was slower compared to previous findings due to the difficult terrain of mountain pastures on which sheep
moved. Energy demand for walking was strongly correlated with walking distance and walking speed. Results
out of this study contribute in promoting the efficiency and consequently the rentability of alpine sheep pasturing
systems. The latter ensures the production of local food and further preserves the ecosystem services linked to
this low-input production system.

1. Introduction an important production system for producing local high-quality food

Sheep pasturing has a very long tradition in mountain regions like
the alpine area (Aigner et al., 2003; Garde et al., 2014). Because of the
relatively small size and off-road mobility, sheep are well adapted to
mountainous topography. Therefore, sheep can reach very steep
mountain slopes and use feed for which cattle would not be useable
(Huber et al., 2014). By trampling and browsing, sheep reduce succes­
sion with shrubs and promote precious feeding plants to grow (Ring­
dorfer and Huber, 2012; Blaschka et al., 2014). Furthermore, the
nutrient input by the excrements of sheep promotes forage grasses to
establish and to build up a closed turf, which prevent erosion and land
degradation (Aigner et al., 2003; Buchgraber, 2018). These aspects were
the impetus of several landscape recreation projects such as “Almlamm”
in Austria (Styria), where sheep were used to reduce the density of
Vaccinium mytrillus, Vaccinium vitis-idea or Vaccinium gaultheroides to
create shrub- and wood-free surfaces rich in grasses and herbs, usable for
mountain pasturing (Blaschka et al., 2014). Beside its important
ecological function, alpine sheep pasturing should also be considered as
which contribute to the promotion of local food security (Galli et al.,
2020). Therefore, appropriate management for feeding and housing of
the animals is of central importance to produce high quality products in
an economically efficient way. Several feeding-value tables (e.g.,
Kirchgeßner, 2014; Jeroch et al., 2008; Lfl, 2021) display mean values
for a demand-oriented and efficient feeding management. As described
in Zanon et al. (2022) sheep show a very variable feeding behaviour by
selecting various plants with different nutritional composition and
quality throughout the day on pasture. Since alpine pastures are
generally characterized by rough terrain with very heterogenic and
widely disperse plant communities (Ohler et al., 2020), sheep must
overcome different levels of altitude and distances to display their nat­
ural selective behaviour patterns. The fact that the higher energy de­
mand for grazing especially during transhumance (=seasonal movement
of livestock on mountain pastures during summer and lower valley in
winter) on pastures in high alpine territory was mostly not considered in
the calculation of these reference values, the actual energy requirement
might be underestimated. Hence, there could be an energetic

* Correspondence to: Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano, Piazza Universitá 5, Bolzano 39100, Italy.
E-mail address: thomas.zanon@unibz.it (T. Zanon).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105744
Received 3 June 2022; Received in revised form 12 September 2022; Accepted 14 September 2022
Available online 15 September 2022
0168-1591/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
T. Zanon et al.
undersupply which might lead to a negative energy balance in ewes
during the grazing season. This could have a negative impact on the
productivity of the production system.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous study that assesses
the maintenance energy requirements of sheep during alpine pasturing.
There exist some studies on control of livestock, pasture use and herd
distribution using Precision Livestock Farming technologies such as GPS
technology (Aquilani et al., 2022). In general, few studies were found
which used GPS-data for estimating energy requirements of sheep dur­
ing pasturing. For instance, Baum (2021) evaluated the energy re­
quirements of sheep with the use of GPS collars on rangeland in Utah
(US). Similarly, Chebil et al. (2021) assessed grazing behaviour and
energy balance of goats browsing in Mediterranean forest rangeland
using GPS and sensors technologies. Moreover, Animut et al. (2005)
assessed the effect of stocking rate on grazing time and energy expen­
diture in sheep and goats on experimental pastures in Oklahoma, US.
However, a good understanding of the energy requirements of sheep
during alpine pasturing is of central importance for planning an
appropriate feeding management to avoid negative energy balances and
to achieve good productivity despite a low-input production system.
Therefore, the aim of the following study was to estimate the mainte­
nance energy requirements of ewes over the whole alpine pasturing
period (transhumance) considering movement patterns assessed by
using satellite-based GPS tracking devices. In particular, we focussed on
the higher energy demand for walking in high alpine terrain. Further,
management strategies are proposed considering a model calculation for
reducing the problem of a negative energy balance and for optimizing
the productivity and economic efficiency as well as animal welfare of
alpine sheep pasturing systems.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Study area
The province of South Tyrol is located in the North-Eastern part of
Italy next to the border to Austria and Switzerland and it is characterized
by a mountainous landscape. Thirty-seven percent of the total agricul­
tural area (455,840 ha) is located above 2,000 m, 49% between 1,000
and 2,000 m and only 14% below 1,000 m above sea level (asl) (Prov­
ince, 2020). Therefore, it can be seen as a typical example of the alp
region. The heterogenic morphologic and climatic conditions had a
specialization of agricultural activity in respective areas of South Tyrol
as a consequence. Namely, at higher altitudes with harsher climate
livestock production is the dominant agricultural practice whereas at the
valley lowlands with a more tempered climate fruticulture and viticul­
ture are the main agricultural activities (Province, 2020). In the prov­
ince of South Tyrol (Northern Italy), 4,850 farms are rearing either
sheep and/or goats (Province, 2020). At present, approximately 38,300
sheep are kept in South Tyrol (Province, 2020). Most of the animals are
reared for lamb meat production and are used in extensive production
systems characterized by roughage feeding and summer transhumance.
Approximately 80% of South Tyrolean sheep is taken to mountain pas­
tures for grazing (transhumance).
2.2. Data collection and elaboration
The following study was conducted between April and December
2021 including the period of transhumance (May-September) on two
alpine pastures in the Langtaufers Valley (municipality of Graun) in the
western part of South Tyrol. The mean temperature within the study
period in the municipality of Graun was 7.8 ◦ C and the average rainfall
per month within the study period was 66 mm (Anon Provinz BZ, 2022).
For the following study 82 ewes of different breeds (mainly Tiroler
Bergschaf breed) and age (3–6 years) were considered. Most of the ewes
were at the beginning of lactation as for such production systems they
have to give birth between March and May in order to have their lambs
2
Applied Animal Behaviour Science 255 (2022) 105744
at the beginning of transhumance. Further, 90% of the ewes considered
in this study had one lamb. The ewes could move completely freely on
the mountain pastures and were only controlled by shepherds in case of
emergency. The ewes had been endowed with GPS sensors. Hereby, a
new type of long-distance radio system called LikeM13-Science-Tracking
System (IT-Service-BZ, Italy) was used for recording the movement pat­
terns of the grazing sheep. The sensors were worn on the animal as a
collar similar as sheep bells, which are traditionally used by farmers
during alpine pasturing for tracking the animals. The tracking device in
our study is a non-invasive technique commonly used for sheep and
other livestock species (e.g., cattle) for shepherd’s management purpose
with the aim of monitor the movement pattern of sheep. The weight of
the collar was 400 g and therefore was lower than 1.54 kg, which would
have been 2.2% body mass of a 70 kg heavy ewe and had no impact on
behaviour as confirmed by Hulbert et al. (1998). Consequently, no
ethical approval was required for the usage of this non-invasive tracking
device. The GPS trackers were equipped with a GPS module, a real-time
clock, an outer temperature sensor, a high-voltage converter, 2 ultra­
sonic capsules and a position sensor plus a small solar panel for charging
the battery, a battery and were fixed with collars to the animals. The
intervals of the transmitted GPS data varied from 5 to 40 min depending
on the battery charge (intervals were shorter when batteries were full
charged). Between sunset and sunrise, the intervals were set to 30 min to
save energy. The moment of sunset and sunrise was determined ac­
cording to time and respective date. The antennas, which were placed in
the municipality of Graun (Vinschgau valley) at the points Maseben,
Schöneben, St. Valentin/Dörfl, transmitted the data continuously to a
central cloud system (LikeM13) were the data was stored. GPS collars
didn’t have to be removed as batteries were charged by the small solar
panel on the outer surface of the GPS module (LikeM13-Science-Tracking
System (IT-Service-BZ, Italy). No GPS collar was lost during the study
period.
The initial dataset comprised 1,115,961 records of GPS-location
data. For calculating the walking distance out of longitude and lati­
tude the Haversine formula was considered (Ardigó et al., 2011; Chopde
and Nichat, 2013):
distance = 6, 378.388 ∗ acos(sin(lat[n]) ∗ sin(lat[n + 1]) + cos(lat[n])
∗ cos(lat[n + 1]) ∗ cos(lon[n + 1] − lon[n]))
where distance is the walking distance in km, 6,378.388 is the earth
radius, acos is the inverse cosine, sin is the sine, cos is the cosine, lat is the
latitude, lon is the longitude, n is the individual GPS-location data
record.
The gradient of the distance covered for respective ewe was calcu­
lated from the trigonometric relationship by the sine of respective angle
considering the difference in altitude (meters above sea level) as the side
opposite, the angle, and the walked distance as the hypothenuse be­
tween two consecutive GPS-location data records. The walking speed of
the individual ewe was determined by walked distance and the time
interval between two consecutive GPS-location data records and was
expressed as meter per minutes. Finally, the energy requirement for
walking was estimated considering the formula developed by Brockway
and Boyne (1980):
Energy = 2.35 + 0.398G + 0.0286G2 − 0.036S + 0.00052S2
where Energy is the energy requirement expressed as J/kg and meter, G
is the gradient measured in degrees and S is the walking speed measure
in m/min.
2.3. Data editing
Data editing was performed considering suggestions reported in
Dobos et al. (2015). Records of ewes were retained in the dataset if their
walking speed was within the range of 0 and 50 m/min (Clapperton,
T. Zanon et al. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 255 (2022) 105744

1964). Further, negative values for walking distance were deleted. In Table 1
addition, missing values for energy requirements were removed from Parameters considered in the model calculation for assessing the energy
the dataset. After editing the final data set comprised 866,146 records requirement of pregnant, lactating or dry ewes throughout alpine pasturing
from 274 days. (transhumance).
Parameter value/formula Reference
2.4. Statistical analysis Energy requirement for 0.23*LW^0.75 Abott (2018)
maintenance for grazing
Statistical analysis was performed with SAS software v. 9.4 (SAS sheep
Sheep milk composition 7.5% fat; 5% protein Jeroch et al. (2008)
Institute Inc., Cary, NC). First, descriptive analysis was performed for
Energy requirements for (0.37*fat%+0.21 Jeroch et al. (2008)
describing the distribution of the data. Further, Pearson’s correlations producing 1 kg milk [MJME] *protein%+0.95)/0.6
were calculated using the CORR procedure of SAS software v. 9.4 (SAS Energy requirement during days 10.4 Jeroch et al. (2008)
Institute Inc., Cary, NC). open [MJME]
Energy requirements during 17 Jeroch et al., (2008)
gestation [MJME]
2.5. Model calculation for estimating the energy balance of ewes during Energy content pasture feed 7.68 Starz et al. (2014);
transhumance mountain pasture [MJME] Pötsch et al. (1998)
Energy content feed ratio in 10.7–13 Resch et al. (2008)
barn [MJME]
A model calculation was performed to estimate the energy balance
Feed intake depending on 1.3–2.1 Jeroch et al. (2008)
for a 70 kg heavy ewe with twin lambs over the whole study period production stage [kg DM]
(April-December) including the period of transhumance (May- *
September) (Table 3). For our calculation we considered twin lambs MJ = Mega Joule; ME = metabolizable energy; DM = dry matter
because farmers should focus on promoting multiple births for
improving productivity and therefore rentability of these kind of pro­
duction systems (Ludemann and Trafford, 2009). Mean values for per­
formance energy during lactation when producing milk with 7.5% fat
and 5% protein as well as maintenance energy during gestation and days
open were estimated considering values reported in Jeroch et al. (2008)
(Table 1). Further, average energy content of pasture and alpine pasture
feed was estimated considering values reported in the studies of Starz
et al. (2014) and Pötsch et al. (1998), respectively and energy content in
hay during winter feeding was estimated considering values published
in Resch et al. (2008) (Table 1). Lastly, maintenance and performance
energy were summed to obtain the total energy requirement which was
put in relation with the mean feed intake estimated with values reported
in literature (Jeroch et al., 2008) in form of alpine pasture to describe
the energy balance (Table 3). Fig. 1. Mean estimated energy requirement and mean walking distance over
the study period according to Haversine formula (walking distance) and
3. Results Brockway and Boyne (1980) (energy requirement walking).

3.1. Ewes’ movement behaviour and energy requirement
Energy requirement expressed in MJ/kg live weight and walking
distance expressed in km between April and December are depicted in
Fig. 1. Throughout the whole study period energy requirement and
walking distances showed a similar evolution (Fig. 1). Both parameters
increased rapidly between April and May, remained on the same high
level until June and slightly decreased in the month of July (Fig. 1).
Between September and October, a strong decrease was recognizable
which continued until the end of the trial period in December. In terms
of walking speed, a steady decrease over the study period was estimated
(Fig. 2), with its maximum in April (7.8 m/min) and its minimum in
December (2 m/min). In Fig. 3 the different levels of heights above the
sea level (asl) are reported. Before and at the end of alpine pasturing
ewes were located, on average, at 1,500 m asl. In the month of August
ewes were present at the highest altitudes (2,209 m asl) (Fig. 3). Overall,
energy requirement and walking distance (r = 0.45) as well as walking
distance and walking speed (r = 0.76) showed a moderate and strong
significant positive correlation, respectively (Table 2). Further walking
speed and energy requirement (r = 0.26) were also weakly correlated.
Other parameters like slope, altitude or air temperature showed no or

Table 3
Model calculation for energy demand during transhumance of an ewe with 70 kg liveweight having twin lambs and producing milk with 7.5% fat and 5% protein.
April May June July August September October November December

Estimated energy requirement walking [MJ/kg] 1.36 5.30 5.17 3.70 3.96 3.37 1.44 0.62 0.38
Estimated energy requirement walking ewe [MJ]* 32.91 128.32 125.24 89.58 95.74 81.47 34.92 14.98 9.09
Estimated energy requirement walking ewe per day [MJ/ 1.10 4.14 4.17 2.89 3.19 2.72 1.13 0.50 0.29
d]
Production stage pregnant 1.7 L 1.5 L 1L 0.7 L days open days flushing stud
milk milk milk milk open season
Estimated energy requirement production [MJ ME]/d ( 17.00 22.90 20.21 13.47 9.43 10.40 10.40 13.50 13.50
Jeroch et al., 2008)
Total estimated energy requirement [MJ ME/d] 18.10 27.04 24.38 16.36 12.62 13.12 11.53 14.00 13.79
Estimated feed intake [TM/d] (Jeroch et al., 2008) 1.50 2.10 2.10 1.80 1.80 1.60 1.50 1.50 1.50
Estimated energy content feed ratio [MJ ME] 10.70 10.70 7.68 7.68 7.68 7.68 10.70 13.00 12.00
Estimated energy intake [MJ ME/d] 16.05 22.47 16.13 13.82 13.82 12.29 16.05 19.50 18.00
Estimated energy balance [MJ ME/d] -2.05 -4,0.57 -8.25 -2.54 1.20 -0.83 4.52 5.50 4.21
*
Estimated energy requirement walking multiplied by 70 kg LW0.75 of our model ewe

3
T. Zanon et al. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 255 (2022) 105744

4. Discussion

Fig. 2. Mean calculated walking speed with standard errors over the study
period based on GPS data.
Fig. 3. Altitude at which the sheep have walked over the study period.
weak correlations with energy requirement, walking distance and
walking speed (Table 2).
The aim of the study was to estimate the maintenance energy of ewes
for walking on mountain pastures during transhumance to assess their
energetic status and propose appropriate management strategies which
may help to improve the productivity and welfare status of the animals
in alpine pasturing systems as well as the environmental protection.
Sheep pasturing has become a central mean for landscape management
and conservation in alpine area to reduce succession with dwarf shrubs
and bushes by browsing and trampling and thus creating space for
valuable forage grasses and to promote these through the nutrient input
of the animals (Frost and LAunchbaugh, 2003; Lombardi, 2005;
Blaschka et al., 2014; Gazzarin and El Benni, 2020). Nevertheless, the
extensive farming of sheep on mountain pastures in certain moments
during transhumance might not meet the energetic demand of the ani­
mals (Blaschka et al., 2014). Especially, the higher energy expenditures
linked to moving in difficult terrain (Fig. 1; Fig. 3) might result in a
negative energy balance (Fig. 4). The latter results in fast body reserve
mobilisation and an increased risk of hyperketonaemia as typical for
subclinical and clinical ketosis (Simões et al., 2021). For instance,
Lacetera et al. (2001a, 2001b) observed a lower blood immunoglobulin
G concentration in ewes suffering under subclinical ketosis compared to
ewes with normal status which results in lower quality colostrum which
might increase the susceptibility for infectious diseases in their lambs.
Furthermore, high yielding animals may have a higher probability for
developing peri-parturient problems, a higher susceptibility for infec­
tious diseases such as laminitis, mastitis, and metritis as well as a
reduced resistance against gastrointestinal parasites (cattle: Esposito
et al., 2014; Simões et al., 2021). All together have a negative impact on
ewes’ fertility, which has a negative effect on the economic efficiency of
a sheep farming system (Legarra et al., 2007).
Besides its important ecological function alpine sheep pasturing
plays a crucial role in the context of increasing global food demand as
ruminants like sheep are able to use unproductive marginal grassland (e.
g., alpine pastures) for food production and therefore reduce competi­
tion between food and feed and consequently reduce pressure on arable
land (Wilkinson, 2011; Montossi et al., 2013). However, a good pro­
ductivity in the form of a high number of marketable lambs at the end of

3.2. Estimated energy balance of ewes over the study period

In Fig. 4 the evolution of estimated energy balance in form of a model

calculation for a 70 kg heavy ewe with twin lambs over the whole study
period is highlighted. There is a significant increase in negative energy
balance from April to May which culminates in the month of June. In
this period the higher energy demand is next to walking also probably
caused by the production of milk (Table 3). From July onwards the high
energy demand for walking and estimated milk production and as well
as the estimated the negative energy balance decreases steadily and
turns into a positive energy balance from September onwards (Fig. 4;
Table 3).

Fig. 4. Estimated mean energy requirement of walking of an ewe (70 kg live­

weight and twin lambs) over the study period.

Table 2
Pearson’s correlation of selected parameters.
Slope [◦ ] Altitude [m asl] Walking speed [m/min] Air temperature [◦ C] Energy requirement [J/kg]

Walking distance [m]
Slope [◦ ]
Altitude [m asl]
Walking speed [m/min]
Air temperature [◦ C]
0.00 (p = 0.92) 0.00 (p = 0.21) 0.76 * (p < 0.001) 0.05 * (p < 0.001) 0.45 * (p < 0.001)
1 0.00 (p = 0.55) 0.00 (p = 0.45) 0.00 * (p < 0.001) 0.07 * (p < 0.001)
1 0.01 * (p < 0.001) 0.09 * (p < 0.001) -0.06 * (p < 0.001)
1 0.06 * (p < 0.001) 0.26 * (p < 0.001)
1 -0.02 * (p < 0.001)

*significant (P < 0.05)

4
T. Zanon et al.
transhumance is central for ensuring economic sustainability of this
extensive form of farming (Hambrusch, 2014; Gazzarin and El Benni,
2020). Therefore, it is necessary to provide the ewes with sufficient
energy so that the lambs are supplied with sufficient high-quality
colostrum and milk and the ewes put a good body condition on for
achieving a high ovulation rate during the mating period after alpine
pasturing (Kenyon et al., 2014; Banchero et al., 2021). The latter is
crucial to achieve the highest possible conception rate in order to stay
within the production cycle and generate the highest possible propor­
tion of multiple births for keeping productivity high (Kenyon et al.,
2014).
As Fig. 1 reveals, the energy expenditure for movement was higher,
especially at the beginning of alpine pasturing (May-June), which may
be related to the fact that the animals travelled longer distances
(5.4–5.5 km per day) and had to overcome the greatest differences in
altitude during that phase (Fig. 3). In general, the variation in distance
travelled by the ewes varied between 0.2 km/d in December to 5.5 km/
d in June which is in line with findings in Johnson et al. (2021).
Walking speed in the current study (2–8 m/min.) was slower as re­
ported for instance in Chen et al. (2013) (10.5–26.6 m/min for sheep on
the desert steppe) and Manning et al. (2014) (60–78 m/min for sheep
kept in two paddocks measuring 1.0 and 1.1 ha) which might be
explained by the difficult terrain of the mountain pastures on which
sheep walked as well as by the methodology for calculating walking
speed in other studies. In our study, where ewes were freely moving and
grazing on alpine pastures, walking speed was calculated considering
walking distance covered within two consecutive GPS-intervals. In
contrast, Chen et al. (2013) determined the actual grazing time (head
down on the grass for browsing, biting and consuming herbaceous
vegetation) in sheep which were randomly allocated to one of four
restricted grazing time treatments in considering walking distance
within restricted grazing time for calculating grazing velocity. In
Manning et al. (2014) walking speed was calculated in sheep which were
exposed to simulated dog predation events. Therefore, the higher values
reported in Manning et al. (2014) compared to ours might be explained
by escape behaviour of sheep in that study.
As reported in Table 3 the total estimated energy requirement for a
70 kg heavy ewe varied between 12.48 and 27.37 MJ ME/d during
pasturing and transhumance which is similar to the results reported in
Baum (2021) were mean total energy requirements of 24.69, 35.98 and
29.70 MJ ME/d were calculated for spring pasture, spring low hill
habitat and summer mountain habitat on rangeland pastures in Utah
(US). Within this period sheep experience a strong negative energy
balance as our model calculation highlights (Fig. 4), which next to en­
ergy for walking (Table 2) is also due to lactation (Table 3). Therefore,
supplementation with concentrates especially in the first months of
alpine pasturing might be a useful management measure to ensure a
balanced energy status and production efficiency of the farming system.
The latter was described for goats where NRC (1981) proposed a 75%
increment in energy (MJ) in case of mountain transhumance pasture.
Further, also at the end of transhumance (September to October) addi­
tional concentrate feeding could sustain a faster recovery from a nega­
tive energy balance (Fig. 4) and an enhanced ovulation rate (flushing)
due to higher energy intake (Banchero et al., 2021). Irrespective of this,
however, the focus should be on the forage quality of the mountain
pasture and the pasture management (paddock system, shepherded
grazing), so that the use of external feed resources can be kept to a
minimum which from an ecological (Sabia et al., 2020) as well as from
an economical (Azher Bhatti et al., 2020) standpoint should be favored.
5. Limitation of the study
The reported negative energy balance here is mainly calculated with
values (e.g., energy intake, forage quality) from other studies, as for
alpine pastures like in our study, characterized by rough terrain with
very heterogenic plant stands it is very difficult to realize an appropriate
5
Applied Animal Behaviour Science 255 (2022) 105744
description of feed quality. Further, no common time stamp was used for
the GPS data. Therefore, there might be some over or underestimation of
distances calculated. Moreover, although present on the same mountain
pasture ewes were moving in different groups. Therefore, there might be
some additional effects (local weather conditions, distance to water
sources, vegetation, shepherds) which have an influence on the move­
ment patterns of ewes, which were in our study not considered. How­
ever, our direct measurements of movement patters combined with
estimated energy demand provide important insights for optimizing the
management of alpine sheep pasturing and thus contribute to improving
efficiency and profitability of such systems.
6. Conclusion
In the current study we analyzed for the very first time the devel­
opment of walking distance and walking speed and estimated the energy
requirement of sheep on alpine pastures (transhumance) considering
GPS tracking data. Results revealed that especially during the first
months of transhumance (May-June) pregnant and lactating ewes
experienced a severe negative energy balance which was estimated to be
mainly caused by the longer walking distance and by great differences in
altitude. Therefore, supplementation of additional concentrates in this
phase, especially for lactating sheep, is highly encouraged to meet the
higher energy demand and to guarantee high productivity of the pro­
duction system via fertile ewes and rapidly growing and healthy lambs.
Funding
This article was further supported by the Open Access Publishing
Fund provided by the Free University of Bolzano.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Ulrich Stecher for providing the new
sensor technology and for the great collaboration during the project.
Further, authors would like to thank all the farmers who willingly
participated to the project.
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