Potential problems associated with proposed research

As with any new technology, a major pitfall associated with the proposed research is that one or more of the different pieces of equipment fails to perform adequately under field conditions. This seems somewhat unlikely though, since all of the equipment has been tested or is currently being used under field research conditions. One type of “equipment failure” that might readily occur, would be the loss of one or more of the test
 

 
animals during the test period. This possibility was considered and the experimental design configured such that the loss of even several animals would not result in an inability to get statistically meaningful data. Another problem could be the failure of any or all of the activity or environmental measurements proposed to be related to conventional measurements of animal performance (i.e., weight change, pregnancy, condition score changes, etc.). Even total lack of significance for all of the parameters tested will provide incite into the biological mechanisms involved in beef cattle production on pasture situations and serve as a basis for further research.

Details of Cooperation and Responsibilities of Collaborators

The cooperative nature of this proposal is based on both groups taking similar measurements of grazing behavior in two different environmental and management systems which allows for greater inference of the data generated. Both groups will share existing equipment and/or expertise (vibracorders, body temperature measurement, and GPS in the USA and pedometers and HR monitors in Israel) and the GPS equipment, which is the main non expendable budget item. In Israel the working season will be from the end of October (end of the dry pasture period) through the green season to the beginning of May (beginning of the dry pasture season). Accordingly, the working period in the USA will be from beginning of June to the end of September, allowing for time for equipment shipping and work organizing.