It was evaluatedthe ingestive behavior of beef heifers on black oats (Avena strigosaSchreb.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) pastures underdifferent strategies of supplementation and continuous stocking system. Thetreatments evaluated were: 'no supplement'- animals on black oats (BO) and Italianryegrass (IR) pasture; 'increasing' - animals on BO and IR pasture receivingincreasing levels (0.3, 0.6, and 0.9% of live weight - LW) of supplement; 'fixed'- animals on BO and IR pasture receiving 0.9% of LW of supplement; and 'decreasing'- animals on BO and IR pasture receiving decreasing (1.5, 1.2, and 0.9% of LW)levels of supplement. Structural sward characteristics (herbage mass, greenherbage mass, herbage allowance, leaf blade allowance, leaf:stem ratio, andproportion of oats leaf blade and stem + sheath and proportion of ryegrass leafblade and stem + sheath) and nutritive value (crude protein concentration, invitro organic matter digestibility, total digestible nutrients, and neutraldetergent fiber) were similar among strategies of supplementation and variedwith pasture utilization periods. Daily grazing time, ruminating time, idlingtime, time spent near the trough (min/day), and bite mass (g OM/bite) variedwith strategies of supplementation and sward characteristics. The biting rate/minwas influenced only by grazing cycle.
