It was evaluated grazing times of heifers innatural pasture, obtained by visual assessment in 5-minute intervals. By usingthe original data, it was calculated observation intervals of 10, 15 and 20minutes. It was used four crossbreed Angus × Nellore heifers, with averageweight of 249 ± 6 kg BW. The completely randomized block design was usedwith four treatments (forage allowance of 4, 8, 12 and 16 kg DM/100 kg BW) andtwo replicates, and type of soil was the blocking factor. The grazing methodwas continuous stocking with variable stocking rate. Grazing time, ruminatingtime and time of other activities did not differ among scales tested, therefore,they can be observed at every 20 minutes, but the number and duration of mealsand its intervals presented variations according to observation scale. Onlythe observation scale of 5 minutes allowed the detection of daily modificationswhich compose meal dynamics upon the ingestive behavior of grazing animals.Estimates proved overestimation of 20 minutes in meal duration when observedat every 10 minutes in relation to the observation at every 5 minutes.
