Rural Home

Animals learning nutritional wisdom in the paddock

Tas Country Hour
Animal behaviour researcher Emeritus Fred Provenza

Dr Fred Provenza from Utah State University recently toured Australia discussing his research into animal behaviour.

Sally Dakis

US Emeritus Professor Fred Provenza visited Australia recently, sharing his pioneering research into animal behaviour that is changing the way livestock are being managed in farming systems around the world.

Dr Fred Provenza from Utah State University was studying a group of goats when he discovered that they can learn to eat what their body needs.

He jokingly describes 'the Einstein of the goat world', a brighter than average goat that actively sought out a food source that provided nutrients its body needed. Other goats in the mob followed in its footsteps, and as a consequence thrived whilst others languished.

Fred Provenza has since spent decades of research on cattle, sheep, elk, goats and bison and has developed a concept called 'nutritional wisdom'.

It's based on the notion that animals inherit a knowledge and can learn from other animals what they should eat.

The work has significant implications for how we manage animals, the pastures they eat, and ultimately, the quality of animal and human health.

Fred Provenza has just toured Tasmania with help from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture at the University of Tasmania, and has worked in the US, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Europe and Australia.

More Stories