Comparing grazing and resting electivity of beef cattle for BC bunchgrass communities using GPS collars

Abstract

, J. 2015. Comparing grazing and resting electivity of beef cattle for BC bunchgrass communities using GPS collars. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 499Á507. Grasslands in the interior of British Columbia often contain a mosaic of plant communities that provide variable habitat for free-ranging cattle. Global positioning system (GPS) collars have been used to study natural habitat use by cattle on a coarse scale (such as riparian, grassland and forested habitats), but not on a fine scale (such as choice among grassland plant communities). Cows equipped with GPS collars were tracked during the spring grazing period for 4 yr. Six grassland pastures were used as replicates. The activity (grazing or resting) of cattle at GPS locations was classified using a distance travelled algorithm. A detailed plant community map of five plant community types was constructed, and cow relative use within the plant communities was determined. Electivity, which scales for differences in community area, was used to compare the use of plant communities. While grazing, electivity for the Kentucky bluegrass community (mean '0.3) was greater than for the bluebunch wheatgrass community (mean (0.2). While resting, these differences were more pronounced. GPS collars can be used to estimate fine-scale choices among grassland communities.Key words: Free-ranging cows, plant community electivity, grazing, resting Thompson, D., Wheatley, B. J., Church, J. S., Newman, R. et Walker, J. 2015. Comparer le choix de paˆturage et de repos chez les bovins de boucherie dans les communaute´s de gramine´es cespiteuses de la Colombie-Britannique au moyen de colliers GPS. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 499Á507. Les prairies de l'inte´rieur de la Colombie-Britannique contiennent souvent une mosaı¨que de communaute´s ve´ge´tales qui offrent des habitats variables pour les bovins qui broutent en liberte´. Des colliers GPS (« global positioning system » ou syste`me de localisation mondiale) ont e´te´utilise´s pour e´tudier les habitats naturels utilise´s les bovins a`grande e´chelle (tels que les habitats riverains, prairies et forestiers), mais pas a`l'e´chelle plus fine (tel qu'un choix entre plusieurs communaute´s ve´ge´tales des prairies). Les vaches munies de colliers GPS ont e´te´suivies pendant la pe´riode de paˆturage printanie`re pendant 4 ans. Six pre´s de prairies ont e´te´utilise´s comme re´plicats. L'activite´(broutage ou repos) des bovins aux endroits de´signe´s par GPS a e´te´classe´e au moyen d'un algorithme de distance voyage´e. Une carte de´taille´e des communaute´s ve´ge´tales de cinq types de plantes a e´te´construite et l'utilisation relative par les bovins dans chaque communaute´a e´te´de´termine´e. Le choix, qui change d'e´chelle selon les diffe´rences de superficie des communaute´s, a e´te´utiliseṕ our comparer l'utilisation des communaute´s ve´ge´tales. Lors du broutage, le choix de la communaute´de paˆturin des pre´s (moyenne '0,3) e´tait plus e´leve´que pour la communaute´d'agropyre a`e´pi (moyenne (0,2). Au repos, ces diffe´rences e´taient encore plus...

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