Factors Affecting Utilization of Mountain Slopes by Cattle

Cook, C. Wayne

doi:10.2307/3895647

Cited by 90 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Areas with high dung-pat density did not correspond to the most or least grazed areas. This is consistent with the findings by Cook (1966), comparing the number of dung pats and the forage use by cattle. Trampling effects were not strongest in high grazing or high dunging areas.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Spatial and Seasonal Patterns of Cattle Habitat use in a Mountain Wooded Pasture

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Management-oriented models of cattle habitat use often treat grazing pressure as a single variable summarizing all cattle activities. This paper addresses the following questions: How does the spatial pattern of cattle effects vary between cattle activities in a highly heterogeneous landscape? Do these patterns change over the grazing season as forage availability decreases? What are the respective roles of natural and management-introduced structures? We estimated the intensity of herbage removal, dung deposition and trampling after each of three grazing periods on a grid of 25 m · 25 m cells covering an entire paddock in the Swiss Jura Mountains. We found no significant positive correlations between cattle effects. Spatial patterns weakened through the season for grazing and trampling, whereas dunging patterns changed little between grazing periods. Redundancy analysis showed that different cattle effects were correlated with different environmental variables and that the importance of management-introduced variables was highest for herbage removal. Autocorrelograms and partial redundancy analyses using principal coordinates of neighbour matrices suggested that dunging patterns were more coarse-grained than the others. Systematic differences in the spatial and seasonal patterns of cattle effects may result in complex interactions with vegetation involving feedback effects through nutrient shift, with strong implications for ecosystem management. In heterogeneous environments, such as pasture-woodland landscapes, spatially explicit models of vegetation dynamics need to model cattle effects separately.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Spatial and Seasonal Patterns of Cattle Habitat use in a Mountain Wooded Pasture

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It was also obvious that cow position and movement was the result of managerial objectives, ranch/ USFS grazing management plans, prior logging activity, topography, phenology of vegetation (seasonal development and maturation of vegetation), water distribution, and a host of other natural and anthropogenic factors. Many authors have addressed factors controlling livestock distribution (Cook 1966;Bryant et al 1982;Ganskopp and Vavra 1987;Coughenour 1991;Bailey et al 1996;Harris 2002;Kluever et al 2009;Wilson 2010). Perimeter and internal fencing was obviously important because these allotments have been subdivided to implement rotational grazing strategies, although fencing is neither complete nor entirely effective between pastures.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cattle use of perennial streams and associated riparian areas on a northeastern Oregon landscape

Johnson¹,

Larson²,

Wilson³

et al. 2016

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stream and riparian health is a major concern for state and federal land management agencies that are charged with oversight of extensive land holdings in the mountain west of the United States. Several federal agencies in the 1980s and 1990s determined that livestock grazing had adversely impacted a majority of federal lands in this region. In response, management was changed on grazing allotments to focus on stream system health. Recent advanced global positioning system (GPS) logging capabilities, both accuracy and frequency/ duration of logging, coupled with rapidly developing geographic information system (GIS) analytical capabilities allowed evaluation of livestock use of streams and riparian zones on mountain rangelands. This study was undertaken to clarify spatiotemporal characteristics of cattle use of perennial streams and associated riparian areas under current US Forest Service (USFS) management and to suggest managerial strategies with the potential to maintain or improve riverine environments. We initiated a five year study in 2008 to evaluate the use by cattle of 30 m (98.4 ft) and 60 m (196.9 ft) buffers on permanent streams on three extensive study sites in northeastern Oregon. The three study sites cover 43,972 ha (108,700 ac) within a broader region 120 km (74.5 mi) north-south by 50 km (31 mi) east-west. Ten randomly selected cows from herds grazing each site were fitted with GPS collars that recorded position, date, and time at approximately five minute intervals throughout the grazing season. Nearly 3,750,000 cow positions were collected on the allotments during the study. The relative occupancy of cattle in buffers along both sides of perennial streams were determined on an annual and monthly basis by site. Each position was tagged with the date and time of occurrence. Relative use within 30 m of the stream varied substantially from site to site (0.74% to 2.54%), month to month (0.00% to 5.21%), and year to year (0.86% to 2.13%). In some months, GPS data indicated that watering was nearly exclusive from streams. In other months, stream use was low or nil, and watering was from water developments, small springs, seeps, puddles, or other source. Cattle preferred to access streams at specific locations where streambank slope, the lack of physical obstructions, and solid footing facilitated water access.

show abstract

“…Considerable research exists demonstrating cattle distribution on rangeland is influenced by vegetation type (Smith et al 1992), forage availability (Bryant 1982;Willms 1988), and quality (Cook 1966;Kie and Boroski 1996), as well as topography (Mueggler 1965;Pinchak et al 1991) and water availability (Irving et al 1995;Willms 1990). Cattle typically congregate on lowlands relative to adjacent uplands (Willms 1988;Philips et al 1999), presumably due to the inhibitory effect of steep slopes (Mueggler 1965) and the ready availability of abundant, high quality forage (Senft et al 1987).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cattle herbage utilization patterns under high-density rotational grazing in the Aspen Parkland

Asamoah¹,

Bork²,

Irving³

et al. 2003

Can. J. Anim. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

. 2003. Cattle herbage utilization patterns under highdensity rotational grazing in the Aspen Parkland. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 83: 541-550. Native Aspen Parkland landscapes consist of a complex mosaic of plant communities, including riparian meadows, upland grasslands, and forests. Sustainable livestock production in this environment depends on an understanding of livestock grazing behavior among communities, particularly under contemporary, intensive management rotational grazing systems. This study examined seasonal patterns of absolute (kg . ha -1 ) and relative (%) herbage utilization, as well as plant community visitation, across a Parkland landscape by 150 heifers in two rotations of a high-intensity, low-frequency grazing system. Graminoids constituted more than 92% of the total herbage utilized. Absolute graminoid utilization within each grazing period was greater (P < 0.05) throughout the growing season from riparian meadows (2003 to 2114 kg . ha -1 ) than from upland grasslands (762 to 1041 kg . ha -1 ) or forests (782 to 800 kg . ha -1 ). In contrast, relative graminoid utilization remained similar (P > 0.05) among communities in either rotation, suggesting heifers grazed in proportion to graminoid availability (57-61% in first rotation, 44-54% in second rotation). Although riparian meadows represented a small fraction of the landscape (~ 4%), and provided up to 9.5% of the total forage used, the majority of herbage removal at the paddock level continued to originate from upland grasslands and forests. Patterns of visitation indicated heifers initially visited riparian meadows more often within each 3-4 day grazing period, regardless of entry date. While upland grasslands were least visited in June, forests were least visited in August. Based on these utilization and visitation patterns, we discuss the implications of using high-density, rotational livestock grazing for the sustainable management of Aspen Parkland rangelands. Les prairies-parcs de trembles naturelles consistent en une mosaïque complexe de peuplements végétaux comprenant des prés riverains, des prairies sèches et des forêts. Élever du bétail de façon durable dans un tel environnement exige une solide connaissance du comportement des animaux qui se nourrissent des divers peuplements végétaux, surtout avec les régimes contemporains de gestion intensive des pâturages par rotation. L'étude portait sur des programmes saisonniers d'utilisation absolue (kg par hectare) ou relative (%) d'herbages et sur la fréquentation des écotypes par 150 génisses dans une région de prairies-parcs, en deux rotations, dans le cadre d'un régime de paissance à faible fréquence et à densité élevée. Les graminoïdes représentaient plus de 92 % des herbages consommés. Pendant la période végétative, les animaux ont consommé une plus grande quantité absolue (P < 0,05) de graminoïdes dans les prés riverains (de 2 003 à 2 114 kg par hectare) que dans les prairies sèches (de 762 à 1 041 kg par hectare) ou les forêts (de 782 à 800 kg par hectare) durant chaque période de pai...

show abstract

Factors Affecting Utilization of Mountain Slopes by Cattle

Cited by 90 publications

References 2 publications

Spatial and Seasonal Patterns of Cattle Habitat use in a Mountain Wooded Pasture

Spatial and Seasonal Patterns of Cattle Habitat use in a Mountain Wooded Pasture

Cattle use of perennial streams and associated riparian areas on a northeastern Oregon landscape

Cattle herbage utilization patterns under high-density rotational grazing in the Aspen Parkland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About