Evaluating grazing strategies for cattle: Deer and cattle food partitioning
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Authors: I. M. Ortega, S. Soltero-Gardea, F. C. Bryant, and D. L. Drawe
Date: 1997
Journal: Journal of Range Management
Volume: 50
Number: 6
Pages: 622-630
Summary of Methods: The effects of continuous and short-duration grazing on the diets of cattle and white-tailed deer were studied at the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Refuge in southern Texas (28° 6’ N; 97° 25’ W) over two years. Each grazing system was stocked at both heavy and moderate use levels. Over a 22 month study, cattle diet samples were collected 2 days per month, while deer diet composition was estimated through bite count observations made one day per month.
Article Summary / Main Points: Cattle and deer diets were different during the entire study, regardless of treatment. Deer foraged primarily on forbs, while cattle foraged on a combination of grasses and forbs. Cattle diets contained less forbs under continuous grazing conditions than short duration. As stocking rate increased cattle diets shifted to include more forbs. Deer diets contained more grasses under short duration cattle grazing than under continuous grazing. Heavily stocked short duration grazing systems had the highest potential for deer and cattle to influence each other’s diets.
Vegetation Types: Desert Grasslands
MLRA Ecoregions: 150A Gulf Coast Prairies
Agrovoc Control Words: Grazing Rangelands Ungulates
Article Review Type: Refereed
Article Type: Experimental Research
Keywords: white-tailed deer, odocoileus virginianus, cattle, food habits, coastal bend of texas, short-duration grazing, continuous grazing
Annotation: This was a replicated study conducted over two years and the results apply specifically to desert grasslands, though underlying ecological principles are applicable to many ecosystems. These results apply to regions of similar topography, climate, and ungulate-plant relationships. The study was limited by the number of cattle and deer sampled and observed, only 12 cattle and 10 does were used. This is one portion of a much larger study where Ortega et al. (1997, J. Range Manag. 50:615-621) examined forage dynamics of cattle and white-tailed deer and Ortega et al. (1997, J. Range Manag. 50:631-637) looked at the nutrition of cattle and white-tailed deer. Both of these are also available in the RSIS database.
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