A non-traditional forage-based protocol was employed to evaluate replacement heifer growth, fertility, and economics between small frame (SF, 3.50; n = 50) and large frame (LF, 5.56; n = 50) heifers using three increasing gain growth phases. Preceding an 85 d growing-breeding period (Phase 3; P3) the heifers were managed as a common group for Phases 1 and 2 (P1 and P2). During P1, heifers graze...

Two 120-d trials (May to September, 1988 and 1989) determined the effects of grazing tall fescue (two varieties) or orchardgrass on forage intake and performance by beef cows. Each summer, 48 cow-calf pairs grazed endophyte-infected Kentucky-31 tall fescue (KY-31), endophyte-free Mozark tall fescue (MOZARK), or Hallmark orchardgrass (OG) pastures (16 pairs/treatment). Forage OM intakes and dige...

Reindeer have been recorded to increase nutrient cycling rate and primary production in studies from fences almost 40 years old that separate areas with different grazing regimes in northern Fennoscandia. To further understand the mechanism behind the effects of herbivores on primary production, we measured the size of the major C and N pools, soil temperature, litter decomposition rate and N m...

The unique relationship between TDN and CP concentration (low CP relative to TDN) in the whole-plant of 'Floralta' limpograss (Hemarthria altissima) may provide an opportunity for improving cattle performance through protein supplementation. In each of three consecutive years, yearling Brahman x British crossbred steers (initial weight approximately 270 kg) grazed limpograss during the summer a...

Although esophageal extrusa is the most readily accepted representation of forage consumed by grazing ruminants, esophageal sampling is demanding from the standpoint of animal care and maintenance and extrusa processing. This experiment was conducted with a split-plot design to evaluate the effects of pasture type, pasture sampling technique and drying method on estimation of grazed forage comp...

Rising temperatures due to climate change are pushing the thermal limits of many species, but how climate warming interacts with other anthropogenic disturbances such as land use remains poorly understood. To understand the interactive effects of climate warming and livestock grazing on water temperature in three high elevation meadow streams in the Golden Trout Wilderness, California, we measu...

Invasion by exotic grasses is a severe threat to the integrity of grassland ecosystems all over the world. Because grasslands are typically grazed by livestock and wildlife, the invasion is a community process modulated by herbivory. We hypothesized that the invasion of native South American grasslands by Eragrostis plana Nees, an exotic tussock-forming grass from Africa, could be deterred by g...

Endophyte (Acremonium cotnophiaJum Morgan-Jones et Gams) -Infected tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) produces ergopeptiDe alkaloids (EP) that may be associated with fescue toxicosis symptoms in cattle (B03 taurus). A study was conducted during 1983 and 1984 at Watkinsville, GA, to determine the effects of endophyte infection, season, and N fertilization on EP concentration and Steer ave...