A year-round grazing system for springand fall-calving cows was developed to compare animal production and performance, hay production and feeding, winter forage composition changes, and summer pasture yield and nutrient composition to that from a conventional, or minimal land system. Systems compared forage from smooth bromegrass-orchardgrass-birdsfoot trefoil pastures for both systems in the ...

Animals selecting habitats often have to consider many factors, e.g., food and cover for safety. However, each habitat type often lacks an adequate mixture of these factors. Analyses of habitat selection using resource selection functions (RSFs) for animal radiotelemetry data typically ignore trade-offs, and the fact that these may change during an animal's daily foraging and resting rhythm on ...

Amazonia holds the largest continuous area of tropical forests with intense land use change dynamics inducing water, carbon, and energy feedbacks with regional and global impacts. Much of our knowledge of land use change in Amazonia comes from studies of the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for two thirds of the region. Amazonia outside of Brazil has received less attention because of the diffi...

To understand the dynamics of spatially structured populations, we need to know the level of movements at different spatial scales. This paper reports on Aphodius dung beetle movements at two scales: movements between dung pats within pastures, and movements between pastures. First, I test an assumption common to many recent models of spatially structured populations – that the probability of a...

Laboratory and digestion studies evaluated the nutritional value of the commercially available stargrass (Cynodon nlemfuensis Vanderyst var. nlemfuensis), 'Ona', two experimental stargrasses, 'Florona' and 'Florico', and the experimental bermudagrass 'Callie 35-3' (Cynodon dactylon). Ona and Florico stargrasses were also evaluated under grazing. Florico stargrass had the lowest concentration of...

English wood pastures have become a target for ecological restoration, including the restoration of pollarded trees and grazing animals, although pigs have not been frequently incorporated into wood pasture restoration schemes. Because wood pastures are cultural landscapes, created through the interaction of natural processes and human practices, a historical perspective on wood pasture managem...

Grazing systems may alter botanical composition and productivity of grasslands through differential use in time, space, or intensity. Seven simulated grazing treatments were applied six years in eastern Montana, USA to determine effects on plant community composition and standing crop. Treatments were moderate stocking (28.8 AUD ha 1 year ) of cattle using 3-pasture summer rotation, season-long...

This study evaluated the effects of calf management following early weaning (EW) on growth and reproductive performance of beef heifers. On d 0, Brahman x British heifers (n = 40; body weight [BW] = 187 ± 37 lb; age = 69 ± 12 d) were stratified by age and BW, and randomly assigned to be normally-weaned on d 177 (NW), or 1 of 3 EW treatments: (1) EW and grazed on ryegrass pastures for 67 d then ...

In a 3-yr study, 135 crossbred steers (330 ± 10 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design to evaluate corn dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) fed to yearling steers as a substitute for forage and N fertilizer and its effect on N use efficiency in yearling steers grazing smooth bromegrass pastures. Steers were initially stocked at 6.8 animal unit months (AUM)/ha on nonfertili...

In 1858 H. S. Thompson, writing in the “Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society”, quoted an ancient Persian proverb, “The sheep has a foot of gold, and turns to gold whatever it touches”, and wrote that, although at first he agreed with the proverb, he rapidly became dissatisfied with it. In his experience-sustained yheavystockifig-w? sheep caused pastures to deteriorate. In my opinion his im...