Rangeland Ecology & Management

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HOW DOES CATTLE GRAZING AFFECT IMPORTANT PLANTS FOR WHITE-TAILED DEER IN SOUTH TEXAS?
Author
Saenz III, Ramon
Ortega-Santos, J. Alfonso
Fulbright, Timothy E.
Hewitt, David G.
Campbell, Tyler A.
Ortega-Santos, J. Alfonso
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2016
Body

Increasing economic value of hunting has heightened landowners' interest in enhancing habitat for wildlife. Aldo Leopold, in his book Game Management, considered cattle as one of the tools to use in improvement of habitat. He also warned that improper management of herbivory can damage wildlife habitat. Our objectives were to 1) determine how intensity of herbivory affects species richness and standing crop of grasses and forbs, and 2) determine effects of autumn cattle grazing on spring forb standing crop. We randomly allocated fifty 1.5 m x 1.5 m vegetation enclosures on each of six 2 500 ha study sites placed on four East Foundation ranches which are located all throughout south Texas. Every autumn and spring from 2015-2017, plant species composition and standing crop within each enclosure will be compared to a paired grazed plot. Vegetation will be separated into grasses, forbs preferred by white-tailed deer, and non-preferred forbs. In the first season of data collection, in three out of the six locations with the increase in grazing utilization, standing crop of preferred forbs had decreased. In the remaining three locations grazing utilization had no effect. All six study sites, non-preferred forbs were not affected by grazing utilization. Further study and data collection will assist in gaining a better understanding the effects of cattle grazing to manipulate habitat and optimize cattle and white-tailed deer performance in South Texas.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Corpus Christi, TX