Rangeland Ecology & Management

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IMPACTS OF A SPRING PRESCRIBED FIRE IN CONJUNCTION WITH CATTLE GRAZING ON GRAZING FREQUENCY AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF WESTERN SNOWBERRY (SYMPHORICARPOS OCCIDENTALIS)
Author
Johnson, Haley M.
Limb, Ryan
Bauer, Marc
Sedivec, Kevin
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2018
Body

Woody encroachment, due to fire suppression, alters plant community composition in rangelands worldwide. Encroachment of western snowberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis) has led to an alteration of many Northern Great Plains plant communities, consequently decreasing available and favorable forages for livestock consumption. Research on the effects of grazing western snowberry is limited, but show that grazing alone increases expansion because mature plants are not readily consumed. Cattle select for forages based on palatability and management. Fire removes old plant material and promotes new plant growth of higher forage quality plant material. Cattle are more likely to consume immature plants because of increased palatability. Our study objectives were to 1) evaluate rate of consumption within early-intensive grazing, season-long grazing, and patch-burn grazing management strategies and 2) evaluate the forage nutritional content of western snowberry following prescribed fire. Each treatment was replicated three times. Stem and bite counts of western snowberry were collected by placing four random 100 meter transects and placing a 1m2 quadrat every five meters along each transects within each replicate. Grazing exclosures were utilized to evaluate western snowberry degree of disappearance due to grazing. Weekly samples of western snowberry were collected during the growing season to evaluate selected nutritional values for each treatment within current growing season, one year post burning, and growth after initial burning. One way analysis of variance was used to compare stem and bite counts across treatments. Linear regression was used to analyze change in forage quality over time. This study will address grazing frequency of cattle on western snowberry within each treatment and how burning affects the forage quality of western snowberry.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Reno, NV