An approach was developed for estimating the economic optimum rate of initial overstory kill for increasing seasonal forage availability. The model was formulated using: (1) a biological production function relating understory production to initial kill percentage, (2) a derived demand function for seasonal forage value, and (3) a cost of overstory kill function for each control method. The specific optimum solution will vary with the situation; however, the general model may be applied to any ranching situation where understory forage production is constrained by undesirable overstory vegetation. The model was illustrated using the big sagebrush-crested wheatgrass vegetation type on a Utah cow-calf-yearling operation with prescribed burning, 2,4-D spraying, and tebuthiuron application as control methods. For the ranch analyzed, a big sagebrush kill rate between 92 and 100% is optimal depending on the derived demand and cost-of-kill functions used. Kill rates that differ from the optimum caused significant opportunity costs to be incurred. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.