Studies on several wild and domestic ungulates suggest that large grazers attain higher maximum forage intake rates but require relatively higher forage biomass to do so. In this study, forage intake rates and feeding times of North America's largest wild grazer, the bison (Bison bison), were related to forage biomass during summer and autumn in aspen boreal forest habitats. Irrespective of season, maximum feeding rates of 68 g/min declined by 50% as forage biomass was reduced to 780 kg/ha. This reduction was due primarily to smaller bite sizes. However, bison compensated by increasing cropping bite rates to more than 60 bites/min on heavily grazed swards. Grazing times increased from 9 h/day in summer to 11 h/day in autumn, offsetting slight decreases in average foraging efficiency. During summer, a greater proportion of grazing occurred at night. Upland meadows were preferred habitats for grazing despite relatively low pasture biomass and potential dry matter intake rates. 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.