To understand what cattle eat in a mountain riparian area, the diets of five steers were analyzed during several periods over two grazing seasons. In 1994 a series of paddocks were established along Sheep Creek in the Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado (40° 56' 70†N, 105° 40' 18†W). The study took place during the growing seasons of 1994 and 1995. Double sampling was used to measure forage availability in three paddocks that were grazed in the late-summer and three grazed in the fall during the first summer. During the second summer, sampling was conducted in twelve paddocks of which three each were grazed during the following periods: spring, early summer, late summer and fall. One paddock from each sampling period during the second year of the study was also grazed the previous year. Steers were esophageally fistulated prior to the study and their diets from several minutes of grazing were analyzed for composition during the two sampling periods in 1994 and the four sampling periods in 1995.
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