Cattle diets were studied on a predominantly native range in Hidalgo County, which is in the extreme southern part of Texas, from September, 1976, to November, 1977. Microhistological examination of cattle feces was used to determine the botanical composition of diets. Percentages of grasses, forbs, and browse consumed by cattle for the fall of 1976 and the winter, spring, summer, and fall of 1977, respectively, were: grasses-77.9, 81.2, 84.9, 65.1, 63.6; forbs-20.2, 6.9, 13.4, 31.6, 34.8; and browse-2.0, 11.9, 1.7, 3.3, 1.6. Cattle showed an increasing preference for forbs during the summer and fall of 1977 as the availability of several grass species decreased. Roemer three-awn, red lovegrass, and hooded windmillgrass were the most utilized species, but they were eaten in about equal proportion to their availability. Buffelgrass, common Bermudagrass, and sedges were eaten in lesser amounts but were highly preferred. Perennial forbs, especially spreading sida and orange zexmenia were important components of the summer and fall diets. Pricklypear was the only important browse species which was important only in winter. These data indicated that perennial grasses made up the bulk of cattle diets on a predominantly native range in south Texas; however, perennial forbs were important seasonally. 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.