Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Nutritive Content of Sheep, Goat, and White-tailed Deer Diets on Excellent Condition Rangeland In Texas
Author
Bryant, F. C.
Kothmann, M. M.
Merrill, L. B.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
1980-11-01
Body

A one-year study was initiated in August, 1975, to examine the nutritive content in diets of four kinds of sympatric ruminants on excellent condition rangeland of the Edwards Plateau in Texas. Sheep, Angora goat, and Spanish goat diets were collected from animals fitted with permanent esophageal cannulae. Nutritive content of white-tailed deer diets was estimated by hand-plucking representative forages as the deer were observed grazing them. Mean, annual levels of crude protein (CP) were similar among the four kinds of animals. All diets were lowest in CP during January and February, with livestock diets showing higher levels than deer. However, deer diets were higher in CP than sheep and goat diets during spring and summer. During January and February, the livestock diets warranted only minimum protein supplementation while deer diets were significantly below recommended levels. Digestible energy (DE) levels were higher for sheep diets than for diets of either goats or deer. Similarly, the goat diets were higher in DE than deer diets. The DE levels were generally adequate for sheep but critically low for Angora goats during late gestation. Deer diets were very low in DE during winter and again in early summer, coinciding with the period of peak lactation. Energy would appear to be more limiting for animal production than protein under the conditions of this research. 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

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/3898573
Additional Information
Bryant, F. C., Kothmann, M. M., & Merrill, L. B. (1980). Nutritive content of sheep, goat, and white-tailed deer diets on excellent condition rangeland in Texas. Journal of Range Management, 33(6), 410-414.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/646376
Journal Volume
33
Journal Number
6
Journal Pages
410-414
Journal Name
Journal of Range Management
Keywords
Texas