Cattle food habits and plant composition in the diets were similar on the light and heavily grazed pastures on shortgrass prairie near Nunn, Colorado. Blue grama (36% and 40%), scarlet globemallow (15% and 11%), and sun sedge (9% and 9%) collectively averaged about 60% of the monthly diets at both grazing intensities. The proportions between diets and available forage in each pasture were significantly related for the 12 major foods. Diversity indices of diets and available pasture vegetation were positively correlated. Preference indices averaged the same for the major forages. Significant differences in diet were observed between months and years at both intensities. Fireweed summer-cypress, western wheatgrass, evening-primrose, slimflower scurfpea, and scarlet globemallow ranked highest in preference; and although blue grama was the principal component in the cattle diets, only fringed sagewort ranked lower in preference. 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.