The relative preference of cattle across three phonological (vegetative, anthesis and quiescent) stages for 8 prominent northern Great Basin grasses (bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, bottlebrush squirreltail, needle-and-thread grass, Sandberg’s bluegrass, Thurber’s needlegrass, giant wildrye, and ‘Nordan’ crested wheatgrass) was assessed in experimental paddocks and rangeland pastures established on the Northern Great Basin Experimental Range near Burns, Oregon (4495 feet altitude). One hundred plants of each species were randomly replanted in 9 experimental paddocks, each containing a grid of 29 rows and 29 columns with 0.61 m between plant centers. In addition, 9, 1-ha experimental pastures were established with electric fencing and 3 additional species (prairie junegrass, Indian ricegrass and cheatgrass) were included in the analysis on native-rangelands. Basal area and biomass were measured in the experimental paddocks, with plant density, biomass and foliage cover measured in the rangeland pastures. Forage quality was measured through crude protein and neutral detergent fiber. Three esophageally fistulated steers grazed 3 paddocks and 3 pastures at each phonological stage for 6 successive days. The steers were allowed to forage 84 plants. Esophageal samples were analyzed for crude protein and neutral detergent fiber. A Van Dyne and Heady’s relative preference index was calculated to rank the preference of steers.
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