Tanglehead (Heteropogon contortus) is a native, warm-season, perennial bunchgrass which is found in sandy prairies in South Texas. It provides palatable forage for livestock in the growing season and decreases under heavy grazing. It can also provide good nesting cover for birds and fawning cover for deer. However, in recent years, with the removal of cattle and conversion to strictly wildlife management on many ranches in these sandy prairies, tanglehead has become a monoculture creating dense grassy areas that are not useful for wildlife. In the late-winter and early-spring of 2014, patch burning was initiated on two ranches in Jim Hogg County, Texas. Grazing exclosures and transects were established in burned and unburned areas on both ranches to monitor tanglehead response to grazing following burns. Additionally, clippings from burned and unburned sites and cattle fecal samples were collected during the study to monitor changes in nutrition. Cattle were fitted with GPS-collars to monitor use of burned and unburned areas during three week intervals, three or four times throughout the growing season. During the month following burns, there were no differences in number of GPS-points/acre between burned or unburned plots on either site. However, in subsequent months, burned areas had as much as 2-6 times more GPS-points/acre.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.