Do You Know Where and What Cattle Eat?

FORT COLLINS, CO – If you run cattle on pastures, do you know where and what they prefer to eat? That’s a question researchers with the Central Plains Experimental Range are trying to answer, by fitting cattle with global positioning system (GPS) collars to track their grazing behavior and pasture use. According to researchers with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), grazing cattle are very selective about where and what plants they will eat so the information from this study should aid producers in developed models that can be used to predict distribution of grazing cattle. The study collected data from rangeland sites in Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, and Idaho and one observation from these models is cattle prefer to graze low-lying locations in drier regions, and more elevated locations in wetter regions, where flooding likely reduces selection.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)