Dormant season grazing on northern mixed grass prairie agroecosystems: Does protein supplement intake, cow age, weight and body condition impact beef cattle resource use and residual vegetation cover?

Samuel A Wyffels,Janice G P Bowman,Timothy Delcurto,Darrin L Boss,Lance B Mcnew,Bok F Sowell,Juan J Loor

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0240629

Samuel A Wyffels, Janice G P Bowman + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240629

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Abstract

Dormant season livestock grazing reduces reliance on harvested feeds, but typically requires protein supplementation to maintain animal performance. Individual variation in supplement intake can impact animal performance; however, it is unknown if this variation leads to individual or herd-level effects on grazing behavior, resource utilization, and grazing impacts to native rangelands. To examine effects of protein supplementation on dormant season cattle resource use and, subsequently, post-grazing habitat conditions, we examined cattle grazing behavior, resource utilization and biomass removal of vegetation on a native rangeland in Montana. A commercial herd of 272 (yr 1) and 302 (yr 2) cows grazed a 329-ha rangeland pasture from November to January. Intake of a 30% crude protein supplement was measured for each individual. Five individuals within each of six age groups were equipped with GPS collars. Time spent grazing declined with supplement intake ( = −0.05 ± 0.02; P < 0.01). Distance traveled per day had a positive asymptotic association with supplement intake ( = 0.35 ± 0.09; P < 0.01). On average, resource utilization by cattle grazing dormant season forage decreased with terrain ruggedness ( = −0.09 ± 0.03), but was unrelated to aspect, temperature and wind speed. Notably, we observed high individual variability in resource utilization for elevation, distance from supplement and water. A post-hoc analysis suggested that individual attributes (age, body weight, supplement intake) influenced cattle resource use. At moderate stocking rates, dormant season livestock grazing did not affect residual vegetation conditions (P values > 0.22). However, residual cover of forbs and litter increased with relative grazing intensity ( = 1.04 ± 0.41; = 3.06 ± 0.89; P ≤ 0.05). In summary, high individual variability in grazing resource utilization of cattle suggests individual-level factors could be the dominant drivers in grazing behavior and landscape use.

Highlights

Economic efficiency of cattle production is threatened by high feed and input costs [1]
Individual variation in supplement intake can impact animal performance; it is unknown if this variation leads to individual or herd-level effects on grazing behavior, resource utilization, and grazing impacts to native rangelands
To examine effects of protein supplementation on dormant season cattle resource use and, subsequently, post-grazing habitat conditions, we examined cattle grazing behavior, resource utilization and biomass removal of vegetation on a native rangeland in Montana

Summary

Introduction

Economic efficiency of cattle production is threatened by high feed and input costs [1]. To improve profitability and transition to reduced reliance on transported harvested feeds, many cow-calf producers have adopted management strategies involving dormant season grazing [2]. The primary goal in a forage-based livestock production system is to obtain optimal animal performance while effectively utilizing the forage resource base. Most cattle enter the winter dormant grazing season without the added nutritional requirements associated with lactation [3]. Providing protein supplements to grazing beef cattle during times of low forage quality can improve animal performance and provide increased economic returns [4, 7, 8]. Supplementation strategies assume that all animals consume a targeted quantity of supplement and deviation from the target can have strong effects on animal nutirent status [9]

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