Factors Affecting Forage Consumption by Cattle in Arizona Ponderosa Pine Forests

Abstract

Management practices designed to increase multiple use values of ponderosa pine forests are being tested in Arizona (Brown et al. 1974). Some of these practices will increase herbage production (Clary 1975), but there is a question as to what extent cattle will consume the additional forage. Factors related to forage consumption need to be identified in evaluating possible impacts of forest overstory manipulations on grazing values. An earlier study on the Coconino Plateau in north-central Arizona found that distance to water, steepness and length of slope, access routes, forest density, season of use, range condition, floristic composition, and possibly rockiness influenced the manner in which pine-bunchgrass ranges were grazed (Glendening 1944). Slope steepness and distance upslope were important variables on uniform terrains in Montana, but the amount of rockiness was not (Mueggler 1965). In a Utah study, Cook (1966) concluded that although factors such as slope, distance to water below, percent palatable plants, and thickness of brush were correlated with utilization, no single factor could be used as a reliable index for predicting use. Young et al. (1967) found that forest density and understory vegetation influenced the distribution of forage utilization in northeastern Oregon. This note summarizes the results of a study conducted to define factors related to forage consumption by cattle on the Beaver Creek Watershed in north-central Arizona, and to provide insight as to how timber management practices will likely affect utilization of the range resource.