Abstract

Abstract Cattle-grazing in riparian areas has become increasingly controversial. More information is needed about cattle use of these areas to develop Best Management Practices. This study was designed to determine seasonal changes in diet selection of cattle in a montane riparian community in northern Colorado. Previous cattle diet studies in riparian zones have not separated the interaction between seasonal preference and biomass utilization. The experiment was conducted within large exclosures that had not been grazed by livestock since 1956. Vegetation biomass estimates and diet samples from 5 esophageally fistulated steers were taken during 4 grazing periods (spring, early-summer, late- summer, and fall) in 1995. Vegetation measurements and diet samples were also collected during the late summer and fall of 1994. One of the 3 paddocks in each grazing period of 1995 had been grazed in 1994. Steer diets in 1995 were found to contain 15% more Carex spp. from paddocks that had been ungrazed until 1995 as...

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