ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND GRAZING MANAGEMENT

1. ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND GRAZING MANAGEMENT

2. Management of Grazing Lands • Resource Condition Inventory • Trend • Similarity Index • Rangeland Health • Vegetation Inventory Information • Production • Composition • Physical Features • Fences, water, roads,, corrals, etc.

3. Management of Grazing Lands • Livestock Inventory • Kind, Class, and numbers of Animals • Wildlife Inventory • Kind, numbers and time on the land • Landowner Objectives

4. The Needs of the 3 L’s • Land - Soil, Water, Air, and Plants • Livestock - Animals, including Wildlife • Landowner - Human

5. Animal / Forage Balance Essential for meeting the needs of the 3 - L’s When landowner objectives, and all other inventory information are complete and analyzed, and animal/forage balance is developed, Prescribed Grazing can be designed.

6. Planned Grazing Management • Includes all things necessary to accomplish the goals and objectives of the landowner, meet the needs of the land and livestock: • Vegetative Management Practices • Facilitating Practices • Accelerating Practices

7. Vegetative Management Practices Practices that are Directly Concerned with the Use and Growth of the Vegetation • Prescribed Grazing

8. Photo (Cows)

9. Facilitating Practices Practices that Control or Influence the Movement and Handling of Grazing Animals and Facilitate the Application of the Vegetation Management Practices. • Water Development • Fences • Prescribed Burning (for distribution or forage quality)

10. Photo (Water Development)

11. Photo (Water Development)

12. Photo (Water Development)

13. Photo (Fences)

14. Accelerating Practices Practices that Supplement Vegetation Management. Help Achieve Desired Changes in the Plant Community more Rapidly than is Possible with Vegetative Management and Facilitating Practices Alone. • Brush Management • Range Planting • Erosion Control Structures

15. Photo (Brush Management)

16. Photo (Seeding)

17. Photo (Structure)

18. Prescribed Grazing Controlled Harvest of Vegetation with Grazing or Browsing Animals, Managed with the Intent to Achieve a Specified Objective.

19. Prescribed Grazing MUST MEET THE NEEDS OF THE 3 - L’s • Land (plants) • Livestock • Landowner

20. Needs of the Plant WHAT THE PLANT NEEDS W - Water A - Air (CO2) T - Temperature E - Energy (sunlight) R - Raw Materials (nutrients)

21. Managing the Green Leaf • Amount of Use • Time and Numbers • Frequency of Use • Time and Timing • Season of Use • Time

22. Needs of the Animal • Breeding Season • Calving, Lambing, Kidding season • Hunting Seasons • Water Requirements - Critical! • Supplemental Feed

23. No Grazing System Works Everywhere • Base a Grazing Prescription on: • Site Potential or Capability • Clear Objectives • Adaptive Management including • Flexibility • Adjustments based on weather • Use of Monitoring Information

24. “In fact as long as good management is practiced so there is control of livestock distribution and grazing intensity, the specific grazing system employed may not be significant” Warren Clary & Burt Webster

25. A Prescribed Grazing Plan Must Consciously Incorporate • Animal Behavior • Forage Selectivity • Plant Responses • Plant Community Change • Hydrology • Practicality

26. A Cow Does What She Does Because She IS A Cow !! A Cow Eats What She Eats Because She Is A Cow !! A Cow Does What She Does Because She Learned To Do It !! A Cow Eats What She Eats Because She Learned To Eat It !! Animal Behavior

27. Cartoon

28. Photo (herding livestock)

29. Photo (Cows)

30. Photo (Cows)

31. Photo (Branding)

32. Photo (cows at water)

33. Animal Behavior • “There can be no absolute characterization of behavior.” Provenza 1998 • Behavior of an Adult is Influenced by: • Where the animal was born and reared • Interactions with mother • Interactions with peers • Interactions with the physical environment

34. Experiences Lead to Preferences • Animals Prefer Foods and Locations Where They Were Reared • When Life is Good and Resources Abundant • Animals prefer a variety of familiar foods • Animals prefer familiar environments • When Life is Hard and Resources Scarce • Sample unfamiliar foods • Move to unfamiliar environments

35. Large Herbivores are “Central Place Foragers” • Water is Often the Principle Focus • Cattle often rest near water • Shelter from wind, sun, rain, etc. • Temperature & Humidity • Insects • Predators • Combinations Close or Accessible to Preferred Feeding Sites Ideal

36. Animal Behavior • Hierarchy of Foraging Behavior • Bite (selects plant species and part) • Feeding Station (front feet don’t move) • Patch (Cluster of feeding stations) • Feeding Site (Group of patches) • Camp (set of feeding sites with foci where animals drink, rest, and seek cover, often in social group) • Home Range (Collection of camps)

37. Experienced Animals Know • Pasture Boundaries • Routes of Access • Plant Communities • Seasonality of Desired Species • Location of Water

38. Landscape Influences on Animal Movement Patterns • Boundaries - Fences, home range, migration routes • Distribution of Plant Communities - Rangeland ecological sites, soils, aspect, elevation, structure, species • Accessibility - Slope, gullies, water bodies, shrub density, rockiness, roads • Distribution of Foci - Location of water, feed, and cover

39. Topography Influences Distribution of Animals • Percent slope and distance of slope are more important than either alone • Cattle will use steep slopes if given no choice; however gentle land will be used first, until animals get very hungry • Riparian areas - Food - Water - Cover

40. Vegetation Structure • To avoid flies, will select open uplands with wind • To avoid heat, will seek shade; however prefer open canopy to closed canopy • Seek shelter from cold wind • South slopes in cold nonwindy weather

41. Animal Kind, Class and Background Influences Behavior • Cows with Calves - less mobile • Yearlings or Dry Mature Cows - more mobile • Cows Experienced in a Pasture - have preferred locations • Inexperienced Animals - search for preferred locations with water a primary factor

42. Forage Selectivity Varies by Animal Species, Forage Palatability, and Preference • Palatability - Refers to nature of a plant species that elicits a selective response by the animal. • Preference - Behavior involving proportional choice of one species from among two or more.

43. Plant Stand Influences Feeding Site Selection Stuth 1991 • Moisture Holding Capacity of the Soil - Forage supply and stability • Species Composition - Suitability/stability of forage supply • Plant Frequency - Effects the chance of encounter of plant species and number of dietary decisions • Abundance - Supply of nutrients

44. Plant Stand Influences Feeding Site Selection Stuth 1991 • Structure - Affects access & harvest of plants and thermal niches • Continuity - Affects movement velocity • Size - Amount of search area available • Aspect - Affects thermal characteristics of the site • Orientation in Landscape - Location re. Needs foci - affects frequency of exposure to grazing

45. Palatability & Preference are Dynamic & Situation Specific • Palatability varies as a plant matures and in relation to moisture, due to chemical and structural changes in the plant. • The Preference status of a plant depends on its palatability and abundance, the array of species on offer, and the kind, class and background of the animal.

46. Annual Shifts in Selectivity • Shrub use is lowest when herbaceous vegetation is lush and very palatable. • Shrubs use increases when herbaceous vegetation becomes coarse, mature or short. • Shrub use may increase when frost causes sugar formation in leaves.

47. Variations in Weather • Differences in Production • Differences in Relative Production • Differences in Annual Shifts in Palatability and Nutrition, Preferences and Selectivity • Differences in Water Distribution • Differences in Animal’s Water Needs

48. Climate Conditions Influence Relative Use of Riparian Areas • In a wet year, cattle use uplands longer before shifting to riparian areas • In drought, the growing season is earlier and shorter; cattle move to riparian areas sooner and browse more • Cattle tend to avoid narrow valleys with cold air drainage in winter • Fall green up may attract livestock out of the bottoms

49. Distribution Pattern Begets Distribution Pattern • The memory of previous grazing experiences affects future grazing activities. • The land has memory too • Cattle travel creates trails of easy access • Grazed or browsed plants make fresh regrowth • Ungrazed forage becomes coarse • Leached, prickly and nonnutritious stubble decreases palatability next year

50. Home Range Reflects Preferences for Food or Location • Habitat use patterns are transferred from mother to offspring • Can change dramatically from routine riding and developing alternative habitat elements (water, feed, cover) • Inexperienced animals are less predictable but can be bonded to suitable home range if dispersed when turned in