The estimation of standing crop is important in the management of rangeland resources. Direct measurements by clipping, drying, and weighing of herbaceous vegetation are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, non-destructive methods for efficiently and accurately estimating standing crop are needed in rangeland forage management. We assessed a visual obstruction (VO) technique...
The objective of this study was to quantify understory vegetation response to overstory manipulation of Blue Mountain eco-region forest. Forty nine ecological land units, including differing successional stages (sapling, pole, small saw, and saw log) and canopy cover (light and medium) in dry Grand Fir (Abies grandis), wet Grand Fir,...
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of cow age on botanical composition of diets in mountain riparian areas. Treatments consisted of 30 first calf heifers, and 30 mature cows randomly assigned to four pastures (2 pastures/treatment, average 21.5 ha) in a two-year study with a cross...
The main objectives of this study were: (1) to assess the chemical content and the digestibility of Mongolian rangeland forages, (2) to determine in vivo intake of pasture forages from different zones of Mongolian rangelands by ruminants. The year round in vivo intake and digestibility of rangeland forages was determined...
The objective of this study was to quantify understory species diversity response to overstory manipulation of Blue Mountain eco-region forest. Forty nine ecological land units, including differing successional stages (sapling, pole, small saw, and saw log) and canopy cover (light and medium) in dry Grand Fir (Abies grandis), wet Grand...
Management and conservation of rangelands are increasingly concerned with maintaining productivity, species composition, and diversity of native plant communities. We estimated aboveground annual productivity, species composition, and diversity of a native bunchgrass type community across 1152, 0.5 m2 plots at The Nature Conservancy’s Zumwalt Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oregon. Standing...
High mountains pasture had a marginally higher degradability compared to forest steppe and steppe in Mongolia. Based on results of analysis of pastures taken all-year-round, we subjectively group the time into 4 periods, i.e. before April, May-June, July-September, After September. The time periods also corresponds to vegetative stage of pasture...
Vegetation and geographic region including forest steppe in Khangai Range, mountain steppe in Mongol Altai, desert steppe in the Great Lakes Depression, the Valley of the Lakes and Gobi Altai Mountains and Zuungar and Trans-Altai Gobi were covered by the scope of the investigation. 181 samples of 123 plant species...
This document provides information on the palatability of plants on Mongolian rangelands including native and introduced vascular plants by major seasonal periods: winter (January - March), spring (April- June), summer (July - September), and autumn (October - December). In addition to this, some species of valuable lichen species are also...
In spring time, animals, goats and sheep in particular, prefer to eat flowers Pulsatilla multifida, and Iris tenifolia. Pulsatilla's flower contains sugar 20.33, starch 6.71, cellulose 19.15, lignin 6.50, and acid detergent fibre (ADF) 24.88, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) 32.55, hemicellulose 7.67, and protein 14.27 percent. Dry matter digestibility (DMD),...
A study was conducted to determine foraging efficiency of cattle, mule deer, and elk in response to previous grazing by elk and cattle. Four enclosures, in previously logged mixed conifer (Abies grandis) rangelands were chosen, and within each enclosure, three 0.75 ha pastures were either: 1) ungrazed, 2) grazed by...
Four studies were conducted on late-summer diet quality and quantity of cattle (Bos taurus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus), and elk (Cervus elaphus) in response to prior grazing by cattle and elk on mixed-conifer rangelands and on related research techniques. In our first study we assessed a photographic technique to...
We assessed a photographic technique to estimate shrub yield and utilization of common snowberry, snowbrush, and heart-leafed willow found in mixed-conifer rangelands. We determined the correlation between green leaf area size (LA) and forage yield (Y) and compared plant utilization estimated by photographic technique (ULA) to actual utilization (UY) values....
We studied the effect of a lactic acid bacterial additive on the quality of silage made of grass-legume mixtures in the forest steppe zone of Mongolia. The use of lactic acid bacterial ferment positively influenced the diet digestion and the cows silage consumption. The cows ate well the silage treated...
Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), elk (Cervus elaphus), and cattle share rangelands throughout much of interior western North America. Considerable debate exists about the degree to which facilitation or competition occurs for forage between these three species (Nelson 1982, Wisdom and Thomas 1996, Miller 2002). Prior cattle grazing can have beneficial...
Desert, desert-steppe (Gobi) zone is the largest province by area (165,000 square kilometres) of Mongolia. The Gobi contains some 560 plant species, in 80 different vegetation associations (Swift, 1991). There are number of results of nutritive value of desert-steppe’s pasture grass. Mongolia’s dry climate means that pasture grasses have less...
Forage samples from fringed sagebrush+forbs+needlegrass (mountain steppe) and forbs+grasses (mountain meadow) communities in the forest steppe rangelands of Mongolia were collected in late February, April, May, June, July, August, September and October. Samples were analysed for chemical composition and digestibility.
The study indicated that OM content of mountain steppe pasture...
Forage samples from Stipa caphillata-Cleistogenes squarrosa communities from the Eastern Mongolian rangelands were analysed for chemical composition and digestibility. Samples were collected at 10-days intervals from 30th June to 10th September.
The study indicated that OM content of Stipa caphillata-Cleistogenes squarrosa communities ranged from 94.4 to 95.2%. The highest value...
The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in the quantity, quality, and moisture of available forage in a riparian pasture, and shrub utilization by cattle during a 30-d late summer grazing period. A riparian pasture (44.7 ha) in northeast of Oregon was grazed with 30 yearlings (419 kg,...
Due to the increasing cost and concern of catastrophic wildfires in the Western United States, there is an increasing interest in fuels reduction projects. Fuel reduction treatments utilize various methods of thinning and/or prescribed fire to obtain desirable forest stand conditions. However, the effects of fuels reduction on ecosystem function...