Forages are the foundation for building diets for beef and dairy cattle, horses, sheep and goats. The quality of these forages directly impacts forage intake, animal performance, and, ultimately, the profitability to their owners. As the quality of forages decline, consumption of that forage decreases and the amount of grain or byproducts which must be fed increases. The cost for a unit of perf...

spp.) showed that forage DM intake was positively correlated with N fertilization rate. Fertilization may also Because native, shortgrass prairies are not typically fertilized and increase forage preference by livestock. Cook and Jeffotherwise extensively managed, little information is available on their response to nitrogen (N) fertilization. An experiment was conducted eries (1963) showed tha...

The forage m atu ra tion hypothesis (FM H ) proposes th a t ungulate m igration is driven by selection for high forage quality. Because quality declines w ith p lan t m atu ra tion , bu t intake declines a t low biom ass, ungulates are predicted to select for interm ediate forage biom ass to maximize energy intake by following phonological gradients during the growing season. W e tested the F M...

Heifer performance, diet composition, and forage composition were compared during rotational and continuous grazing of mixed pasture (alfalfa, tall fescue, orchardgrass). One hundred eighteen yearling heifers were used to compare the three grazing systems during 2 yr. Treatments included continuous (CONT), 6-paddock rotational (6-PADD), and 11-paddock rotational grazing (11-PADD). Rotational pa...

Alfalfa is one of the most important legume forage crops in the world. In spite of its agronomic and nutritive advantages, alfalfa has some limitations in the usage of pasture forage and hay supplement. High rapid degradation of protein in alfalfa poses a risk of rumen bloat to ruminants which could cause huge economic losses for farmers. Coupled with the relatively high lignin content, which i...

The increasing frequency and extent of wildfires in Alaska over the last half century has spurred increased interest in understanding the role of post-fire succession on vegetation establishment. Our primary goal was to examine how wildfire affects production and distribution of winter forage for moose (Alces alces) in interior Alaska, and how these changes in forage availability control forage...

Oxalic acid is synthesized by a wide range of plants. A few of them are forage plants that can cause oxalate poisoning in ruminants under certain conditions. In this paper, the role of some agronomic, climatic and genetic factors in minimizing oxalate accumulation in forage plants has been discussed. Research indicates that the content of oxalate in forage can be controlled by fertilizer applic...

Eighty-nine samples, 45 of standing forage and 44 of baled hay, were collected from alfalfa harvested at various maturities over three cuttings each during 2 yr. Alfalfa was cut and conditioned mechanically; samples of standing forage were collected by removing bunches of forage from windrows and freeze-drying them. Forage was allowed to field cure and was harvested at an average 80% DM as smal...