Stocker cattle ownership is compared to contract grazing using stochastic simulation. Returns are evaluated for both cattle owners and caretakers in contract grazing agreements. For caretakers, contract grazing is significantly less risky than cattle ownership. For cattle owners, contracting reduces risk only slightly while significantly reducing expected returns. The authors are Assistant Exte...

BACKGROUND With world food demand expected to double by 2050, identifying farming systems that benefit both agricultural production and biodiversity is a fundamentally important challenge for the 21(st) century, but this has to be achieved in a sustainable way. Livestock grazing management directly influences both economic outputs and biodiversity on upland farms while contributing to potential...

Non point-source pollution of fresh waters by agricultural phosphorus (P) can accelerate eutrophication of surface waters and limit their use for drinking, recreation, and industry. An important pathway of agricultural P transport is surface runoff, to which unincorporated dung from grazing cattle can be a significant contributor. Computer models commonly used to identify agricultural areas wit...

The objective of this study was to test the combined effect of offstream water and trace mineral salt on cattle distribution in a riparian meadow and its adjacent uplands. From July 15 to August 26, 1996 and 1997, three treatments were each randomly assigned to one pasture in each of three blocks. Sixty cow/calf pairs were then randomly allotted to the grazed pastures. The treatments included 1...

In Wisconsin, the prevalence of dairy and livestock farming has led to questions about how animal agriculture affects the environment. As of 2003, managed grazing was practiced on 23 percent of Wisconsin dairy farms (Taylor and Foltz 2006). Many farmers who practice managed grazing (graziers) have observed environmental benefits resulting from this management system. What have scientific studie...

As a preliminary experiment to measuring milksolids (fat plus protein) production of dairy cattle grazing swards containing different levels of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) nine Jersey and nine Friesian cattle housed indoors during late lactation and fed diets containing either 20, 50 or 80% white clover with the balance perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). During the first 10 day meas...

Pasturing of livestock in forests has had profound consequences for Europe's landscapes. In Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF), cattle pasturing was a part of traditional forest use that ceased only in the second half of the twentieth century. We collected information on the institutional changes governing forest cattle pasturing and the changes in spatial extent of cattle presence in BPF in last...

Soil compaction is one of the main causes soil degradation, and some parameters have been used to characterize it, like those related compressibility degree compactness. To evaluate rotational grazing time during winter presence absence grazing, on compactness a Cambisol, an experiment was installed consisted corn planting for silage, fallow pasture period, with two treatments evaluating amount...

The nutrient quality of forage, particularly perennial warm-season grasses, is often lacking in trace mineral content to supply the requirements of most all classes of grazing cattle. Since forage is the most significant contributor to the trace mineral nutrition of grazing beef cattle, it is important to consider these deficits and how they may impact the performance of the cattle consuming th...

The American Bison (Bison bison Linnaeus) in the Henry Mountains are one of the last free-roaming, genetically pure herds of bison remaining in North America. Anecdotal evidence indicates that this herd is utilising a cattle winter range during the summer and fall, creating a conflict between the state agency that manages the bison, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and local ranchers. In...