Date of Award
2022
Publisher
North Dakota State University
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Awarded
Master of Science (MS)
Program
Range Science
Department
Range Science
College
Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources
Faculty Advisor
McGranahan, Devan
Description
Rangelands simultaneously support livestock production while maintaining ecosystem functionality. Patch-burning is a grazing management strategy with benefits for wildlife habitat and conservation. However, previous work pertaining to livestock has not examined potential benefits to livestock production. We assessed forage nutritive value, and cattle performance on patch-burning compared to continuous and rotational grazing. We also examined how prescribed fire alters forage mineral content through time since patch-burning. The recently burned patch had better forage nutritive value than patches with longer time since fire and no fire grazing methods, meeting the highest proportion of cow requirements. In 2017, a mild-drought year, cows performed better on patch-burned pastures. Without the mild-drought year, patch-burn cattle performance was similar to continuous, but better than rotational grazing. Mineral content varied seasonally, but was greater in recently burned patches than other patches. Our results indicate patch-burning can benefit livestock production while working to achieve rangeland conservation goals.
Recommended Citation
Wanchuk, Megan, "Patch-burning Improves Forage Nutritive Value and Livestock Performance over Rotational and Continuous Grazing Strategies" (2022). Range Science. 6.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/range-sci/6
Rights
NDSU policy 190.6.2
Rights Link
https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf
Handle Identifier
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/33397