Conditioned taste aversion: potential for reducing cattle loss to larkspur
Issue Date
1990-03-01Keywords
behavior modificationlithium
chlorides
forage conditioning
grazing trials
Delphinium barbeyi
heifers
diets
grazing behavior
cattle
Utah
feeding preferences
poisonous plants
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Lane, M. A., Ralphs, M. H., Olsen, J. D., Provenza, F. D., & Pfister, J. A. (1990). Conditioned taste aversion: potential for reducing cattle loss to larkspur. Journal of Range Management, 43(2), 127-131.Publisher
Society for Range ManagementJournal
Journal of Range ManagementDOI
10.2307/3899029Additional Links
https://rangelands.org/Abstract
Barbey larkspur (Delphinium barbeyi L. Huth) is a palatable poisonous plant that causes a large number of cattle deaths on mountain rangelands. The objective of the study was to determine whether or not cattle could be conditioned to avoid eating larkspur. Five heifers were conditioned to avoid eating larkspur by intraruminal infusion of lithium chloride whenever they consumed larkspur in a pen feeding trial. Five control heifers were likewise infused with distilled water. Following the conditioning, the heifers were taken to mountain rangeland in central Utah and observed in 1986 and 1987. The non-averted heifers consumed larkspur throughout the 1986 field trial, while the averted heifers generally consumed little larkspur. The aversion from the previous summer persisted as the averted heifers refused to eat larkspur in the first grazing trial in 1987. During the second grazing trial in 1987, the averted heifers were placed in a pasture with non-averted heifers to determine if social influences would affect learned aversions. A rapid breakdown of the aversions was observed and the averted heifers continued consuming larkspur after being separated from non-averted heifers.Type
textArticle
Language
enISSN
0022-409Xae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.2307/3899029