Cattle Use on Summer Foothill Rangelands in Northeastern Oregon

Abstract

The importance of several plant communities for summer cattle range was evaluated. Based on understory production, eight communities were separated into three groups, i.e., bunchgrass, forested, and clearcut forested. Forested communities that had been clearcut and seeded to forage were the most productive. Soil depth and canopy cover were dominant environmental factors determining understory production on the study area. These two variables accounted for 96% of the variability in understory production. Clearcut forested communities seeded to forage provided 63% of the forage consumed by cattle and made up 31% of the study area. Seeded grasses accounted for 55% of the cattle diet. Environmental factors highly correlated with utilization by cattle during the summer were distance to salt and water, soil depth, and canopy cover. Relations of soil depth and canopy cover were a result of their influence on plant growth. There appeared to be no direct forage competition between big game and cattle when livestock were present during the last half of summer.