Issue Date
1968-07-01Keywords
forage ratingsGrass Seed Heads
wildlife management
Seasonal Preferences
Frequency of Use
forage ratings
food habits
availability
Welder Wildlife Refuge
forage preferences
winter
white-tailed deer
big game
deer
utilization
palatability
grass
livestock
cattle
forbs
frequency
Texas
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Drawe, D. L., & Box, T. W. (1968). Forage ratings for deer and cattle on the Welder Wildlife Refuge. Journal of Range Management, 21(4), 225-228.Publisher
Society for Range ManagementJournal
Journal of Range ManagementDOI
10.2307/3895819Additional Links
https://rangelands.org/Abstract
Forage preferences of white-tailed deer and cattle on the Welder Wildlife Refuge in South Texas were determined by relating availability, percent utilization, and percent frequency of use of each plant species utilized by deer or cattle. Overall forage ratings showed that though both animals were grazers, deer preferred forbs and cattle preferred grasses. Selection of forage by both deer and cattle varied with the seasonal availability and palatability of the forage. Seasonal forage ratings showed that few species of the many utilized made up 50% of the forage ratings for deer and cattle. On clay soils, deer utilized all browse species present, while cattle utilized little browse. Four perennial grasses made up most of the preferences of cattle. During the winter, grass and grass seed heads were highly utilized by deer. Forbs were the most important deer forage class on sandy soils. Grasses made up about 25% of the total preference rating of deer in fall and winter on the sand. Cattle utilized forbs more in spring and summer, but utilized grasses more in the fall and winter.Type
textArticle
Language
enISSN
0022-409Xae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.2307/3895819