Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-6342 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

 

 

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor

Phone: (307) 766-6342

E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu

Archived News Site www.uwyo.edu/agadmin/news/news.htm

 

Date: July 11, 2006

 

Research finds rangelands can become classrooms for livestock

            Viewing Wyoming rangeland vistas as classrooms and the livestock as students might seem unusual, but some University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service educators (UW CES) say it might be just plain, common sense.

            Livestock eat what they’re taught to eat – and even where they decide to munch.

            UW CES educators state it’s called Behavioral Education for Human, Animal, Vegetation, and Ecosystem management (BEHAVE)  and is developed from research within Utah State University’s Department of Forest, Range, and Wildlife Sciences in the College of Natural Resources.

            Assuming a cow is a cow is a cow is just not true, said Hudson Hill, CES educator in Lincoln, Sublette and Teton counties and a BEHAVE believer.

             “I’d like our people to see some of the hands-on stuff researchers are doing,” said Hill.

            For example, sheep are taught to drink grape Kool-Aid instead of orange Kool-Aid. That may seem trivial, but the idea animals can learn behavior not normally associated with them has interesting ramifications.

            “So much goes into what a cow eats and what they eat in different parts of the country,” Hill said. “You can buy a horse from Texas that will eat thistle. That was learned in Texas. It goes back to the beginning. Young animals eat what their mothers eat, and their mothers eat what they eat for several reasons: learning from their mothers and peers and feedback from their own trial-and-error experiences in a natural environment.” 

            It is a new way of thinking, he noted. “Animals are creatures of habit, and the problem we get into as humans is we think that can’t be changed. There are some really interesting implications into this thinking.”

            BEHAVE emphasizes learning and behavior, but it’s all tied together with classic animal and range science information, said Gene Gade, CES educator in Crook, Weston and Campbell counties. Gade has been on the BEHAVE advisory board and is the liaison for UW as a whole and especially extension.

            Animal science researchers have developed enormous knowledge about the nutritional requirements of domestic livestock, he said. But once an animal is put in a real-world situation, such as a botanically diverse rangeland pasture, many additional variables come into play.

            Ranchers may not be teaching grazing classes for their cows in pastures, but their “students” are still learning.

             “Obviously, genetics are important, but there is also learning that begins perhaps before animals are born and proceeds very quickly after birth,” said Gade. “We used to think animals were just instinctive. That’s not the case. They learn a great deal. They mostly start out by learning from their mothers and later from their peers and their own trial-and-error experiences.”

            Livestock must learn how to get enough nutrients but avoid toxins. They then pass that knowledge on to their peers and offspring. “That’s where BEHAVE is relevant – it gives insight into how animals learn and change behavior,” noted Gade, “but it also gets into how managers can manipulate that.”

            Producers can use animals to accomplish landscape objectives. A rancher near Lander wanted to avoid riparian damage and trained the animals to graze on hillsides rather than at the bottoms. The ranch now runs more cattle.

            “Are they able to train in a week?” asked Hill. “No, it took years and a lot of saddle hours and selecting of cows. But they doubled the number of cows on their ranch. There are huge implications financially. They can run more cattle on better pasture and are bringing back bigger calves with an implication on weed control.”

            Through proper training and the maintaining of good overall health, cattle can be trained to also eat undesirable plants, thus pressuring undesirable plant populations and relieving pressure on desirable plants.

            “There are examples where cattle have been taught to consume and not be bothered by noxious weeds that we always assumed they wouldn’t eat or that were terribly toxic,” said Gade.

              Grazing should be timed before weed seeds mature to avoid the spread of seeds by passage through the digestive system

            Spraying as part of weed management is a Band-Aid approach, Hill said. “This is a holistic look at how plants and animals interact and how to utilize that to meet objectives. It’s an Eastern way of thinking rather than Western thinking. How do we manage the whole to attain our objectives?”

            The behavior of some producers exposed to new techniques is the same one can see from animals exposed to new situations, noted Gade.

            “You get some willing to try new things and others who are skeptical,” he said. “If something has worked in the past and is continuing to work, there is not much incentive to change. You do find those who recognize the possibilities and need for change and are willing to try. If he or she is successful, they are a credible model for others. Change takes time, whether for animals or people.”

            Helping the bottom line is one benefit, but some also find the principles intriguing.

            “You find a lot more producers down on their hands and knees looking at their range much more closely and as a result become better managers,” said Gade. “Once they get to doing this stuff, they get fascinated with it.”

            On the Web: http://www.uwyo.edu/UWCES/Crook_main.asp

            http://www.uwyo.edu/UWces/Lincoln_main.asp

            http://www.behave.net/index.html

###