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Degree of Herbage Selection by Grazing Cattle¹

Department of Animal Husbandry, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

ABSTRACT

It is assumed generally that animals graze selectively. Some qualitative indications of selective grazing have been recorded in the literature, but there are available no quantitative data which demonstrate the extent to which it occurs.

In experiments reported in 1749, Hesselgren (4) offered hundreds of plant species, both singly and in mixtures, to sheep, cattle, goats, horses, and pigs. Goats and sheep were less, and swine were more, discriminating than the other species studied. No common factor explained the acceptance or refusal of a particular plant by livestock. Plants characterized as "aromatic" were not relished, and it was observed that sheep did not discriminate between poisonous and nonpoisonous plants.

Herbage characteristics associated with selective grazing. The selectivity exercised by grazing animals seems to be influenced by a number of factors associated with the character of plants and the nature of the animal. As a result of direct observation, several workers (2, 8, 15) suggested that the degree of selectivity is related to the amount of palatable herbage available.

¹ A portion of these data was presented by W. A. Hardison in a thesis to the Graduate School, Cornell University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree, 1952.

² Present address: Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, Blacksburg.

³ Present address: Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn.

⁴ Present address: University of Kentucky, Lexington.