xV» 0F \c* t *'+. Division of Agricultural Sciences UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA °f ki*$ BEHAVIOR OF BEEF COWS ON A CALIFORNIA RANGE Kenneth A. Wagnon CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 799 Behavior of Beef Cows on a California Range This bulletin reports the results of one aspect of the extended studies of beef cattle production on the Cali- fornia annual-type range, carried out on the San Joaquin Experimental Range (see box below). The studies re- ported here concern some phases of animal behavior and were conducted to determine the impact of natural range conditions on the animals, and animal reactions to man- agerial factors. Animals were studied on lightly and closely grazed pastures, and in herds supplemented and unsupple- mented by daily rations. During the grazing period, cows on slightly grazed pas- tures spent an average of 45 per cent of their time feeding (from 37 per cent on abundant mature forage to 58 per cent on short new forage growth). Feeding took 41 per cent of the time of animals on closely grazed pastures (28 per cent on scant dry forage near the end of the period to 55 per cent on scant new forage) . During the dry-forage period supplemented cows fed 34 per cent of their time, unsupplemented 39 per cent. The figures for the winter months were 44 per cent for supplemented cows, 56 per cent for unsupplemented animals. Feeding took place at all hours of the day and night, with peak periods from daybreak up to 6 hours later, and from late afternoon until darkness or later. Most of the night feeding was done around midnight, the least from 2 A.M. to daybreak. During the grazing period, night feed- ing took about 25 per cent of the feeding time, longest on The San Joaquin Experimental Range, Madera County, on which the studies reported in this bulletin were conducted, is maintained by the Forest Service, USDA. They are part of the extensive cattle investigations that were carried on at the experimental range 1935-58. Emphasis was placed on the limitations of the natural forage and the management procedures necessary for efficient meat production consistent with maintenance of highest productivity of the vegetative cover. Hutchison and Kotok (1942) gave a detailed descrip- tion of the area, general outlines and organization of studies and reported on experimental progress 1935-40. Bentley and Talbot (1951) reported on the effects on environmental fac- tors, including livestock, on forage production 1935-48. Wagnon et al. (1959) reported the major cattle investiga- tions for the same period. new forage in March, shortest on mature forage in May. During the supplement period, cows spent about 32 per cent of their feeding at night, regardless of whether there was a moon or not. The cows spent about 18 per cent of their feeding time beneath canopies, 60 per cent on open slopes, and 22 per cent in swales. Mature cows (6 to 10 years of age) re- sponded better to supplemental feeding than heifers or aged cows in a mixed- age herd. Rumination was the second-most time consuming activity. It took about 32 per cent of the cows' time varying from 25 per cent, for cows in the closely grazed pasture, on new forage growth in short supply, to about 43 per cent, for cows in lightly grazed pasture, when the forage reached maturity and was in abundant supply. Resting took about 3 hours daily of the cows' time in the early season, 4 hours from April to the end of the season for the animals in lightly grazed pastures, 6 hours for those in closely grazed pastures. Supplemented and unsupplemented cows rested about 5% hours on the average during the dry-forage period. In the winter period unsupplemented animals rested 2% hours, supplemented animals less than 4 hours. Very little of the rest time was spent sleeping. Cows probably sleep only from 1 to 5 minutes at a time. Idling (loafing, licking self or other animals, fighting, playing with calf, paw- ing dirt, rubbing, scratching, waiting for supplement, milling about in heat, etc.) took 38 minutes, average, of the time of cows in lightly grazed pastures, 54 min- uter in closely grazed pastures, 37 min- ptes for supplemented cows, and 14 minutes for unsupplemented ones. Nursing activities occurred at all hours of day and night, but happened most often between 5 and 6 A.M., with other peaks after mid-day, about dusk, and around midnight. Calves in lightly grazed pastures and in herds receiving supple- ments averaged 44 minutes a day nurs- ing, in closely grazed pastures and un- supplemented animals 55 minutes. Over- all nursing time for all animals averaged 49 minutes a day, ranging from 16 to 115 minutes. Cows spent l 1 /^ to 1% hours running away from heel flies and fighting the flies in March, the most bothersome month. Heel flies were a nuisance be- tween February and April. Horn flies were less severe but were a nuisance over almost the entire season unless controlled by a spray. Cows spent an average of 3 minutes a day drinking water, if troughs were full and clean, otherwise longer, and an aver- age of 4 minutes licking salt. Salting was done during all daylight hours, none at night. Cows traveled great distances every day. Most important reason for traveling was feeding. During the grazing period, cows on lightly grazed pastures averaged 11,400 feet daily, on closely grazed pas- tures 9,400 feet. During the supplement period, supplemented animals traveled an average of 6,600 feet daily, unsupple- mented animals 8,300 feet. Up to one- fourth of the distance in search for food was traveled at night. Travel to water averaged 1,140 feet daily, from water 400 feet before the cows engaged in other activities; travel to salt averaged 580 feet daily, from salt 216 feet. Cows spent various amounts of travel searching for their calves, averaging 2,000 feet a day. Contents EXPERIMENTAL AREA 5 Procedure 5 FORAGE PRODUCTION 9 LAND TYPES AND VEGETATIVE COVER . 10 SEASONAL CHANGES IN CATTLE DIET . 11 Leached forage 12 Grasses 15 Filarees 16 Legumes 17 Rushes 17 Weeds, browse, etc 18 BEHAVIORAL STUDIES 18 Feeding 19 Pastures 2 and 3 19 Pastures 12 and 14 22 Nighttime feeding 23 Open slopes and swales 24 Under canopies 24 Browsing 29 Acorns 31 Supplemental feeding 31 Feeding periods 34 Rumination 34 Grazing period 34 Supplemental period 36 Chews per cud 37 Resting 38 Sleep 38 Idling 39 Cow-calf activities 40 Guarding 40 Nursing 42 Hunting calf 44 Fly disturbance 44 Heel flies 45 Horn flies 47 Watering 49 Salting 52 Travel 53 Defecations and urinations 55 LITERATURE CITED 57 BOTANICAL NAMES OF PLANTS MENTIONED 58 NOVEMBER, 1963 Kenneth A. Wagnon is Specialist in the The Author Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Cali- fornia, Davis. Kenneth A. Wagnon BEHAVIOR OF BEEF COWS ON A CALIFORNIA RANGE 1 ££■* EXPERIMENTAL AREA The 4,500 ACRE San Joaquin Experi- mental Range lies in the Sierra Nevada foothills, practically in the center of the state. It is located near the lower edge of the woodland-grass zone and covered with scattered trees and brush, some of them in dense clumps. The herbaceous cover consists of about 97 per cent annual plants. Some 87 per cent of the area is covered with a residual sandy-loam tex- tured soil of shallow depth, with numer- ous granitic outcrops. Around 12 per cent of the area consists of swales of darker-covered alluvial soils, and the rest is taken up by stream beds and placer diggings. Elevations range from 700 to 1,700 feet, most of it between 1,000 and 1,500 feet. Annual rainfall has varied from 12.25 to 32.09 inches with a long-time average, according to U.S. Weather Bureau records, of 17 to 18 inches. Snow is rare, and the monthly mean air tem- perature varies from a low of 43°F in December to a high of 80.8°F in July. Summer maximum temperatures have reached 115°F, winter minimum tem- peratures have dropped to 17°F. Rela- tive humidity is high during the winter but may drop as low as 5 per cent in the 1 Received for publication March 25, 1963. dry summertime (Talbot et ah, 1942, and Bentley and Talbot, 1951). Procedure To determine the extent of pasture area in open slope, beneath canopies of trees and brush, with swale-type forage and in rock outcrops, line transects were run in pastures 2, 3, 12 and 14 (figure 1) . In pastures 2, 3, and 14 ten lines were run across each pasture while in pasture 12 six lines were run lengthwise through the pasture. The lines in pastures 2 and 3 were spaced an equal distance apart; those in pastures 12 and 14 were ran- domly selected. Measurements were to the nearest tenth of a foot. Area in swale-type forage was deter- mined by transects across such forage growth and not by swale-type soils. Since only 13.72 inches of rain was received in the 1946-47 season, forage production was below average. Because of insuffi- cient soil moisture the type of forage growth in some swale areas was little different from that on the adjacent slopes. This is one reason why the area in swale, as determined by this survey, differs from previous studies (Talbot et al., 1942, and Bentley and Talbot, 1951). The area beneath canopies was deter- [5] mined by measuring the distance between extreme edges of the canopy along the line transect. An area with more than one species was credited to the dominant (taller) plant, but the extent of the lesser canopies and the area beneath dead woody material were also measured. Soil types, other than rock outcrops, beneath the above covers were not recorded. Data on seasonal variations in forage species grazed, and their chemical com- position, were collected from 1936 through 1939. This was accomplished by following several quiet cows per pasture while they were feeding, by observing the plants they grazed, and by attempt- ing to duplicate this grazing by hand from edges of grazed areas to get repre- sentative material for analysis. This pro- cedure was followed almost daily the first two years and at weekly intervals there- after. The collections were composited over two-week periods to constitute a sample. After each sample was air-dried, a broad ocular estimate was made of the general botanical composition and any old forage from the previous year's growth. This was followed by a chemical analysis. In later animal behavior studies only general notes on forage consumption were made. Thirty-three 24-hour observation pe- riods, with one cow at a time under con- tinuous surveillance, were made over a 12-month period which was divided into a grazing period and a supplement period (Wagnon et al., 1959) . During the graz- ing period (February 5, 1947, to July 1, 1947) all cows subsisted entirely on the native forage. An observation was made each week alternating between pasture 2 (230 acres) being grazed lightly and pasture 3 (155 acres) being grazed closely (see figure 1). Two observations were made in February, 1948, at the start of the next grazing period. Each pasture contained 15 cows, their calves which were weaned at the close of the period, and a bull which was removed May 1. While both pastures contained cows from supplemented and unsupple- mented breeding herds only cows from the former were observed. During the supplement period (July 1, 1947, to February 11, 1948) a breed- ing herd of 34 cows in pasture 12 (480 acres) received supplements daily at a feeding area to which the cows were called each morning. From the start until September 5, the daily feeding rate was 1 pound of 41 per cent protein cotton- seed pellets per cow. This feeding rate was then increased to l 1 /^ pounds of pel- lets per cow daily until September 22, when the daily rate was increased to 2 pounds. On October 11, following a rain of 0.85 inches, the daily ration was further increased by the addition of 1 pound of rolled barley per cow, and this was continued until the close of the pe- riod. Another herd of 45 cows in pasture 14 (560 acres) received no supplemental aid during this period. An attempt was made to maintain a moderate degree of utilization of these pastures. During the supplement period two observations were made monthly alternating between cows in the supplemented and unsupplemented herds. In addition, an observation was made of a cow being supplemented with poor-quality hay in pasture 11 (460 acres) in December, 1948, and of an- other cow in pasture 13 (740 acres) be- ing supplemented with a salt-cottonseed meal mixture in October, 1950. Cows observed were grade Herefords and all had calves at side except for the observation periods in July, August, Sep- tember and October. In the pastures where observations were made, two or more cows (not the nervous ones) were belled with lamb bells, fastened to the leather neck straps to make the bells more sensitive to the animal movements. All bells in one pasture were of different tone, to help us keep track of the cows during dark nights, night rumination, and when the cows were running through the brush from heel flies. Each 24-hour observation period was [6] H4> PASTURE NUMBERS \M WATER LI SALT [3 SUPPLEMENTING AREA [HP] HORSE PASTURE |NAl natural area I MILE _J Fig. 1. San Joaquin Experimental Range shelving location of experimental pastures, stock water, salt licks and supplemental feeding areas. Coivs ivere observed in pastures 2, 3. 12. and 14 at 33 periods during one year (February 1947 to February 1948). At each period one cow ivas observed for a 24-hour span. In addition, one cow was observed in pasture 11, December 1948; and another in pasture 13, October 1950. [7] conducted by the author who went out cult night period. The pasture was equipped to record the entire period. All entered shortly before the start of each unnecessary human activity was kept period in order to locate the cow to be away from the pasture during the obser- observed and to get the cattle accustomed vation period. All observations, except to the observer's presence. The animals the first, were started at 4:45 P.M., had been raised by the observer and were P.S.T.; the late start permitted better accustomed to his walking about their use of the observer's senses, before they pastures. The observations were made on became dulled by fatigue during the diffi- foot and when necessary it was possible TERMS USED IN THIS BULLETIN Feeding — the chore of harvesting natural feedstuffs such as the grazing of herbaceous forage plants, browzing woody vegetation, eating acorns, and lick- ing moss from beneath trees and chaff from harvester ant nests. Supplement feeding — the time spent eating supplements. Ruminating — the time spent chewing the cud ; the cow may be lying down, standing, nursing the calf, or walking. Nursing calf — the time spent suckling the calf; the cow may be standing quietly, ruminating, licking the calf, or actively feeding. Hunting calf — the activity of moving about the pasture in search of her calf, or standing bawling for it. Drinking water — the taking of water into the body, recorded to the nearest minute, from a water trough, stream, or pool. Not necessarily continuous drink- ing. The observer used his judgment to differentiate between the activities of drinking and idling about water. Licking salt — the partaking of salt from a lick. Not necessarily continuous licking. The observer used his judgment to differentiate between the time spent taking salt and idling about the lick. Fly disturbance — the amount of time fly activity prevented the cow from carrying on her normal activities or the number of times her activity indicated irritation from flies. Idling — the time spent at a multitude of activities such as loafing, licking self or another animal, fighting, playing with calf, pawing dirt, rubbing and scratch- ing, waiting for supplements, and milling about in heat. The latter was not frequent enough to be listed as a separate activity. Resting — the time the cow rested (lying down or standing) or was asleep. Does not include time while ruminating or nursing the calf. Travel — the movement about pasture, measured in feet, regardless of other activity. Travel while feeding is linear movement and does not include that side to side or while milling about. Darkness — the portion of the observation period in which the observer required artificial light to read the minute marks on his wrist watch. Swale — areas in the bottoms of many drainages, consisting of dark-colored al- luvial soils, but determined here by type of forage growth. Under canopies — areas directly beneath the canopies of brush and trees. Open slopes — productive soil not included in the other two land types. to practically follow at the cows' heels. However, great care was taken not to interfere with their activities. The cows, for the most part, appeared to ignore the presence of the observer. Care was taken not to observe nervous animals. Even so, there was a time or two when the cow seemed to try to elude the observer. At such instances the cow was observed from a greater distance. The behavior of the cows under observation were quite similar to other animals in the pasture. However, minor differences among cows were noted. For example, one did not appear overly concerned when separated from her calf for lengthy periods, whereas another was worried if her calf was not always nearby. Also, a time or two one old "boss" cow pawed the dirt and shook her head defiantly at the observer as if challenging his pres- ence. Thirteen different cows were observed. The number of observations per cow varied from 1 to 8. The cows varied in age, from 6 to 11 years, as well as in body size. In selecting the cow to be ob- served we tried to alternate animals in successive observations in the same pas- ture. However, it was once necessary to make two successive observations of the same cow when an alternate could not be found in time to start the observation period. Data were collected on the time spent at the following activities: grazing, browsing, utilization of three different land types, rumination, resting, idling, nursing calf, hunting calf, traveling, watering, salting, eating supplements, and being disturbed by heel flies. The time spent at these activities was recorded to the nearest minute in a running log book. A record was also kept of the num- ber of times the cow licked herself, rubbed or scratched, fought flies, defe- cated and urinated. Time for these latter activities was not recorded separately from the previously listed activities un- less she spent at least half a minute at the activity. The average number of chews per cud was determined by record- ing the number of chews per cud for from 17 to 50 boluses during each observation period. By using a tracing paper overlay on a topographical map we could record the movements of the animals about their pasture. Other pertinent data, such as major forage species being grazed, times of sun- rise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, start and end of darkness, weather, etc., were recorded as the observation pro- gressed. Z£Um FORAGE PRODUCTION Rainfall for the period of observa- tions was below average. Total received from July 1, 1946, to July 1, 1947 was 13.72 inches and that of the 1947-48 season, 14.50 inches. However, due to a poor distribution pattern (figure 2) only 6.99 inches was received over the 12- month period February, 1947 through January, 1948. Forage production for the 1947 season was a little below the 13-year average of about 1,600 pounds per acre (Bentley and Talbot, 1951). A further check on forage conditions each year were the weight changes of a group of heifers carried on the range without supplements for a 12-month period fol- lowing weaning about July 1. These data for the 1946-47 and 1947-48 seasons [9 H I O 3 Q 70 ° O OS g 600 z o S 500 w 400 80 -- 1946-47 1947-48 9 HEAD Air Temperature 9 HEAD TOTAL RAINFALL 13.72 J I I I I L_J I I I I I TOTAL RAINFALL 14.50" i l I I l l l l l I 6 » 7 8 9 l0 " l2 'l' 2 3456789 10 II 12,,! 2 3 4 5 6 { 7 1946 1947 1948 Fig. 2. Average growth curves for unsupplemented weaned heifers for the 12-month period following weaning with monthly rainfall totals and monthly mean temperatures. Rainfall was unusually low during observation period February 1947 to February 1948. show similar growth curves for the re- spective heifer groups in spite of differ- ences in climatic conditions. Average total weight gains were 222 and 258 pounds, respectively, as compared to a 258 pound average over a 12-year period ending with the 1947-48 season (Wag- non et al., 1959). The severity of the winter seasons were similar with average weight losses of 39 and 38 pounds, re- spectively, compared with an average 32 pound loss for the 12-year period. LAND TYPES AND &M** VEGETATIVE COVER The area of pastures 2, 3, 12, and 14 in open slopes, swale-type forage, be- neath canopies of various species of trees and shrubs, and in rock outcrops and dead woody material is given in table 1. While these pastures are near each other there are notable differences in their physical makeup. Pasture 2, the most productive on an acreage basis, contained the largest amount of open soils (75.94 per cent) and the least amounts under canopies (14.81 per cent) and in rock outcrops (9.73 per cent) . Pasture 14, the largest, contained the largest amount of area beneath canopies (30.00 per cent) and in rock outcrops (18.84 per cent) with the least area in open productive soils (55.49 per cent). Figures add up to slightly more than 100 per cent be- cause some areas under canopy are also rock outcrops. The entire station, except the north half of pasture 14, was burned by a range fire in 1929. Thus, the un- burned area contained a brush cover con- siderably older and more dense than the burned area. [10] Table 1. LAND TYPES AND VEGETATIVE COVER OF FOUR PASTURES Pasture #2 (230 acres) #3 (155 acres) #12 (480 acres) #14 (560 acres) Total (1425 acres) Per cent of total area Total productive soil Open slopes 89.90 71.19 4.75 12.01 1.95 9.73 0.37 14.81 4.73 3.30 2.34 0.00 3.23 0.21 0.50 0.23 0.11 0.G5 0.00 0.08 0.03 85.23 57.32 9.16 14.85 3.90 14.75 0.02 20.16 7.51 2.93 5.49 0.36 2.54 0.41 0.08 0.06 0.66 0.00 0.06 0.06 0.00 87.31 64.27 1.05 19.10 2.89 12.43 0.26 22.93 7.84 6.97 3.56 2.98 0.56 0.25 0.43 0.01 0.20 0.03 0.10 0.00 0.00 81.16 53.83 1.66 22.80 2.87 18.84 0.00 30.00 8.24 6.12 5.02 5.16 1.94 0.90 0.68 1.01 0.56 0.28 0.00 0.04 0.05 85.14 60.63 3.20 Grazable — under canopies Soil under dead wood 18.49 2.82 Total rock outcrops 14.71 Total creek beds 15 Total area under canopies Interior live oak 23.63 7.31 Blue oak 5.31 Digger pine 4.15 Whitebark ceanothus 2 85 Wedgeleaf ceanothus Manzanita 1.94 e 52 Red-berry 49 Buckeye 45 Bush lupine 38 Poison oak 13 Coffee-berry 04 Elderberry 04 Others* 02 * Grouping consists of buttonwillow, willow, penstemon and honeysuckle. SEASONAL CHANGES IN CATTLE DIET The annual-type forage of the station is composed of more than 225 different plant species, both native and introduced. However, more than half the forage crop is produced by two species each of grasses and broadleaf filarees. The various species have different (though similar) growth habits and fluctuate widely in abundance from year to year depending on climate, soil and grazing treatment. Germination of the new forage crop usually starts with the first rainfall of Vo inch or more in the fall. Germination rate is greatly influenced by the amount of rain received and soil temperatures. If the first rainfall is generous (about an inch) and the soil still warm, there is usually a vigorous germination of filarees and some weeds after 48 hours, with grasses and other plants following in an- other 24 hours. If the initial rainfall is below y% inch, first germination is usu- ally poor. Further germination and sub- sequent rate of new plant growth is affected by soil moisture, temperature and fertility. Because climatic conditions [in vary, no two forage crops are alike in growth, species composition, and total production (Talbot and Biswell, 1942; Bentley and Talbot, 1951 ; Wagnon et al., 1959). These fluctuations in the forage crop greatly influence the diets of the cattle as well as their grazing behavior. The main purpose of our sampling, over a four-year period, the various types of forage grazed by cattle, was to get information on the changing level of animal nutrition throughout the year. Before chemical analysis, a broad ocular estimate of the percentage of major types of forage comprising each sample was made. This estimate was conditioned by what we learned while collecting the sample and observing grazing animals. While these data do not detail the part each of the many existing species play in the animal diet they do show the im- portance of the major forage types. The samples are not indicative of the total amount of forage eaten daily. The data presented in figures 3 and 4 illustrate the continual change in the character of the forage constituting the cow's diet. These data, while crude, show the marked variation in diet that may occur between years, seasons and pas- tures grazed at different intensities. Figure 3 shows a year with below-aver- age rainfall (12.42 inches), but with the storms fairly well distributed over the rainy period; figure 4 presents a year of above-average rainfall (21.24 inches), but with the storms poorly distributed. In the first, the insufficient moisture re- sulted in a forage crop below average in yield and quite low in grazable legumes and grasslike plants; the second year shows an average yield of forage, with the legumes and grasslike plants well rep- resented. Leached Forage After the first adequate fall rain, and subsequent germination of a new forage crop, the feeding behavior of the cows changed markedly. Leaching of the dry forage rendered it less acceptable to the cattle while they eagerly sought new plant growth, even in cotyledon stage. Since at this early growth stage the young plants were quite short and more or less mixed with the dry forage, the cows had to consume considerable leached dry forage in order to get the new growth (figures 3 and 4) . Afterwards, through the winter and early spring, the amounts of green forage in the daily diet were directly related to amounts available since the cattle continued to seek it out favoring plants of greater height and abundance with the least admixture of leached dry forage. In favorable winters the percentage of new forage growth in the daily diet progressively increased while old weath- ered forage decreased correspondingly (figure 3). However, lack of sufficient rainfall, low temperatures, or both will often retard growth of the new forage so it is less available to cattle. This is illustrated in figure 4 where a couple of small rains in early October, while the soil was still warm, resulted in the mod- erate development of a new forage crop which furnished nearly half the daily diet from mid-October to mid-November. A prolonged drought then retarded growth of the new forage and its avail- ability to cattle. Consequently, the per- centage of dry forage in the diet in- creased until it was about 85 per cent in late December. An extremely wet period through the first 12 days of Jan- uary resulted in a marked rejuvenation of the new forage and caused a heavy drop in leached dry forage in the diet. In fact, the new forage growth became so attractive by the close of the stormy period, it was difficult to get supple- mented cows to leave it for their daily supplementation. The wet period was followed by a brief spell of the winter's lowest temperatures, resulting in a freezing back of the new forage growth so that again the old weathered forage increased to 30 to 60 [12] SJHJNI Nl TIVdNIVa t — r J L dW31 m NV3W y, 1310 AllVa NISlNVld 3DVH0J S3dAJL HOCVW 1N30 *J3d Ni3ioyd3andoiN3oy3d ■K. 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Such areas are mostly in the open, south slopes previously producing a good stand of filaree, and spots from which the old forage had been grazed off. This was the main reason the pasture 14 cows only spent 10.44 per cent of her feeding time under canopies. Droughty weather and frosty nights then markedly retarded forage growth, especially on exposed slopes. This forced the cows to the brushy north slope where, protected by the canopy, the more sparse new forage was making better growth. The largest, most continuous north slope area in pasture 12 did not contain as much canopy cover as some other areas in the pasture. During the December ob- servation period in pasture 14, the mini- mum temperature, as measured at head- quarter's weather station, dropped to 23°F and in the open areas the soil sur- face was frozen before 10:00 p.m. Con- sequently, the cow spent most of the morning feeding period beneath a con- tinuous canopy cover where there was no frost and the soil surface was not frozen. (At the observation period in pasture 12 the minimum temperature only dropped to 33°F.) The pasture 14 cows spent an average 44.42 per cent of their feeding time under canopies during December and January. The data on the amounts of daily feed- ing time the cows spent beneath the cano- pies of the various woody species are summarized in table 2. These data, if expressed in percentages, show that the cows spent an average 18.56 per cent of their total time feeding beneath canopies. About one-third (33.04 per cent) of this was spent beneath blue oaks and almost one-fourth (24.24 per cent) beneath in- terior live oaks. These two species of oaks also had the greatest percentage (among woody species) of the pasture areas be- neath their canopies. Next in importance were the two species of ceanothus (white- bark 13.03 per cent and wedgeleaf 12.85 per cent) which were also the two most common brush species in the pastures. Fifth in importance was buckeye at 7.1 per cent, with only 0.45 per cent of the pasture area beneath their canopies, whereas digger pine with their canopies covering 4.15 per cent of the pastures attracted the cows for only 5.32 per cent of their feeding beneath canopies. BROWSING The data on abundance of shrubs and trees (table 1) does not indicate the availability of each of the various woody species to the cattle for browsing since it was based on area beneath canopies. This is especially true of trees, such as blue oak, digger pine, buckeye, elder- berry and cottonwood, because most of their canopies were above the reach of the cows. However, many young blue oaks and digger pine, as well as older trees with low-hanging branches, could have been browsed had the cows been interested. The leaves of some species (blue oak, wedgeleaf ceanothus and man- zanita) were thick and leathery, others (live oak and red-berry) were stiff, hard, and with prickle-spines on the margins, except in new young growth. In addition, the type of growth of brush and trees often makes it difficult for cattle to browse them. The trees with succulent, easily browsed leaves (such as buckeye and elderberry) were less common, with canopies mostly above the reach of cattle and low-hanging branches kept browsed back. The most heavily browsed shrub was coffee-berry, and because of its scarcity and easily browsed growth, most bushes were severely eaten back. Since the annual range forage was nutritionally deficient in the mature dry state, and the new forage growth not abundant enough for cattle needs during the winter months, the amount of brows- ing is of interest. Gordon and Sampson (1939) studying the chemical compo- sition of the common range plants on this station found that the varying pro- [29 tein content of deciduous shrubs and trees (as a group) was highest of six plant groups studied. The browsing data, for each of the observation periods, are summarized in table 2 and figures 7 and 8. They show that browsing was of small consequence when green forage was abundant and of minor importance as a source of feed the remainder of the year. On the average only about 3.57 per cent of the total feeding time was spent browsing. The cows in pasture 2 did not browse until the April 27-28 observation period when the observed cow spent 8.3 per cent of her feeding time at this activity. After this observation period was underway it was discovered that the cow had devel- oped an affliction that interfered with her cud chewing and caused her to breathe with a sonorous sound when resting. At times, after regurgitating a cud she was apparently unable to swallow the remasti- cated feed even though she made as many as 105 chews per cud. Frequently, she would regurgitate a second or third cud while the first was still in her mouth. During several of her ruminating peri- ods she spit out small piles of cuds, some of which had not been rechewed. In the latter part of the observation period the cow apparently developed a perverted reeding habit. Apparently she deliber- ately sought the most coarse feedstuffs to alleviate her affliction, and went out of her way to graze the most coarse plants of the late-growing form of broadleaf filaree. In contrast to the browsing be- havior of other animals observed she was quite energetic in her browsing of blue oaks and sought out and rode down smaller elderberries so she could eat their leaves. At one time she took a blue oak branch about l 1 /^ inches in diameter into her mouth like a bit and tried to break it off by swinging back and forth (forefeet off the ground a time or two) with it. A veterinarian was unable to diagnose her ailment and she was re- moved from the study. If the April 27-28 observation data are discounted, the pasture 2 cows did not browse until the last two observation periods after the forage had matured and dried; and then only an average 3.2 per cent of their feeding time. In comparison, the pasture 3 cows did a slight amount of browsing in the green-forage period, mostly at the start and with less than 1 per cent of the feeding time per period, and then at the last three observation periods when they spent an average 8.2 per cent of the feeding time browsing. In all cases the cows did not exhibit much vigor in this activity, even at the last observation period in closely grazed pas- ture 3 when they browsed 13.9 per cent of their feeding time. In the single ob- servation periods, during the early droughty spring of 1948, the cows in pasture 3 spent 4.2 per cent of their time browsing, and the cows in pasture 2 spent 0.2 per cent of their time with this ac- tivity. During the supplement period the cows in pasture 12 spent an average 7.7 per cent of their feeding time browsing as compared with 3.8 per cent of the pasture 14 cows. This was surprising because one would expect that the lack of supple- ments with nutritively deficient herba- ceaus dry forage, and the greater avail- ability of woody species would be an incentive for more browsing in pasture 14. But little vigor was displayed at this activity and the general impression was that it was engaged in by the cows with most leisure. The pasture 12 cows spent an average 10.4 per cent of their feeding time browsing during the dry-forage period, when all cows were dry and the herbaceous forage abundant in both pas- tures, as compared to 4.9 per cent for the winter months. There was not much difference in browsing activities of the pasture 14 cows between the dry-forage and winter periods. These data show that the cows browsed least when the leaves of the woody spe- cies were most succulent, and most after [30 the leaves had become mature, harsh (for the most part) and more fibrous. At no time, excluding the April 27-28 ob- servation period, did the animals display any relish or vigor in their browsing activities. In fact, it appeared quite cer- tain that browse constituted a very minor item in total daily feed intake. However, it has been felt this small amount of green feed during the dry forage period did contribute some needed carotene. The data in table 2, expressed in hours spent browsing, indicate that interior live oak and blue oak were the most im- portant (29.57 and 27.99 per cent, re- spectively, of total browsing) species browsed. These two trees were also the most abundant woody species in the pas- tures. Red-berry, coffeeberry, wedgeleaf ceanothus and elderberry (13.27, 11.30, 7.36 and 4.73 per cent, respectively) were next in importance. It is interesting to note that the two species (interior live oak and red-berry) with the stiffest and prickliest leaves engaged the attention of the cows for 42.84 per cent of their browsing time. Digger pine and white- bark ceanothus, the third- and fourth- most abundant woody species, were not observed browsed by the animals. ACORNS Previous studies (Wagnon et al., 1942, and Wagnon, 1960) have shown that cattle develop a great craving for acorns and eat them in large quantities when available. Cattle hearing acorns dropping to the ground have been ob- served to stop grazing and go hunt for the nuts. Since some cattle like acorns better than cottonseed cake, it was diffi- cult in years of heavy mast to get some animals to respond to calls for supple- mentation. The December 18-19, 1948 observa- tion period was the only one in which acorns were available. A moderate crop of interior live oak acorns had been pro- duced that year. The cow was being sup- plemented daily with about 8 lb rain- damaged alfalfa hay. This cow spent 25.7 per cent of her total foraging time hunting for and eating live oak acorns. SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING In supplementing the various experi- mental groups the feeder, traveling by pickup, usually began with the groups nearer headquarters and moved progres- sively to the more distant pastures. Thus, the cows in pasture 12 heard the feeder calling in an adjacent pasture before he arrived in theirs. This was some advan- tage in pasture 12 because cows in one area of the pasture could hear the caller better from an adjacent pasture than from the feeding area within their own pasture. The feeder started his daily round about 8:00 A.M. Each of the pasture 12 cows under ob- servation moved to the feeding area for supplements. In five of the seven obser- vations the cow reached the feeding area well before the feeder went to work. On the average, the cows spent 79 minutes waiting at the troughs for the feed to be put out. Of this time 35 minutes was spent at rest, 28 minutes ruminating, 8 minutes idling, 7 minutes licking the empty feed troughs, and 1 minute taking salt. After the supplement had been put out, the cows spent an average of 10 minutes eating, followed by 16 minutes of licking feed fragments from the troughs and hunting feed that had been dropped on the ground. The cows ob- served were all mature (6 to 10 years old) and responded better to supple- mental feeding than in a herd where the animals vary in age from two-year-old replacement heifers to aged cows. With one exception (a cow leaving shortly after being fed supplements to look for her calf) , the cows usually moved to the nearby water supply after they had finished with supplements and remained in the general vicinity until after 3:00 p.m. In fact, they did not leave the area until they started the late-afternoon feed- ing period. [31 rorsi co cm ro (Nro(NM(Nro(Mro(NM aaoLSVd fN CO 'n (N •* (N TT CVI Tt CM Tf(N ^ CVI f N M M r- • i ! i ' i. 5 i ■ I 1 • i i •III 1 '!'! I! i ' ii I • i . 1 1 M" ' li 1 ...' "ill ill ! 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"# <* *f Tf *+ <* Tj< -t 8* e> O a ononon^^^onononon On ON O C> ON ON On H m M p«i ' ' ^ ^ ^ i— li— li— ',—,—. i~ _ F^ r-4 ^H i— 1 t-' irt N t-' M i-Too^ti-I'odicwfvo nh CO w 3* on irt ol 00 oC on*~ ec 4 4 'u -_■ CO © £• ^w 1T5 „ © (- 01 OJ eo CO 32- 3 06 . oj rj ^~ ^H a- 1 H N N « ^ *^ 4) en C s s S X £ £-t- t- co co co co c© © OnOnonOnOnOnOnOnOnOn ©7H Of0lftF HC0'!t0N'y0 -^CNl^^pHlNFHifvJpH^- On©OnMC0iA > 4> o z e js js v Q ^» ^ 6- fc Q C PS o^ 0^3 o to 73 COXaXCOOSXil lOMNIM»fnr5«lOIMN>0 US "3 t^ t^ OS O CO to CO t^ a CO X-+aCSCSXi— iCOOS O ^ O « -t< >o a a a a a a a CM O a a a a a 0^ X a a a a CM O CO "O a cr 00 a CI a X a DC DO a CI a «5 CI a cr 'O CI CI a DO >o a - cr O cr CI a 1 - to Cl 00 1 - a cr -r a CO a a 10 to a CO CO a CO 00 to OS 00 to CO a CO CO a Cl a CO 00 a a 01 us CO cr 8 CI CO OS CI CO cr cr CI a X 5C to a a DO a - ■«*i a -f to a CO CO -- CO a cr 10 X 'O cr CO cr cr X 'O CO fr- ee CO Cl co CO OS CO iO co 00 co CI 01 Cl Cl to a 1 - CO ■O OS co Cl OS CM CO a CI «5 CI a 'J2 CI a CO CO CI CI a X CO a CO CO cr cr cr a CO a a 10 a CO a a 'O a U! a CO a CO a § a a a a CO Cl a 'O a re X a s a CO CO 00 O -r OS CO 1^ lO r - 00 CO CO to a 00 CO "5 CO 00 00 or to lO "O CI 00 a to CO a CO CO CO »o CO X us to OS US CO «5 cr CO CO 1 - a CO CO X CO Tfl CO X cr cr CO t- CO >o X cr CO X CO 1 - a a OS OS c OS «5 CO CO 10 CO LO LO CO a OS CO a a a 01 lo a 00 a CO a CO a a a a a a US 00 a cr cr a X cr a M <0 cr CO a cr cr cr a CI CO CO cr CI LO cc CO OS co X CO LO CO CO CO Cl CO X Cl a X i- co 00 a Cl Cl cr a a -.c CO CO 00 CO •0 lo CO a a a a a 00 CO 01 CM a a a a a a a CO CO a Cl a a a cr cr a CO cr cr a cr cr cr X 1 - a cr cr a ^ CI CJ a CO cr a cr cr a 1 - cr X a cr a a cr cr 10 CO Cl a to 10 CO CO ~ CO CO a CO to 10 X tl Cl CO CO a OS Cl 00 CO DO Ol CO CX3 a CO a CO a CO Cl a Cl U5 X a cr cr a 10 X a cr 10 a a CI to CO cr X CO CI X CO 10 CO Cl CO x CO CO cr CO a CO Cl CO 00 CO LO a CO X a a a CO a CO 10 CO X 00 co OS OS 00 00 00 00 co 00 CO to a 00 «3 CO CO LO to 00 ^o 01 U3 a 00 cr •0 CO CO CO X 10 CO CO OS CO CO a OJ a "5 X OS a CO X to DO C) LO CO to Cl a CO OS CO CO a X X as CO Cl Cl OS a CO CO to CO to CO OS CO § "* 00 OS 01 00 ci O CO a 00 CO 00 to >- Cl OS 00 00 c< OS 10 OS a •0 CO CI cr 1- co X CO X CI g CI .0 a X CO s cr 10 8 CO Cl LO Cl CO LO CO a a a OS CO CO co^cot-hos'— ~ »o CO to T-H CO CO LO 1-1 CO O N N 1-1 n CO iv a> d: ?2 22 «« « IM n D) n J. . u t) W W W .^ .r< ._ ._ ,. k. k^ 0) 0) ^ 1^ ._• t * ^> -IJ . .• ." FEEDING PERIODS While feeding was observed at all hours of the day and night, there were two regular recognizable feeding periods that were recorded daily throughout the study (figure 9). The first of these be- gan about daylight and continued from about % hour to 6 hours into the morn- ing depending upon such factors as sea- son of year, supplemental feeding, and grazing intensity. The second feeding period started in late afternoon and con- tinued until darkness or later. During the grazing period this second feeding period usually ended at the onset of darkness. In the supplemental period, feeding usually continued into darkness and on one occasion extended past mid- night. Substantial feeding periods also oc- curred at other times of daylight and darkness. During daylight hours mid- morning feeding periods were common but not daily and usually of short dura- tion. However, a fairly regular feeding period was observed from around noon to mid-afternoon through the grazing period. This feeding period was prac- tically nonexistent in the supplement period except for the unsupplemented cows during the winter months. These animals spent practically all the day- light hours feeding. A nighttime feeding period, usually around midnight, occurred throughout the year except for the last six observa- tion periods in the grazing season. Dur- ing this latter time the largest feeding period lasted less than an hour, and dur- ing one night there was no night feeding. Cows fed less from 2 :00 A.M. to daylight than any other time in the 24-hour period throughout the year. A summation of the data concerning various aspects of feeding is presented in table 3. Rumination The second-most time consuming ac- tivity of the cows was cud chewing (fig- ures 5 and 6). On the average it com- prised about 32 per cent of their daily activity, with 64.3 per cent of the rumi- nation done at night. While the average period of continuous rumination was about 34 minutes, actual periods varied from 1 to 100 minutes. The cows did 80.2 per cent of their ruminating while lying down, 16.8 per cent standing at ease, 3.8 per cent while nursing their calves (based on only 26 periods in which cows had calves) and 0.2 per cent while walking slowly. GRAZING PERIOD Cows in pastures 2 and 3 differed little in the average amount of time spent rumi- nating daily, or in the percentage of time spent at this activity during day- light and darkness, while lying down, standing at ease, suckling the calf, and walking (table 4). However, there were differences between the pastures within the period due to changes in forage con- dition caused by variation in growth rate, sward composition and amounts available as affected by degree of stock- ing. At the start, with new forage growth in short supply and very succulent, the cow in each pasture spent about 6 hours ruminating. In pasture 2, ruminating time progressively increased with each successive observation period (except for the April 27-28 observation when the cow's ruminating function was im- paired) until the June 1-2 observation period. By this time the bulk of the for- age cover had matured, most of what was consumed was dry, and 10.22 hours were spent ruminating. Then came a marked drop, at the last observation period in the pasture, to 7.12 hours even though time spent feeding increased. Since with drying of the forage, the cows spent in- creasing amounts of their time regrazing favored forage areas, such as swales and beneath some canopies, their daily for- age intake was reduced. In pasture 3 ruminating time at the second observation period did not in- [34] Oil rt >> o OOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOr-iOOOOOOOOOOO O O »-i ^h v 00 «o 01 8 us t» on Ol oo us IQ eo co -v co CI CO ■ O CC. ~v t^ •*f CM «o i - ■•^ us CM co o 1—1 CN CN CN CM CI CI Ol CM CM CO CO CO "* CO ■* CO us US us T»i co CO CO •^ -* -* ,H eo CM CM eo eo CM CO s us oo US (M OO l~ eo a 01 CM r^- oo C I eo CO ^ CO CI US CM CO Ol Ol IQ us CN CM Ol o t~ CO 00 _ t>- ■"*" Tf co a a i - O o o o * -1 o o o © O o © """ ' o CM O CM CM o ~ ~ " ^ o CN o o ~ o o o o O o ~ O CO US GO o o US 00 (M co CO Ol US us oo CO Ol OO CO US CO CM 00 co CM a "5 "S o co eo oo cn 00 W O) h US a 00 00 =0 00 OS «o X a CO eo i~ oo US CM rp •* ^ us CO CO 00 t^ CO CO t- t^ t>. © US CO >o "JO CO CO CO CO CO t^ "S t~ ■* CO Tf »o us >o US us -*f us CC' Ol t-- CO oo CO CO 00 us CO o to 00 CO 90 o CO i— CO Ol o Ol © co 3 «o CO CO OO lO 00 CO s Ol CO lO CO © ■tl "5 CO CO Ol eo CM US co " ~ " O o o o o 1-1 o o CM Ol o o a '"' © '- ' © © CM eo US CO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO'0'0'0T3T31313'0OOOOOOOOOl3 © a tO r^ GO CO Ol CO to co l>- Ol to Ol GO t^ h- to i^ eo f CO to a Ol 8 CO — r— us ■^1 ^ H •> -f i^ 1—1 cr- Ol 1—1 oo © 09 Tt< US © ■* co -p rt< >o to tO us •o <* -CH •o to to 00 -r< co oo Tj< TJ1 Tf TT ^ 'O <* CO' eo t- tO US "* CO us © "* © a oo oo CO ■GO CO tO © CO y Ol to a 0^ to co CO Ol US © oo (M CM a"' to CO or s ■^ *^" cn UO to OS © us © CO oo Ol Ol eo CN eo (CO CO Ol eo co co ** co ■CO CN eo CO CO ^f CO CO CM CN © "^ © '""' © CM 1-1 1-1 Ol eo © C CO "O Ol Ol to 00 to 1- tO co a Ol -or. 01 © 00 so ■GO 00 1^ r^ O-l a r^ s *"! l " ■^ •^ *~t "* *~! l> us 00 ^ OS t^ a OS «3tO»N»»MN00O> NMNOONOOMNS10NN65NU}!0 M 0> COCNCOCNeOCNeOCNeO(MCOCNCOCMeOCNCO CM ■<*< CM CO CM cX* •r; »3 ° > to OCsiOOOOOOO^HO«-iOOOCsi>-i^HCCOCS|t-iOCSlO'-i bO a Wt3 03 3B8 ^(NM^lOMeOMMMWW'^IN'fHNOl^lOW'O'OMW® <§°« 3 S »■ 73 -2 1 * o NNM^KlM«NWM«HNN*NWHN!DS!0'.c s oooooooooooooooooooooooooo «< a bfl G a> # ^_++ ++ = -1— -1— -4— l|8 O 2 03 kOiOCOOCOOOO»Ot^COOOt^-COOO»COOOOJCSl— i Csl O <— ilOOOO'-iOOOt— 1<— I CO CN CO O O CSI 03 CO bfl OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO^HOOOOOOOO a i bfi H in o«3cooooooocot^oooooot~-.t^oooao»o.'-HC5MCOM0«rt E 3 r 3 S *0«M si »> 0-HlCt^»000(M»CCO»OOi'^00(M«30«OCO'*(MCO-^COl0050 e OHWW(N»(0(010tDXO)00(NNC ■p ec c- 1 > 05 CS .A CS » > 05 1 5 a B 5 »-: o a c p i-: PC CO cs a c 5 c 1 1 c CO > c 5z c a c a Cs 1 Cs Cs «. a c JS 1 CO c e» e 05 •- oc 1 cs rr X a p= a »r — 1 °^gC >s o a> * -a — "q, « 1373 a c fJ C 3 CJ O (5 B-s _ «u-« a cj= £ a • 2 a^ 2 & co «° bO — > r. ._ CO CJ rj ^ t,-l -rt 03 ^ « O^H»OiOOOOOO»C 0-O5r>-a>00©Ol o <» t~- »o a> N NNU)T|iiOM»U5N^MWMNCONMMNINN ® ^ ^ H • OOOOOOCOiMO'-hOOOOOOOOO^hOOOO— iOOO COS W^ 3 ^^ .^woOOCOOO^HrtOOOOO'-^O^HOOOOOOO'-HOO-H .,-iTt— l CO •'f CM 'f CM CM i-h •00O0)MTtlOONN01OOO»NNHNOOOOOOOOO<0 ■ CO DO (O M lO CO i-i CO 115 (N K3 CO 0 O i-H 55 CM -^ r-7 CONWOliONONOOOOO r^ N_ rttNN^^oOOOOOOO © © • O © -H -H © © ©' © © © O © © '• '. '. '. " © © CONCONMNWNMNMNCi5NMNM^NTl cS 3 Ph G 55 f J, e5 N I CO © t~- "? o o o o r^ b h h h l 2 ^ S3 JS 2S CD > >> ti bb seldom switched and there were no re- cordings of activity against these flies. At the June 10-11 observation period, 20 days after spraying, there was evi- dence that another horn-fly infestation was starting to build up. Thus, during the June 17-18 observation period the cows showed about the same number of disturbances as they had initially in April. On July 1 the cows were again sprayed, this time with five pounds of 50 per cent D.D.T. in 50 gallons of water. Behavior response was the same as at the previous spraying, but the return of the flies was much slower, and at the August 14--15 observation period, 45 days after the last spraying, only six fly disturbances were recorded. In the fol- lowing observation periods through late summer and fall recorded disturbances (maximum 57) were much less than in a the spring. On November 9—10 the cattle •o were sprayed with rotenone for ox- | warble control and D.D.T. was added to § the spray mixture. Horn-fly disturbance h again dropped to zero and no further ^. activity was recorded in observations -a made through February 23-24, 1948. | Watering The cattle in some pastures had to walk further to developed water, from some portions of their pastures, than others (figure 1). During the rainy season, ad- ditional sources of water became avail- able at wet weather springs, creeks, swale and ravine bottoms and in some depres- sions. However, because of the drought conditions prevailing during this studv. § «&§. additional stock water from such sources o JH _£2 3 was available for only a short period in late winter and early spring of the 1946- 47 season. The data summation shows seven ob- servation periods out of 35 in which the cow did not drink (table 7). In six of these the cows also did not take salt. The first instance occurred at the end of Feb- ruary, the next two the fore-half of March and involved a lactating cow in each of [49 p 'O Of) OS o o LO cr "5 o O! OS t^ t-» cr. ffl _ OO o CO — ~i J3 W -h ,-c CO U5 «5 Oi CM -^lO(M00tiC0COCOO3»O 115 CM Oi rHlflitNCO'*'*> -2 03 COCOO'HHCM-'HH'^COOOCOCOCOIO O P CO CO i-l CM CM i-irti-HCMlfSCMi-HCM CM CO ^H "* i-H ^fl CM tO00lOi«(»lO N W Cl CO o 115 115 t- CO i-H «5 -h M «5 CO CO H CO M HMHiHIONHIN CM COi-H U5 l-H rH rH H/HNTfN'H/lfllN S o Sh ph t^ -o t^ -as cm 05O 115 -CO -IO -HHH -C73CO a CD CO rH a a 00 •« -00 »0 CO CO 3 H ■f -HH CM CS> i—i OS CM t^ rH CM ^h CM ^h t-- l-H M3C W5C &OC s o o> o o OO00O00OOOOC0C002O CO t« i* CD O0 i—i CO OS CT3 CO ^»< CO 115 o ■—I i—i i—i i—i i—l CO CO CO CM CM £ -* 3 l^OOCMOOt>.0-*0000 o o o o ooooooooosoot^i-Hoso o t^ os co r— CO CO i-H 115 CO CM H CM Fl 0»OOC0050t^CMt^OiOCDOi t^OOOOC32050^HOC35COC3iO ** OCO CM O0 CM — H O0 Oi •"CM CO ct> hhh CM CM Oi U5hHH i— i i— i i—i 115CD CO < rt - »o O 00 CO o H COCOCOCMlOi— lOOOi— iCOCOCSOO CO >o C5 05 N M CS ifl CO W » CO CO CO co i— i CO 115 CO CO CO CO CO CM ^h O i-h OS CO N -HH050 IC5CMCOC75 CO N CO l-H CO l-H l-H l-H ,— 1 CO IC -h H H,H bC unnin from heel fly rt< t- ^H o o o o O CO CM CO CM CM CN lO O i-i CO CM -> -HH I— oi in a M^^MOtO^OiONMN i/5 00 O OS iHW*N^HO>00»M^1(O! HH t- CO r-H CO !BtOOinWMNl«l(3N1 , 00N N£NCOHicOINCNN(NCDh.O-h CO P 1— 1 1—1 115 00 CO CDt^i-H CO aN05Cq^iHNT«SN(NCOO Ol O OS CD COhhcDNNCOICJHI^hioicd i—CO»0005COCOUO>000"*iOCD CM >0 O t^ l^-HTHHCMcocOCOCD^fcooOCM'-H CM CT> CO H5 CM HO>N«iH/(oooNno>oeo l-H l-H l-H t^ OOM0ONld«NaNHi M (NN H ■H CO CO CM CM (OOOHOOOOlffllOOlOfflH/OO CO OO CO t -cHil5t^Ot~05C©or^.OcOcOO CC c X c J e Is « CN c g c- c ■- a < CO X - c < c CN < o 'Z i e < J p > > cc CN i - e a c = a c CN CN a c 5 >- CN oc CN < bi < OC a. tX cr OC '1 1 c C c c- > c y c CN > c cr c. a c o C P e o C 1- ■£ CN rC a ft OC >- i ■A t c 2| •D o — -5 0) £ ft o3 a i3 3 a> o C i C q; C 03 S, ' 3 = S-, 03 -^ 3 " . * 3 o 2 > ft^5 >>g ° S>£ig.Si3££ S n^ T3 -4J "rt ; '-3 h u o)S B - -0) O S 2 « 8"3."S.a fi - s '^'"c.S'S.S" '^ 8 ; 1-f jig *!§ g the pastures 2 and 3. The next two were unsupplemented cows in pasture 14 with one, a dry cow, in August and the other a lactating cow with a young calf. The sixth was the only supplemented cow ob- served in pasture 12, and occurred in January. This cow became separated from her calf when she went to the feed- ing area. After eating her supplements she immediately left to search for her calf and did not return for water. The last case involved a cow being self-fed a mix- ture of 35 per cent salt and 65 per cent cottonseed meal. The cow was in late pregnancy when the observation period was conducted (October 15-16, 1950) with the cow leaving the self-feeder area at the start of the period. The water source was close-by and the animal's sides were markedly distended by the fetus and a heavy load of water she was carrying. While most cows returned to the self-feeder the next morning, this cow and two or three others did not and were actually still grazing away from water at the close of the 24-hour period. It is doubtful that they went to water until the following day. In late winter and early spring the cows mostly utilized wet-weather water sources they encountered nearby in their grazing. As these dried up the cows were forced to utilize established watering sites. In this study only two cows drank at night — from undeveloped sources near where they were feeding. Otherwise, the cows started drinking about 6 A.M., and most often took water in the afternoon. Variations in the number of times the cows watered per period varied from to 4 with an average of 1.5 times. The average amount of time spent drinking. per visit to water, was 2 minutes with a total of 3 minutes per observation period. While, in general, the amount of time spent drinking was short, cows spent more time at it (from 5 to 6 minutes I when the trough was nearly emptv. the water muddy, or the puddle quite shallow so that drinking was slowed. [51 In 20 of the 48 recorded visits to a water source the cow left the vicinity of the water immediately after drinking. At one occasion the cow, after drinking, stood by the water for 11 minutes nurs- ing her calf and at another time the cow idled for about 2 minutes and then spent 13 minutes standing at rest. In most of the remainder of visits to water the cow idled briefly (maximum 4 minutes) be- fore moving away. While boss cows have been observed keeping others away from water for brief periods, this was not a factor in this study. Water consumption was not measured. Salting Each pasture contained a salt lick. Those in pastures 2 and 3 contained plain salt blocks until May 19, 1947 when the blocks were replaced with plain coarse ground salt. The pasture 3 cows did not use their lick after the April 20- 21 observation and only one pasture 2 cow studied visited the lick after coarse ground salt became available. The pas- tures 12 and 14 licks contained plain coarse ground salt as they were the only ones roofed. Salt consumption for the pastures 2 and 3 cattle was 0.90 and 0.80 ounces, respectively, per animal unit daily, whereas similar data for the pas- tures 12 and 14 cattle were 2.15 and 0.90 ounces, respectively, per animal unit daily. Previous study (Wagnon et at., 1942) and observations showed that conveni- ence of the lick in regard to movement of the cattle about their pasture greatly influenced salt consumption. The licks in pastures 2 and 3 were placed in locations previous study had shown to be quite convenient for the cattle. Distance of lick from nearest developed water was about 1,080 feet in pasture 2 and 135 feet in pasture 3. The lick in pasture 12 was placed about 40 feet from the supplement feeding troughs and since the cattle were called to the area daily for feeding, its location was very convenient for them. Distance to the nearest developed water was about 700 feet. In pasture 14, while located fairly convenient to cattle move- ment, the lick was not as convenient as in the other pastures. Because of topog- raphy more than one lick would have been necessary. Distance to nearest de- veloped water was about 1,035 feet. The cows took salt during six of the nine observation periods in pasture 2; four of the ten in pasture 3; five of the seven in pasture 12 ; and only one out of seven in pasture 14. Thus, the cows under observation only took salt during 16 of these 33 observation periods. During the 16 observation periods, when the licks were used, a total of 60 visits were re- corded, with the number per period vary- ing from 1 to 17. The time spent taking salt likewise varied from 1 (actually less than 1 minute) to 37 minutes, with an average of 4 minutes. The maximum amount of time spent on this activity, during one observation period, was 66 minutes. While the cows utilized the salt licks at practically all daylight hours none visited them during darkness. Thirty-one of the 60 recorded visits to the licks were made by the same cow in pasture 3 during two observation periods (March 23-24 and April 20-21) . During the first, the cow made two visits (3 and 5 minutes long, separated by a 25-minute grazing period) to the lick, starting at 5:42 P.M. She did not water until 10:21 P.M. when she drank from a small puddle near where she was grazing at the time. At 5 :57 a.m. she returned to the lick and during the next 50 minutes made alto- gether eight visits to the lick, varying from 1 to 5 minutes each, each separated by a 2- to 16-minute grazing period in an adjacent swale where the forage was heavily laden with dew. Even though water was close she did not drink again until 1:03 p.m. — 66 minutes after an- other 3-minute visit to the lick. Following this she made six more visits, varying from 1 to 2 minutes during the re- mainder of the observation period with- [52] out going to water. During the April 20- 21 observation period the cow moved to the lick at 5:07 P.M. and during the fol- lowing 44 minutes made 10 visits to the lick, lasting from 1 to 4 minutes. These were separated by grazing periods vary- ing from 1 to 6 minutes. At this time there was no dew on the grass and she did not go to water that evening or night. The following morning this cow walked past water to the lick again at 5:55 A.M. and licked salt continuously for 36 min- utes. She then grazed slowly toward water where she arrived 18 minutes after leaving the lick. She again moved to the salt lick at 12:14 p.m. and, after chasing away two replacement heifers, licked salt for 4 minutes after which she idled, grazed and walked for 6 minutes before reaching water to drink again. This pro- cedure was more or less repeated when she again walked to the lick at 4:02 P.M. and chased another heifer away and then licked salt for 2 minutes. After idling and grazing for 3 minutes she returned to the lick to take salt for 6 minutes. This was followed by 6 minutes of grazing and walking to water again. In only two instances the cow went directly to water after taking salt. Both times it was the only visit to the salt lick during the observation period; the first time the cow licked salt for 2 minutes, the second for 37 minutes. At one obser- vation period the cow visited the lick for 2 minutes, shortly after the start of the period, and did not water during the period. However, since she was grazing away from water at the start of the ob- servation period she probably had watered shortly before. Other activities following the taking of salt were licking empty feed troughs 10 times, idling five times, ruminating two times, and walk- ing hunting for calf once. The amounts of salt taken each visit were not meas- ured. In only eight of the 60 visits to the salt licks did the cows idle about the lick after taking salt. These periods of idling were brief, the longest being only 3 minutes. Bossism about the lick was a factor; on eight occasions the cows under observa- tion chased others away so they could use the lick, and six times the cows under observation were chased away from the lick by others. In one of these the cow left the area; in another she grazed nearby for 7 minutes until the boss cow left; and in the other four times the cows waited near the lick. Three of the latter involved a cow during one observation period; she spent a total of 51 minutes (45 minutes the last time) waiting for the boss animal to leave. In addition, this same cow at two other visits to the lick had to wait 13 and 7 minutes, respec- tively, for an idling boss cow to leave the lick. Thus, during this observation period the cow spent a total of 71 minutes wait- ing near the lick so that she could spend a total of 34 minutes licking salt. The time waiting was spent ruminating, rest- ing, nursing calf and idling. Travel The total average distance traveled per day varied between pastures with little relation to their size. This was expected, to some extent, because of variation in treatments between pastures. However, within the grazing and supplement peri- ods total distance traveled daily was greater for the larger pasture. It has been previously shown that some year-around activities, such as watering and salting, did not occur at all observation periods, whereas activities like supplemental feed- ing, running from heel flies, and hunting for calf were seasonal. Summation of travel data are based on the number of observation periods in which these activi- ties were recorded rather than for all periods in which observations were made (table 7). These data show that the cows in lightly grazed pasture 2 traveled the greatest total average distance of 16,512 feet daily, with 14,611 feet for the cows in closely grazed pasture 3, 13,569 feet [53 for the unsupplemented cows in pasture 14, and 12,543 feet for the supplemented cows in pasture 12. Feeding was responsible for the great- est amount of travel daily. The data given is that recorded during actual feed- ing and does not include the distance traveled between spots or areas where feeding occurred. The greatest average distance traveled daily while feeding, oc- curred early (February and March) in the grazing period when the new forage growth was still in short supply. At this time average results were similar for the cows in pastures 2 and 3 with 12,997 feet (3,330 feet of this at night) for pasture 2, and 12,573 feet (3,352 feet of this at night) for the cows in pasture 3. During the midportion (April until late May) of the grazing period, when the forage grew rapidly to maturity and became mostly dry, there was a reduction in daily feed- ing travel. This reduction was small for the cows in pasture 2 which averaged 10,363 feet (1,763 feet of this at night) and more marked in pasture 3 — 9,123 feet (2,378 feet of it at night). During the remainder of the grazing period (late May through June), when most of the forage was dry, there was further reduc- tion in average daily feeding travel. Again the decrease was small in pasture 2—9,700 feet ( 1,254 feet of this at night) and greater in pasture 3 — 5,448 feet (only 342 feet of this at night). These latter results are the lowest obtained for any period and are in accord with the marked reduction in feeding activity of the pasture 3 cows at this time. For the entire grazing period, the pasture 2 cows traveled an average 11,386 feet daily while feeding as compared to 9,401 feet for the pasture 3 cows. In the supplement period the supple- mented cows in pasture 12 averaged 6,647 feet of feeding travel daily as com- pared to 8,290 feet for the unsupple- mented cows in pasture 14. During the dry forage portion of this period (July through October) average daily travel while feeding was similar in the two pastures— 6,239 feet (2,224 feet of this at night) for the pasture 12 cows and 6,702 feet (1,856 feet of this at night) for the cows in pasture 14. In the winter portion of the period (November through January) the supplemented cows in- creased their average daily travel only slightly to 7,191 feet (4,451 feet of this at night) whereas the unsupplemented cows showed a marked increase to 10,408 feet (2,494 feet of this at night) . It is to be noted that in this winter period the supplemented cows did 61.9 per cent of their feeding travel at night, compared with 23.9 per cent for the unsupple- mented cows, which is in close accord with their average feeding time for this period. The location of water sources were more convenient for the cows in pastures 3 and 12 than those in pastures 2 and 14. The greater convenience in pasture 12 re- sulted from locating the troughs for sup- plemental feeding about 700 feet from a water source. Thus, during the grazing period the pasture 3 cows traveled an average 556 feet to water and 295 feet away, before engaging in other activi- ties, as compared to 1,336 feet to and 91 feet away from water for the pasture 2 cows. In the supplement period the pas- ture 12 cows traveled an average 677 feet to water and 129 feet away as compared to 2,432 feet and 1,445 feet, respectively, for the pasture 14 cows which were not called to a central location daily. Since there were instances when cows grazed all the way to and away from water there were marked extremes in travel con- nected with watering. The greatest dis- tances traveled to and away from water occurred during the same observation period in pasture 14 at the close of the dry forage season. At this occasion the cow walked 5,970 feet to water and then 4,478 feet away returning toward the area she had previously left. The average of all data shows that the cows traveled 1,140 feet to water and 407 feet away [54] before they engaged in another activity. Travel data relating to salting was more fragmentary than those of water- ing. The pasture 3 cows walked an aver- age 1,339 feet to salt and 123 feet away as compared to 493 feet and 312 feet respectively for the pasture 2 cows. Dur- ing the supplement period, salting was recorded at only one observation period in pasture 14 and in this case the cow walked 100 feet to salt and 239 feet away. In pasture 12 the cows traveled an aver- age 163 feet to salt and 171 feet away. The greatest distances traveled to and away from salt both occurred at the same observation period in pasture 2 when the cow walked 1,671 feet to salt and 1,233 feet away. Averages for all data show that the cows walked 577 feet to salt and 216 feet away. Searching for calf resulted in consid- erable travel at times. For instance, in 160-acre pasture 3 a cow traveled a total 4,387 feet during one observation period. Maximum distance traveled in this ac- tivity, in one observation period, was 6,368 feet with an average of 1,916 feet. From the first observation made in late February until the one April 1, heel -fly activity resulted in considerable running of the cows at times. During the first ob- servation the cow ran a total distance of 270 feet and then increasing to a maxi- mum of 4,037 feet in mid-March. There- after fly activity decreased. There were other activities that re- sulted in considerable travel, such as travel between areas where feeding oc- curred, to and from "bedding" areas, congregating with other animals, etc. Movement associated with these activi- ties has been grouped under "other travel." For the grazing period this amounted to an average 2,574 feet daily (14.7 per cent at night) for pasture 2 as compared to 3,073 feet (24.2 per cent at night) for the pasture 3 cows. Early in this period, when forage growth was slow, pasture 2 cows showed an average 3,208 feet daily as compared to 2,781 feet for the pasture 3 cows. During the mid-portion of the period, while the for- age grew rapidly and matured, there was a slight decrease in pasture 2 to an average 3,002 feet daily while pasture 3 increased to 3,506 feet. In the latter portion of the period, when the forage was mostly dry, this type of daily travel dropped markedly to an average 665 feet in pasture 2 with only a small decrease in pasture 3 to 3,028 feet. In the supplement period, "other travel" was greatest in pasture 14, with an average of 2,447 feet (26.9 per cent at night) daily, as compared with 1,370 feet (44.8 per cent at night) for the pas- ture 12 cows. Marked differences in this travel occurred during the dry-forage portion of the period, when the cows were also dry, with an average 652 feet daily (17.5 per cent at night) for the pasture 12 cows, as compared to 2,239 feet (23.5 per cent at night) for those in pasture 14. In the winter period average daily travel for pasture 12 cows was 2,328 feet (55 per cent at night) as compared with 2,726 feet (30.7 per cent at night) for those in pasture 14. Defecations and Urinations Each defacation and urination was re- corded as they occurred, but amounts voided were not measured. It was noted that variations did occur. Johnstone-Wal- lace and Kennedy (1944), in their study with beef cows on a Kentucky blue grass and wild white clover pasture, found that the animals defecated and urinated about 12 and 9 times daily, respectively. The total droppings per 24-hour period amounted to about 46 pounds of manure that covered about eight square feet. In this study, there were marked sea- sonal variations, as well as evidence of influence from degree of grazing, on the number of defecations daily. Thus, we find an average 12.1 defecations per 21- hour period in lightly grazed pasture 2 as compared to 9.2 for the closely grazed pasture 3. The defecations of the pasture T55 ] 2 cows varied from 18 to 11 daily on green forage and dropped to 8 on dry forage at the close of the grazing period. Similar, but lower, variations occurred in pasture 3 with 13 to 9 defecations daily on green forage and dropped to 4 on dry forage at the close of the period. It was interesting to note that the pasture 2 cow when suffering from a malfunction of her ruminating mechanism and spit- ting out a large number of regurgitated boluses, only defecated 7 times during the observation period, whereas figures for the periods before and after were 16 and 13, respectively. There were no differences between the supplemental cows in pasture 12 and the unsupplemented cows in pasture 14 with average daily defecations of 10.4 and 10.3, respectively. However, there were slight differences between the dry cows on dry forage and lactating cows in the winter period with daily averages of 10 and 11 defecations, respectively. Variations in the number of urinations per each 24-hour period were similar to those for defecations. For the grazing period, the pasture 2 cows averaged 8.4 urinations daily as compared to 6.6 uri- nations for pasture 3. While the forage was green the pasture 2 cows varied from 13 to 8 urinations daily as compared to 11 to 5 for those in pasture 3. On dry forage, at the close of the period, it was about twice daily for the cows of both pastures. In the supplement period, the average number of urinations daily was slightly higher for the pasture 14 cows at 4.6 as compared to 4.0 for the pasture 12 cows. Averages for dry cows on dry forage were lower at 3.5 and 3.0 urinations daily for the pastures 14 and 12 cows, respec- tively, as compared to 6.0 and 5.3, re- spectively for lactating cows during the winter period. 56] !££■* LITERATURE CITED Balch, C. C. 1955. Sleep in ruminants. Nature 175 (4465) :940-41. Bentley, J. R., and M. W. Talbot 1951. Efficient use of annual plants on cattle ranges in the California foothills. U.S. Dept. Agr. Cir. 870:1-51. Cory, V. L. 1927. Activities of livestock on the range. Texas Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 367:1-47. Gordon, Aaron, and Arthur W. Sampson 1939. Composition of common California foothill plants as a factor in range management. Cali- fornia Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 627:1-95. Howell, John Thomas 1947. Further studies of broad-leaf erodium. Leaflets of Western Botany 5:67-68. Hutchison, C. B., and E. I. Kotok 1942. The San Joaquin Experimental Range. California Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 663:1-145. Johnstone-Wallace, D. B., and Keith Kennedy 1944. Grazing management practices and their relationship to the behavior and grazing habits of cattle. J. Agr. Sci. 34(4) :190-97. Peterson, R. A., and E. J. Woolfolk 1955. Behavior of Hereford cows and calves on short grass range. J. Range Mgmt. 8(2) :51— 57. Talbot, M. W., and H. H. Biswell 1942. The forage crop and its management. Pp. 13-49 in: Hutchison and Kotok, 1942. Talbot, M. W., H. H. Biswell and A. L. Hormay 1939. Fluctuations in the annual vegetation of California. Ecology 20:394-402. Talbot, M. W., J. W. Nelson and R. E. Storie 1942. The experimental area. Pp. 7-12 in: Hutchison and Kotok, 1942. Wagnon, Kenneth A. 1960. Cattle feeding trials with acorns and oak leaves. California Agr. 14(11) : 10-12. Wagnon, Kenneth A., and Harold H. Biswell 1943. Two types of broad-leaf erodium. Madrono 7:118-25. Wagnon, K. A., H. R. Guilbert and G. H. Hart 1942. Experimental herd management. Pp. 50-82 in : Hutchison and Kotok, 1942. Wagnon, K. A., H. R. Guilbert and G. H. Hart 1959. Beef cattle investigations on the San Joaquin Experimental Range. California Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 765:1-71. [57 35 BOTANICAL NAMES OF PLANTS MENTIONED Trees and Shrubs Blue oak Buckeye, California Bush lupine Buttonwillow Coffeeberry, California Cottonwood, Fremont Digger pine Elderberry, blue Hollyleaf buckthorn Honeysuckle, chaparral Interior live oak Mariposa manzanita Mistletoe Penstemon Poison oak Wedgeleaf ceanothus Whitebark ceanothus Willow, red Yerba Santa Broad-Leaved Herbs and Grasses Bentham's lupine Broadleaf filaree Burclover Deerweed Fiddleneck Foxtail fescue Godetia Ground lupine Maiden clover Popcorn flower Red brome Redstem filaree Ripgut Rush Soft chess Spanish clover Spikerush Toad rush Wild oat, slender Whitestem filaree Whitetip clover Yellow tarweed Quercus Douglasii Aesculus calif ornica Lupinus albifrons Cephalanthus occidentalis Rhamnus californica cuspidata Populus Fremontii Pinus Sabiniana Sambucus caerulea Rhamnus crocea ilicijolia Lonicera interrupta Quercus Wislizenii Arctostaphlos mariposa Phoradendron villosum Penstemon breviflorus Rhus diversiloba Ceanothus cuneatus Ceanothus leucodermis Salix laevigata Eriodictyon californicum Lupinus Benthamii Erodium Botrys, and E. obtusiplicatum Medicago apiculata, and M. hispida Lotus scoparius Amsinckia Douglasiana Festuca megalura Clarkia spp. Lupinus bicolor Trifolium microcephalum Plagiobothrys nothojulvus Bromus rubens Erodium cicutarium Bromus rigidus J uncus oxymeris Bromus mollis Lotus americanus Heleocharis macrostachya Juncus bufonius A vena barbata Erodium moschatum Trifolium variegatum Hemizonia Heermannii [58] HOW THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA WORKS WITH AGRICULTURE As one of the nation's Land-Grant institutions, the University of California plays a multiple role in service to agriculture. This involves teaching, research, and conveying the facts developed by research to those who may put them to good use in the best interest of all the people. These activities are combined in the University's Division of Agricul- tural Sciences. This statewide framework includes: The College of Agriculture providing instruction in agriculture and re- lated sciences on campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles, and Riverside. The Schools of Forestry and Veterinary Medicine function as separate professional schools within the Division but are closely related to the College of Agriculture. The Agricultural Experiment Station conducting research on the four campuses mentioned above as well as on numerous field stations, experi- mental areas, and farms throughout the state. Closely allied with the Ex- periment Station are the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics and the Kearny Foundation of Soil Science. The Agricultural Extension Service with 53 offices serving 56 counties carrying out the responsibility of "extending" research results to the people. The service cooperates with the Experiment Station in local re- search on thousands of farms. It also conducts youth educational activities through the 4-H Club program. 7iw-ll,'63(E376)J.F.