Life Sciences Commons^™

A Mechanistic Examination Of Interspecific Competition Between Wild And Domestic Herbivores, Courtney Check

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Large herbivores, such as mule deer and cattle have similar life histories and likely compete for resources. However, quantifying the extent to which these species compete and the specific resources they compete for has proved challenging. My research examines if cattle influence deer abundance and behavior due to competition for forage, competition for shade, and/or by affecting the predation risk of deer. Using a grid of autonomous trail cameras, I was able to determine if cattle abundance influences local deer abundance in relation to specific resources and habitat features. Using GPS data from collared deer, I was also able to …

Effects Of Providing Novel Feedstuffs To Livestock On Production And Skeletal Muscle Growth, Laura A. Motsinger

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As the population increases and available land for food production decreases, it is necessary for livestock producers to continually work towards increasing livestock production efficiency. In livestock operations, feed accounts for the majority of input costs associated with raising livestock. As such, it is necessary to improve growth and production of livestock animals, while also optimizing feed utilization. Different feedstuffs can be included in the diet of livestock animals to maximize growth and production. However, the effects of some of these novel feedstuffs on growth and production of livestock animals has not been elucidated. As such, we investigated the effects …

Demographics, Accuracy, And Impact Of Feed Laboratories In The United States, Jerald H. Severe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Feed analysis is very important to modern society. In the United States feed analysis is used to optimize production of food animals. Feed analysis is also used as a tool to place value on crops. As important as feed analysis is to society, little research has been done that describes which feed laboratories are the most popular and why people use them. It has been thought by some patrons that different results from the same feed sample are obtained by different laboratories. Is this true? If so, what is the effect on those that use feed laboratories to produce animals, …

Effects Of Condensed Tannins On The Toxicity Of Fireweed (Senecio Madagascariensis) To Cattle, Carolyn L. Wong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis) is a noxious and invasive weed affecting pastures in Hawaii, Australia, and South America. Fireweed contains compounds called pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are toxic to most grazing mammals. Toxic effects to cattle include irreversible damage to liver cells, hardening of the liver, and loss of liver function, which may lead to jaundice, swelling, and the accumulation of fluids in the stomach and other physiological malfunctions. External effects include rough appearance, diarrhea, low energy and dullness, photosensitization, and abnormal behavior, many of which can lead to death. Fireweed also can reduce pasture productivity by as much as …

Comparative Economics Of Cattle And Wildlife Ranching In The Zimbabwe Midlands, Urs P. Kreuter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The economics of ranches in the Zimbabwe Midlands, generating income from cattle, or wildlife, or both, were compared during 1989/90 to test the claim that wildlife ranching can generate greater profits than cattle ranching on semi-arid African savannas. Both financial (market) prices and economic prices (opportunity cost) were used.

Financial data were obtained from 15 cattle, 7 wildlife and 13 mixed ranches in four areas with wildlife and from 15 cattle ranches in two areas with sparse wildlife. Estimates of economic prices were obtained from official data.

In the first paper, gross revenues, costs, net revenues, and capital investments of …

The Effect Of Seasonal Cattle Grazing On California Bighorn Sheep Habitat Use, Melanie J. Steinkamp

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effect of seasonal cattle grazing on a newly reintroduced population of California bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis californiana) in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Idaho, was studied. The hypothesis that bighorn sheep avoid cattle was tested. The issue of avoidance between bighorn sheep and livestock is arguable. Some studies have found that bighorn sheep avoid cattle while others have found no response of bighorn sheep to cattle.

Evidence was found to document the avoidance of cattle by bighorn sheep. The size of the bighorn's home range and core area decreased with the movement of cattle into areas of high bighorn …

Effect Of Spring Grazing By Cattle On Growth And Survival Of Shrub Seedlings Interplanted In Crested Wheatgrass, Lynn M. Mcconville

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A short duration-high intensity grazing trial was conducted in spring of 1985 to determine whether shrub establishment in crested wheatgrass pastures could be enhanced through spring grazing by cattle, or by fertilization of shrub seedlings. Data was collected on diet selection by cattle during spring grazing, and on subsequent shrub growth and survival. Shrubs studied were transplants of sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, fourwing saltbush, Atriplex canescens, bitterbrush, Purshia tridentata, and one year old bitterbrush seedlings.

Cattle did not browse sagebrush or fourwing saltbush transplants, but utilization of bitterbrush transplants and seedlings averaged 15 and 42 percent, respectively. Shrub …

Production Factors In Beef Cattle Finishing, Gary L. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A feeding trial was conducted comparing four finishing diets, typically fed in this area, two hormone implants zeranol (Ralgro) and estradiol 17-beta (Compudose), and a feed additive. Thirty-two Hereford steers were fed in individual pens to maintain accurate intake records. The four diets compared were: 1) a whole corn diet with a small amount of corn silage as roughage; 2) a high energy ground barley diet using corn silage and chopped alfalfa as roughage; 3) a total diet consisting of rolled barley, beet pulp, and ground alfalfa hay; and 4) a high energy rolled barley diet using corn silage and …

Some Morphological And Chemical Responses Of Blackbrush (Coleogyne Ramosissima) To Goat Browsing: Influences On Dietary Blackbrush Selection By Goats And Cattle, Frederick D. Provenza

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Domestic goats were used to modify the growth form of blackbrush, a spinescent shrub occurring in nearly monospecific stands on several million hectares of rangeland in the southwestern United States. The objective of this research was to evaluate goat browsing as a means of improving these rangelands for cattle. Winter goat browsing stimulated spring twig growth from basal and axillary buds which resulted in increased production.

Twig production by heavily browsed plants (>95 percent removal of current season's twigs) was a function of precipitation, soil depth, branch location on the plant, and period of rest after browsing. As precipitation …

Food Interactions Between Utah Prairie Dogs And Cattle, Dennis Crocker-Bedford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the food interactions between Utah prairie dogs (Cynomys parvidens, Allen) and cattle (Bos taurus). During 1974 and 1975, three prairie dog colonies near Panguitch, Utah, were studied intensely: "Oldfield" was chosen to represent colonies near fields of alfalfa (Medicago sativa); "Lowercrested" was chosen to represent colonies below 2,200 meters above sea level (a.s.l.) which were not near alfalfa, and "Uppercrested" was chosen to represent colonies above 2,200 meters a.s.l. which have been planted with crested wheatgrass.

Visual observations were made of Utah prairie dogs to determine their diets. Livetrapping of prairie …

A Computerized Performance Record Keeping System For Beef Cattle In Utah, John J. Pierce

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A computer program was developed at Utah State University (USU) to aid in obtaining a more complete individual performance record keeping system for beef cattle in Utah. Some computer programs for beef cattle records presently exist but a program was needed that was readily available to the USU animal science extension and resident staff.

The program was written in FORTRAN for use on the Burrogh 6700 computer located at the Utah State University Computer Center. It was designed to read input data for individual animals, perform various calculations (i. e. days of age, adjusted weaning weight and weaning weight ratio), …

Tissue Mineral Imbalances In Cattle With Brisket Disease, Patricia H. Field

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Twenty four cattle, six each of healthy cows and calves, and cows and calves with brisket disease, were obtained, examined and slaughtered. The concentrations of calcium, chloride, cobalt, copper, iron, magnesium, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc; and percent absolute dry matter and percent ash were determined in tissues selected from the following: cardiac, hepatic, renal, osseous, whole blood and blood serum. In addition, certain physical and biological parameters were recorded for each animal. The results were analyzed as a 2 x 2 factorial, segregating the effects of age and brisket disease, and the age-disease interaction.

The following statistically significant …

Growth Of Eimeria Alabamensis From Cattle In Vitro And The Changes In Fine Structure Associated With Schizogony, J. Robert Sampson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Monolayer primary cultures of cells from bovine embryonic intestine (BEint), kidney (BEK), spleen (BES), and thyroid (BET) and cell line cultures of embryonic bovine trachea ( EBTr) and synovium (BESy)as well as established cell line cultures of Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK), human intestine (Int 407), and Syrian hamster kidney (BHK-21) were inoculated with freshly excysted sporozoites of Eimeria alabamensis and observed for 4 days. Sporozoites penetrated all cell types during the first 24 hours in culture. Numerous intracellular sporozoites, trophozoites, and binucleate schizonts were seen in all cell cultures except Int 407. The best development occurred in BES and MDBK …

A Study Of Mineral Nutrition Of Range Cattle In Southeastern Utah, Robert J. Raleigh

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cattlemen of south central Utah in Sevier and Wayne County areas have been plagued for the past twenty-five or thirty years by a malady known to the cattleman as "Brisket Disease." It is a chronic disease affecting both male and female of all ages. It is characterized in advance stages by enlargement of the brisket and throat regions, loss of appetite, a general unthrifty condition and marked ascites. The seriousness of the disease is indicated by a morbidity rate varying from one to five percent of the cattle grazing these areas with almost one hundred percent mortality rate.

Many of …