Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

The use of short-duration intensive sheep grazing to increase sheep utilization of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.)*

Author(s):

J. Bret Taylor ^*, Steven S. Seefeldt, Tonya M. Thelen

Recieved Date: 2005-01-03, Accepted Date: 2005-03-28

Abstract:

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) is an exotic plant that invades and ultimately degrades North American rangeland ecosystems. The use of short-duration intensive grazing management strategies to manipulate sheep utilization of leafy spurge was investigated. A 0.6-hectare leafy spurge-infested (cover =75%) area was divided into six 0.1-hectare pastures. During June 2002, 2003 and 2004, 36 nonpregnant Targhee breed ewes (2 to 3 years old) grazed the pastures (6 ewes/pasture) at a rate of 480 sheep days/hectare. Three pastures were continuously grazed with ewes for eight days (8-day; moderate-density continuous). The remaining three pastures were subdivided into 0.025-hectare subdivisions, and all ewes grazed each individual subdivision for two days and were rotated among all four subdivisions over an eight-day period (2-day; high-density rotational). Before-grazing leafy spurge stem densities were similar between years (P = 0.18; 249, 207 and 213±17 stems/m² for 2002, 2003 and 2004, respectively) and grazing treatments (P = 0.69; 226 and 228±17 stems/m² for 8- and 2-day treatments, respectively). In 2004, the 2-day grazing treatment caused more (P = 0.04) utilization of leafy spurge flowering stems than did the 8-day grazing treatment (24.0 vs. 14.6±2.2 flower stems damaged/m², respectively). Regardless of treatment, 69 to 70% of the leafy spurge plants were utilized but 57 to 61% of the total vegetative biomass remained standing at the end of the grazing periods. Within the context of this experiment, sheep managed in short-duration intensive grazing systems substantially grazed the standing leafy spurge. As grazing density increased and duration decreased, ewes utilized more leafy spurge-flowering stems. The 2-d rotational high-density sheep grazing strategy may provide greater long-term effectiveness in controlling leafy spurge infestations.

Keywords:

Euphorbia esula L., flower, grazing, high-density, leafy spurge, rangeland, sagebrush steppe, sheep, short-duration, stem

---

Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2005
Volume: 3
Issue: 2
Category: Environment
Pages: 323-326

---

Full text for Subscribers

---

Information:

Note to users

The requested document is freely available only to subscribers/registered users with an online subscription to the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment. If you have set up a personal subscription to this title please enter your user name and password. All abstracts are available for free.

Article purchasing

If you like to purchase this specific document such as article, review or this journal issue, contact us. Specify the title of the article or review, issue, number, volume and date of the publication. Software and compilation, Science & Technology, all rights reserved. Your use of this website details or service is governed by terms of use. Authors are invited to check from time to time news or information.

---

Purchase this Article:   20 Purchase PDF Order Reprints for 15

---

Share this article :