Patch Burning Effects on Grazing Distribution

Abstract

Post-fire forage growth is known to be a strong attractant for large herbivores. However, fire has generally been avoided as a grazing distribution tool for fear of localized over utilization of forage resources. Our objectives were to examine whether forage utilization was affected by season of burn, determine cattle grazing preference for burned sites relative to non-burned sites, determine forb response to patch burning, and describe the relationship between end-of-season standing crop and distance from burned sites. Sixteen, 4-ha plots were burned in mid-November or mid-April and left exposed to cattle grazing for the duration of the growing season. Burn treatments were blocked within pastures to allow individual herds access to fall-burned, springburned, and non-burned sites. Standing crop estimates for grasses, forbs, and total herbage were made in September by clipping on burned sites and at 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 m distant from the plot's edge. Standing crop was also sampled in exclosures on burned and non-burned sites. Cattle showed no preference for one burn season over the other. Cattle were strongly attracted to burned sites, reducing grass standing crop 78% within burns compared to 19% outside the influence of burns. Grass standing crop decreased in a predictable manner with proximity to burned plots. Forbs increased 60% to 1,095 kg ha "' on grazed burned plots, but were unaffected by distance from burns. Patch burning can be employed as an effective, inexpensive grazing distribution tool.

Fire tolerance of a resprouting Artemisia (Asteraceae) shrub

“…Application of fire on landscapes in this manner has a profound influence on the distribution of grazing herbivores such that burned patches experience higher levels of herbivory than unburned patches (Archibald and Bond 2004;Archibald et al 2005;Murphy and Bowman 2007;Sensenig et al 2010). Landscape patches with different levels of herbivory, driven by different burn histories, can be characterized by contrasting vegetation composition (Fuhlendorf and Engle 2004;Vermeire et al 2004). This is likely a function of altered competitive relations arising from the selective grazing of dominant grasses, allowing subdominant plants to experience competitive release Knapp 1993, 1994).…”

White-tailed deer distribution in response to patch burning on rangeland

“…As a result of fire, production of forbs and grasses may be stimulated and many fire adapted woody plants will resprout providing additional food for browsers (Bozzo et al, 1992). Despite the effectiveness of fire in grass-dominated systems to improve forage quality for wild and domestic grazers (Rogers et al, 2004;Vermeire et al, 2004;Wallace and Crosthwaite, 2005), the success of range restoration by prescribed fire in shrub-dominated systems has had varying results. This may be a combination of differences in responses of the vegetation communities, climatic factors affecting vegetative regrowth, and fire frequency and intensity (Owens et al, 2002).…”

Drought Influences Control of Parasitic Flies of Cattle on Pastures Managed with Patch-Burn Grazing

“…Third, fire mitigates woody plant encroachment and consumes plant litter that serves as habitat for some species (Bragg and Hulbert, 1976;Fuhlendorf and Engle, 2004). Fourth, moving fire and preferentially grazed areas around the landscape through space and time moves the disturbance of habitat around the landscape (Vermeire et al, 2004). Last, creating livestock movements and fire and grazing disturbances at an effective landscape scale disrupts the biological cycle as new generations emerge so that they may not effectively disperse to new hosts (Allred et al, 2013).…”