Ingestion of Toxic Plants by Livestock

Toxins exist everywhere in nature. We define toxins as chemicals that naturally occur in plants and can cause illness or death if eaten in sufficient quantities

How Livestock Learn About Food and Locations

Anyone who has ever trained animals has wondered what animals learn from different experiences. For instance, a person walks into a pen of animals that have just been fed, catches a lamb or calf, and puts a balling gun containing a capsule with a toxin down its throat

Preparing Animals for Moving Day

Think for a moment how you react when you visit or move to a new place. Are you disoriented and maybe even a little frightened? Do you prefer to go to new places alone or with friends? Where do you eat

Early Experience Can Change the Structure of the Body

Why do animals eat certain foods and live in certain locations? Your first thought might be that they are born that way or it’s in their genes. While it is true that every animal is born with a set of genes that helps determine how it looks and what it needs to survive, genetics are only part of the story

Structure, Quality, and Skills Interact to Influence Forage Intake

In general, the more livestock eat, the more weight they gain or milk they produce. Thus, forage intake is key to animal performance. Agronomists manage for plant density and height to ensure livestock maximize intake

Why Livestock Die from Eating Poisonous Plants

If animals can learn to discriminate between safe and harmful plants, then why do they eat poisonous plants and die

Training Livestock to Avoid Specific Forage

This fact sheet provides the basics of aversion training for livestock

Grazing and Harvest Efficiency of Forage by Cattle on Western Rangelands

This fact sheet provides guidelines for land managers to reach an appropriate level of utilization that increases animal and rangeland health

Exposing Animals to Grain with Mom Improves Intake of Grain at Weaning and Feedlot Performance

Livestock performance in feedlots is often poor during the first few weeks after animals enter the feedlot. Sudden changes in diet and poor intake of new foods likely contribute to poor performance

Diet Mixing: Increasing Intake of Unpalatable Plants

The cows at Ray Banister’s ranch readily eat plants that cows don’t normally eat, such as sagebrush and snowberry. Banister uses a management style he calls boom-bust grazing. It involves short, intensive periods of grazing followed by two growing seasons of rest