Seasonal forage production and quality on four native and improved plant communities in Eastern Oregon

Abstract

Seasonal trends in forage quality and production were studied on improved and unimproved portions of four plant communities in eastern Oregon. The range improvements consisted of seeding and/or thinning. Improvement doubled forage production on the lodgepole pine site (thinned but not seeded), tripled production on the grassland and moist meadow sites (both seeded), and caused a sixfold rise in forage production on the mixed conifer site (thinned and seeded). However, only in the case of the grassland did range improvement lengthen the period when forage provided adequate nutrition for growth of yearling cattle; the improved nutrition can be attributed primarily to inclusion of a legume (alfalfa) in the seeding mixture. On the forested sites, thinning tended to cause forage to mature earlier and thus decline in forage quality faster than on unthinned controls.Published September 1985. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo