Mission:

Enhance the sustained production of goods and services from rangelands and pastures through integrated beef cattle management strategies. Beef cattle are the primary grazer and account for over 50% of the agricultural income in the Rolling Plains. The Range Animal Nutrition Program is dedicated to elucidating the mechanisms in cattle behavior, nutrition and integrated resource management that effect sustainable cattle, wildlife and renewable resource yield from grazed lands in North Texas.

Goals:

Improve the efficiency of sustainable beef production from range and pasture lands.

Elucidate the temporal and spatial behavior patterns of cattle in response to management under grazing.

Quantify the role cattle behavior has on supplemental feed consumption among animals and seasons of self-fed supplements.

Enhance the efficiency of production from wheat-stocker cattle production systems in the Southern Plains.

Develop decision aids for cattle managers to better mange the nutritional status of free grazing cattle.

The Range Animal Nutrition Program in North Texas is comprised of four interrelated components:

Beef Cattle Behavior and Landscape Utilization Dynamics

Beef Cattle Nutrition and Production Under Grazing

Native Range
Wheat pasture
Improved pastures

Integrated Range Management Systems for North Texas

Grazing and Brush Management

Mesquite Ecology

Decision Support Tools for Cattle Producers

Team Members:

William E. Pinchak, Ph D, Project Leader

Doug Fulford, BA, Laboratory Supervisor

Alumni Members:

L. Jay Hunt, MS
Douglas Tolleson, MS
Scott Showers, MS
Jan Worrall, BS
Ben Boerner, MS
Heidi Carter, MS
Mary Jo Turpin, MS
Nick Canivel, BS
D. Jeffery Goodwin, MS
Kelli A. Barnett, BS
Nicole Matysek
Noah Worley
Justin
Paul Braden

Collaborators:

R. J. Ansley

M. K. Owens

R. J. Gill

W. R. Teague

J. W. Stuth

J. Sij

C. Scott

S. J. Bevers

J. E. Slosser

T. Baughman

F.T. McCollum

A. A. Hopkins

D.P. Malinowski

A. D. Herring

L. W. Greene