Did you know that having goats in your pasture could potentially complement the existing cattle operation while boosting livestock productivity and plant community diversity? Goats normally prefer and preferentially consume various types of woody and forb species more so than cattle do, and that their presence in a pasture does not alter what the cattle preferentially select to eat.
Ongoing research determined the diet selection of goats and cattle grazing woody plant-encroached tallgrass prairie and determined goat effects on cattle diet selection. Two pastures were included in the experiment, one pasture included grazing cattle only and the other pasture included grazing cattle plus goats. Both pastures were burned in six patches to facilitate range management.
Every 35 days, fecal samples were collected from all animals and were analyzed for diet preferences. Goats selected a greater percentage of woody plants in their summer (57%) and winter (74%) diets. Cattle on the other hand only consumed about 27% of woody plants in their diet. Cattle did select more grass in the winter, 34% more, than goats. While goats selected more forbs in the spring, 33% more than cattle.
Looking at these results, it indicates that both species of grazers select diverse diets from these pastures. In these types of pastures, goats complement cattle and do not alter what the cattle eat.
For more information, be sure to check out the abstract skae019.043