Botanical composition of diets grazed by beefcows in the Kansas Flint Hills during winter

摘要

Analysis of microscopic plant fragments recovered from the gut of wild herbivores(i.e., microhistological analysis) has been used to estimate diet composition, but thereis debate as to whether microhistological analysis of fecal samples is an appropriatemethod for characterizing diets of grazing beef cattle. Therefore, our goal was to determinewhether this approach could effectively quantify the botanical composition ofdiets grazed by mature beef cows in the Kansas Flint Hills during winter.