Effects of Medusahead on Beef Cattle Gains - 4003

Principle Investigator: Dr. Jeremy James, Director Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center, for more project information click here

Rangeland weed control is widely viewed and promoted as central to enhancing ranch profitability and sustainability. It is essential to establish the direct economic impacts of weeds on profits to determine what management decisions should be made by private land owners. This study will combine forage manipulations at SFREC with manipulations at two private ranches to quantify the effects of the invasive plant medusahead on yearling livestock gains with the following objectives: develop a yield loss function that relates medusahead biomass and desired plant biomass to yearling beef cattle seasonal and total gains, quantify how changes in medusahead biomass in a pasture influences forage quantity, quality, and seasonal pattern of forage supply, integrate model development work with parallel ranch-level studies investigating the relationship between medusahead and animal gains, and develop a user friendly on-line calculator that allows producers to estimate direct economic impact of medusahead on a particular ranch under a subset of standardized conditions.