The use of a heritage cattle breed as an adaptation strategy to new challenges imposed by climate change in Chihuahuan desert rangelands in the Southwest United States
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST)
Abstract
This review synthesizes research comparing conventional (Angus
X Hereford; AH) vs. heritage (Raramuri Criollo; RC) cattle
foraging behavior, heat tolerance, and cow-calf interactions
using telemetry devices in the context of determining adaptation
strategies related to climate change effects. The AH and RC cows
grazed separately in two adjacent pastures in a crossover design
during summer and winter for three consecutive years. Rectal
fecal samples were collected twice (day 14 and 28) in each
experimental period and fecal-DNA (fDNA) meta-barcoding
analyses were performed to characterize diet compositions. A
subgroup of individuals in each herd was fitted with sensors to
track their location (GPS collars), body temperature (iButton
thermal loggers), and cow-calf contact events (proximity loggers).
The RC cows traveled farther, spent less time resting, more time grazing, and explored larger areas than AH cows. The RC cows
showed a stronger preference for ecological patches with greater
shrub density and avoided areas with a high density of black
grama (an ecologically sensitive forage species) during winter
(period when vegetation is most vulnerable). Our fDNA study
revealed that RC cows select less black grama and more mesquite
than their AH counterparts, which corroborated our vegetation
electivity findings. During summer, RC cows maintained a lower
internal body temperature than their AH counterparts, providing
evidence of heat tolerance in RC. The RC calves appeared to
impoVe feZeU conVWUainWV on WheiU damV¶ moYemenW paWWeUnV;
nursing RC dams covered a daily grazing area almost three times
larger than AH dams. Differences in foraging strategies
documented in this review support our hypothesis that RC
(heritage breed) cattle are better equipped to cope with hotter and
drier climates and are better able to adjust their grazing behavior
according to forage availability.
Description
Healthy Rangelands for Sustainable Natural Resource Productivity
Keywords
cattle breeds, adaptation, climate change