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Why would introduction of cattle to similar prairie not have the same effect rather than a much smaller effect as quoted in the article. I have doubt there. A
by colechristensen 4y ago
Why would introduction of cattle to similar prairie not have the same effect rather than a much smaller effect as quoted in the article. I have doubt there.
A point I try to make is that responsible cattle production on land left in a wild state is a good thing and not at all something people should be morally or environmentally opposed to. There must be a way to do it to optimize for caring for the land.
Then again, bison are also delicious.
- pard68 4y agoIt likely would if the same _practices_ were used. I run a dairy farm and homestead (in the modern sense of that word). These results are strikingly similar to what is seen in regenerative agriculture and what we have seen in practicing this alt-ag methodology.
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 4y agoNo idea if causal to the difference you're talking about, but I've heard bison ranchers mention that they're a lot more resilient of an animal and lower maintenance, so maybe something to do with their ability to "work" the land more?
- mudetroit 4y agoBison behave differently than cows do. This is only anectodal, but that's the start of collecting some actual data to back it up. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037576139X?psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037576139X?psc=1
- sidewndr46 4y agoIf you'd like another anecdote: I saw a bison once. It charged me immediately. I have not encountered another bison and do not intend to.
- greenonions 4y agoI don't know much about the topic, but my understand was that bison graze more selectively, and have behaviors where they roll in grass, creating dirt ruts, which provides habitat for insects etc. Bison are far more unruly though, so you need serious fencing to keep them contained, so it's less practical. I think they are lower maintenance than cattle, but bison just doesn't have the market.
- peteradio 4y agoI just learned about "bison wallows", the dirt ruts you refer to. Some estimate that prior to European settlement and modern ag there were 5 small wallows per acre! That would be 500 or 1000 on a modest farm.
- mlinksva 4y agoThe paper http://collins.lternet.edu/sites/temperate.lternet.edu.collins/files/publications/Ratajczak_etal_2022_PNAS.pdf http://collins.lternet.edu/sites/temperate.lternet.edu.colli... which sadly the article neglects to link to says this: > Several differences between bison and cattle behavior potentially explain why bison increased species richness more than cattle. While the existence of DNA fragments from forbs and woody plants has been identified within bison dung (58), nongrass species comprise a minor portion of bison diet in comparison to grasses, as evidenced by direct identification of forage con- sumed (59), carbon isotope values of bison hair (59), and microhistology of bison dung (60). In contrast, the higher dominant grass cover in the cattle treatment suggests that these domesticated grazers likely consume more nongrass species than bison. This is consistent with studies of cattle diets in tall- grass prairie and elsewhere which found forbs comprise 10 to 34% of cattle diet (61, 62). In addition to differences in bison and cattle foraging behavior, bison also create physical distur- bances (e.g., wallows) and grazing lawns (34) that increase hab- itat heterogeneity (20) and thus species richness across scales (63), whereas cattle do not form soil disturbances similar to bison wallows.
- frontierkodiak 4y agoThe things others are pointing out (esp. selective grazing) are all factors. Not sure how well-evidenced this is, but something I've heard from relevant researchers is that bison hooves are more scoop-link vs. cattle hooves. Bison more thoroughly till topsoil and activate microbial/fungal processes that promote floral diversity (among other things).