Larry Howery - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Larry Howery

Copyright © 2012 William D. Sommers IV et al. This is an open access article distributed under th... more Copyright © 2012 William D. Sommers IV et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A three-year study was conducted in the Chihuahuan Desert in Southwestern New Mexico to evaluate the effectiveness of revegetating a dryland pasture that was heavily infested with yellow starthistle within the context of the successional weed management model. A prescribed burn treatment of the entire study site (designed disturbance) was followed by single-entry revegetation (controlled colonization) and weed suppression (controlled species performance) treatments. Four native perennial grass species were paired with 4 yellow starthistle suppression treatments. We conclude that an integrated, single-entry approach failed to effectively revegetate yellow starthistle-infested dryland pasture in the Chihuahuan Desert, primarily ...

See next page for additional authors

The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension’s efforts in rangeland management bring together ... more The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension’s efforts in rangeland management bring together private ranchers, public land managers, and Extension agents and specialists to promote rangeland health, conservation, and preserve productivity and profitability for land users, basing management decisions on best available science. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Specialists were involved in a project to address proposed changes to a rancher’s grazing allotment permit on federal land in Northern Arizona.

Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2012

Radiotelemetry is an important tool for wildlife management and research, but in some cases attac... more Radiotelemetry is an important tool for wildlife management and research, but in some cases attachment of neck collars can be problematic. An alternative in large mammals is to attach transmitters to the ear, though little is published about ear-tag radiotransmitter integrity (i.e., how long a transmitter emits a useful signal) and retention (i.e., how long a transmitter remains attached to an animal). Here we report eartag transmitter integrity and retention from 2 studies monitoring free-ranging calves (Bos taurus) in eastern Arizona, USA, and feral horse (Equus ferus) foals in northwestern Spain. Transmitter integrity and retention was lower for transmitters attached to foals then calves. The primary cause for reduced integrity was antennas breaking off, whereas the primary retention problem involved transmitters ripping out of the ear. When data were pooled across study sites, mean integrity and retention loss was 111 days and 180 days, respectively. Transmitters attached to the interior of the outer ears had retention rates >2 times higher than transmitters attached to the exterior of the outer ear (88% vs. 43%). We recommend that researchers intending to utilize ear-tag transmitters for studies on large domestic or wild animals attach transmitters to the interior of the outer ear, reinforce transmitter antennas in order to improve integrity, and report integrity and retention rates.

Journal of Range Management, 2002

The Walker Basin Allotment grazing system in central Arizona is designed to allocate resource use... more The Walker Basin Allotment grazing system in central Arizona is designed to allocate resource use under elk (Cervus elaphus L.) and cattle (Bos taurus L.) grazing. The grazing system was designed to promote biologically acceptable levels of forage use on the half of the allotment scheduled for cattle grazing and to rest the other half by attracting elk to pastures recently grazed by cattle. The objectives of our 2-year study were to determine whether the grazing system facilitated proper forage use as defined by recent forage use and residual stubble height guidelines (i.e., 30 to 40% use and an 8-to 10-cm stubble height) and whether the system rested one half of the allotment from elk and cattle grazing. Mean (± SEM) total elk and cattle forage use for western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii Rydb.), the key forage species, was 32 and 61 % ± 7 in 1997 and 1998, respectively; corresponding mean (± SEM) stubble heights were 11 and 10 cm ± 0.6. Mean total cattle and elk forage use in 1998 (61%) exceeded the 30 to 40% use guidelines. However, mean end-of-year stubble height was never below 10 cm. The grazing system did not provide half the allotment with complete rest; elk used all study pas tures. Elk use was higher in pastures with heavier tree cover and steeper terrain in both years, regardless of where cattle grazing occurred. Elk grazing patterns were apparently more dependent on tree cover and topography than any changes in forage caused by the grazing system.

IGARSS 2001. Scanning the Present and Resolving the Future. Proceedings. IEEE 2001 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (Cat. No.01CH37217)

Informing the Elk Debate: Applying NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Data to Natural Resource Man... more Informing the Elk Debate: Applying NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Data to Natural Resource Management Conflicts in the Western States ... of elk in Arizona as a consequence of seasonal variation and in response to extreme climatic events (ie El Niño and La Niña). ...

CABI Reviews, 2013

This paper reviews the literature and reports on the current state of knowledge regarding the pot... more This paper reviews the literature and reports on the current state of knowledge regarding the potential for managers to use visual (VC), auditory (AC) and olfactory (OC) cues to manage foraging behaviour and spatial distribution of rangeland livestock. We present evidence that free-ranging livestock use these sensory cues to make decisions about foraging, drinking, habitat selection and spatial distribution, and to detect and avoid predators. This knowledge provides managers with opportunities to favourably alter behavioural patterns of rangeland ungulates. Opportunities to use sensory cues to shape livestock spatial distribution patterns arise primarily from the abilities of animals to: (a) learn to respond to cue-consequence associations that enhance their ability to adapt to changing foraging environments on rangelands, (b) generalize learned cue-consequence associations across spatial and temporal foraging scales and (c) influence one another's behaviour through social learn...

Behavioural Processes, 2009

Rangeland Ecology & Management, 2008

Although stocking rate is often described as the most important decision livestock managers make,... more Although stocking rate is often described as the most important decision livestock managers make, most environmental concerns associated with cattle ranching in the western U.S. result from undesirable grazing distribution patterns, especially on public lands. In the West, mountainous terrain and arid and semi-arid climatic conditions restrict where cattle are willing and able to go. For example, cattle typically congregate on gentle terrain and in areas near limited water sources. Cattle are typically reluctant to graze steep slopes, climb high ridges and travel long distances from water. These preferences can lead to excessive forage use on gentle terrain located near water, including riparian areas, while abundant forage on rugged terrain and areas far from water are left ungrazed. In summary, concerns with cattle grazing in the western U.S. are usually not a consequence of too many cows, but instead, are due to cattle selectively concentrating use in certain areas while avoiding...

Drought is defined by the Society for Range Management as “...prolonged dry weather when precipit... more Drought is defined by the Society for Range Management as “...prolonged dry weather when precipitation is less than 75% of the average amount” (SRM 1989). Using this criterion, drought occurred with the following frequency over a 40-year period from 1944-1984: 43% of the time in the southwestern U.S., 27% of the time in the southern great plains, 21% of the time in the northern great plains, and 13% of the time in the northwestern U.S. (Holechek et al., 1998). It is obvious that when it comes to drought in the southwestern U.S., it is not a question if drought will occur, but rather when will it occur, how long will it last, and are you prepared? Livestock operators must plan for drought as a normal part of the range-livestock business.

Conserving large carnivores throughout the world will often require that they share the landscape... more Conserving large carnivores throughout the world will often require that they share the landscape with livestock. Minimizing depredations and increasing tolerance by livestock producers will be critical for conservation efforts. To investigate factors influencing calf mortality and producer detection rates (i.e., number of livestock killed by predators, found by producers, and correctly classified as to cause of death), we monitored radio-tagged domestic calves at two sites in the Mexican wolf recovery area (East Eagle [EE] and Adobe Ranch [AR]). Study areas differed in grazing practices, density of predators (mountain lions, black bears, coyotes, and Mexican wolves), and amount of effort spent monitoring cattle. We radiotagged 618 calves over 3.5 years, and 312 calves over 2 years on the EE and AR, respectively. The overall proportion of radioed calves that died was higher on the EE (6.5%) than on the AR (1.9%). Predators (especially mountain lions) accounted for 85% of mortality o...

HortTechnology

The objective of our experiment was to determine if the application of two deer repellents to six... more The objective of our experiment was to determine if the application of two deer repellents to six grape cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.) caused significant phytotoxic effects, production losses, or altered the sensory characteristics of wine. We evaluated fifteen single vine plants from six different cultivars in a randomized block design that included the two repellent treatments and an untreated control. During spring 1997, we applied repellents biweekly from budbreak until flowering (2 Apr. to 14 May). Plantskyyd was applied more frequently than recommended by the product label (for trees) due to rapid emergence of unprotected shoot growth in vineyards. Hot Sauce and Plantskydd caused some initial minor phytotoxicity during 1997, however, the yield and phytotoxicity of treated plants were similar to controls by harvest. A panel detected a significant difference in the color, aroma, or taste of `Chardonnay' wine made from grapes treated with repellents compared to wine made from ...

Journal of Arid Environments, 2016

Efficacy of low-stress herding (LSH) and strategic placement of low-moisture block (LMB) protein ... more Efficacy of low-stress herding (LSH) and strategic placement of low-moisture block (LMB) protein supplement was evaluated to target cattle grazing on underutilized areas of extensive and rugged rangelands in south central New Mexico. Global positioning system-tracked cattle spent more time (P < 0.01) on target areas (6.9 ± 0.6 hrs • d-1) than non-target areas (0.5 ± 0.6 hrs • d-1) when LSH and LMB treatments were applied. Mean distance from target areas was reduced (P < 0.05) by over 1 km and cattle spent less time within 100 m of water with LSH and LMB treatments compared to a free-roaming period before the treatments. Targeted cattle grazing treatments reduced current year, dormant perennial grass standing crop on target areas, but no differences were detected in the reduction in standing crop between target and non-target areas within the study pastures. Height-weight curve utilization estimates indicated that utilization was greater (P = 0.03) on target areas (15.2 ± 2.9 %) compared to non-target areas (5.8 ± 2.2 %). Overall, low-stress herding and LMB were effective tools to focus cattle grazing, but fencing may be required if greater utilization within target areas is desired.

Copyright © 2012 William D. Sommers IV et al. This is an open access article distributed under th... more Copyright © 2012 William D. Sommers IV et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A three-year study was conducted in the Chihuahuan Desert in Southwestern New Mexico to evaluate the effectiveness of revegetating a dryland pasture that was heavily infested with yellow starthistle within the context of the successional weed management model. A prescribed burn treatment of the entire study site (designed disturbance) was followed by single-entry revegetation (controlled colonization) and weed suppression (controlled species performance) treatments. Four native perennial grass species were paired with 4 yellow starthistle suppression treatments. We conclude that an integrated, single-entry approach failed to effectively revegetate yellow starthistle-infested dryland pasture in the Chihuahuan Desert, primarily ...

See next page for additional authors

The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension’s efforts in rangeland management bring together ... more The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension’s efforts in rangeland management bring together private ranchers, public land managers, and Extension agents and specialists to promote rangeland health, conservation, and preserve productivity and profitability for land users, basing management decisions on best available science. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Specialists were involved in a project to address proposed changes to a rancher’s grazing allotment permit on federal land in Northern Arizona.

Wildlife Society Bulletin, 2012

Radiotelemetry is an important tool for wildlife management and research, but in some cases attac... more Radiotelemetry is an important tool for wildlife management and research, but in some cases attachment of neck collars can be problematic. An alternative in large mammals is to attach transmitters to the ear, though little is published about ear-tag radiotransmitter integrity (i.e., how long a transmitter emits a useful signal) and retention (i.e., how long a transmitter remains attached to an animal). Here we report eartag transmitter integrity and retention from 2 studies monitoring free-ranging calves (Bos taurus) in eastern Arizona, USA, and feral horse (Equus ferus) foals in northwestern Spain. Transmitter integrity and retention was lower for transmitters attached to foals then calves. The primary cause for reduced integrity was antennas breaking off, whereas the primary retention problem involved transmitters ripping out of the ear. When data were pooled across study sites, mean integrity and retention loss was 111 days and 180 days, respectively. Transmitters attached to the interior of the outer ears had retention rates >2 times higher than transmitters attached to the exterior of the outer ear (88% vs. 43%). We recommend that researchers intending to utilize ear-tag transmitters for studies on large domestic or wild animals attach transmitters to the interior of the outer ear, reinforce transmitter antennas in order to improve integrity, and report integrity and retention rates.

Journal of Range Management, 2002

The Walker Basin Allotment grazing system in central Arizona is designed to allocate resource use... more The Walker Basin Allotment grazing system in central Arizona is designed to allocate resource use under elk (Cervus elaphus L.) and cattle (Bos taurus L.) grazing. The grazing system was designed to promote biologically acceptable levels of forage use on the half of the allotment scheduled for cattle grazing and to rest the other half by attracting elk to pastures recently grazed by cattle. The objectives of our 2-year study were to determine whether the grazing system facilitated proper forage use as defined by recent forage use and residual stubble height guidelines (i.e., 30 to 40% use and an 8-to 10-cm stubble height) and whether the system rested one half of the allotment from elk and cattle grazing. Mean (± SEM) total elk and cattle forage use for western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii Rydb.), the key forage species, was 32 and 61 % ± 7 in 1997 and 1998, respectively; corresponding mean (± SEM) stubble heights were 11 and 10 cm ± 0.6. Mean total cattle and elk forage use in 1998 (61%) exceeded the 30 to 40% use guidelines. However, mean end-of-year stubble height was never below 10 cm. The grazing system did not provide half the allotment with complete rest; elk used all study pas tures. Elk use was higher in pastures with heavier tree cover and steeper terrain in both years, regardless of where cattle grazing occurred. Elk grazing patterns were apparently more dependent on tree cover and topography than any changes in forage caused by the grazing system.

IGARSS 2001. Scanning the Present and Resolving the Future. Proceedings. IEEE 2001 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (Cat. No.01CH37217)

Informing the Elk Debate: Applying NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Data to Natural Resource Man... more Informing the Elk Debate: Applying NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Data to Natural Resource Management Conflicts in the Western States ... of elk in Arizona as a consequence of seasonal variation and in response to extreme climatic events (ie El Niño and La Niña). ...

CABI Reviews, 2013

This paper reviews the literature and reports on the current state of knowledge regarding the pot... more This paper reviews the literature and reports on the current state of knowledge regarding the potential for managers to use visual (VC), auditory (AC) and olfactory (OC) cues to manage foraging behaviour and spatial distribution of rangeland livestock. We present evidence that free-ranging livestock use these sensory cues to make decisions about foraging, drinking, habitat selection and spatial distribution, and to detect and avoid predators. This knowledge provides managers with opportunities to favourably alter behavioural patterns of rangeland ungulates. Opportunities to use sensory cues to shape livestock spatial distribution patterns arise primarily from the abilities of animals to: (a) learn to respond to cue-consequence associations that enhance their ability to adapt to changing foraging environments on rangelands, (b) generalize learned cue-consequence associations across spatial and temporal foraging scales and (c) influence one another's behaviour through social learn...

Behavioural Processes, 2009

Rangeland Ecology & Management, 2008

Although stocking rate is often described as the most important decision livestock managers make,... more Although stocking rate is often described as the most important decision livestock managers make, most environmental concerns associated with cattle ranching in the western U.S. result from undesirable grazing distribution patterns, especially on public lands. In the West, mountainous terrain and arid and semi-arid climatic conditions restrict where cattle are willing and able to go. For example, cattle typically congregate on gentle terrain and in areas near limited water sources. Cattle are typically reluctant to graze steep slopes, climb high ridges and travel long distances from water. These preferences can lead to excessive forage use on gentle terrain located near water, including riparian areas, while abundant forage on rugged terrain and areas far from water are left ungrazed. In summary, concerns with cattle grazing in the western U.S. are usually not a consequence of too many cows, but instead, are due to cattle selectively concentrating use in certain areas while avoiding...

Drought is defined by the Society for Range Management as “...prolonged dry weather when precipit... more Drought is defined by the Society for Range Management as “...prolonged dry weather when precipitation is less than 75% of the average amount” (SRM 1989). Using this criterion, drought occurred with the following frequency over a 40-year period from 1944-1984: 43% of the time in the southwestern U.S., 27% of the time in the southern great plains, 21% of the time in the northern great plains, and 13% of the time in the northwestern U.S. (Holechek et al., 1998). It is obvious that when it comes to drought in the southwestern U.S., it is not a question if drought will occur, but rather when will it occur, how long will it last, and are you prepared? Livestock operators must plan for drought as a normal part of the range-livestock business.

Conserving large carnivores throughout the world will often require that they share the landscape... more Conserving large carnivores throughout the world will often require that they share the landscape with livestock. Minimizing depredations and increasing tolerance by livestock producers will be critical for conservation efforts. To investigate factors influencing calf mortality and producer detection rates (i.e., number of livestock killed by predators, found by producers, and correctly classified as to cause of death), we monitored radio-tagged domestic calves at two sites in the Mexican wolf recovery area (East Eagle [EE] and Adobe Ranch [AR]). Study areas differed in grazing practices, density of predators (mountain lions, black bears, coyotes, and Mexican wolves), and amount of effort spent monitoring cattle. We radiotagged 618 calves over 3.5 years, and 312 calves over 2 years on the EE and AR, respectively. The overall proportion of radioed calves that died was higher on the EE (6.5%) than on the AR (1.9%). Predators (especially mountain lions) accounted for 85% of mortality o...

HortTechnology

The objective of our experiment was to determine if the application of two deer repellents to six... more The objective of our experiment was to determine if the application of two deer repellents to six grape cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.) caused significant phytotoxic effects, production losses, or altered the sensory characteristics of wine. We evaluated fifteen single vine plants from six different cultivars in a randomized block design that included the two repellent treatments and an untreated control. During spring 1997, we applied repellents biweekly from budbreak until flowering (2 Apr. to 14 May). Plantskyyd was applied more frequently than recommended by the product label (for trees) due to rapid emergence of unprotected shoot growth in vineyards. Hot Sauce and Plantskydd caused some initial minor phytotoxicity during 1997, however, the yield and phytotoxicity of treated plants were similar to controls by harvest. A panel detected a significant difference in the color, aroma, or taste of `Chardonnay' wine made from grapes treated with repellents compared to wine made from ...

Journal of Arid Environments, 2016

Efficacy of low-stress herding (LSH) and strategic placement of low-moisture block (LMB) protein ... more Efficacy of low-stress herding (LSH) and strategic placement of low-moisture block (LMB) protein supplement was evaluated to target cattle grazing on underutilized areas of extensive and rugged rangelands in south central New Mexico. Global positioning system-tracked cattle spent more time (P < 0.01) on target areas (6.9 ± 0.6 hrs • d-1) than non-target areas (0.5 ± 0.6 hrs • d-1) when LSH and LMB treatments were applied. Mean distance from target areas was reduced (P < 0.05) by over 1 km and cattle spent less time within 100 m of water with LSH and LMB treatments compared to a free-roaming period before the treatments. Targeted cattle grazing treatments reduced current year, dormant perennial grass standing crop on target areas, but no differences were detected in the reduction in standing crop between target and non-target areas within the study pastures. Height-weight curve utilization estimates indicated that utilization was greater (P = 0.03) on target areas (15.2 ± 2.9 %) compared to non-target areas (5.8 ± 2.2 %). Overall, low-stress herding and LMB were effective tools to focus cattle grazing, but fencing may be required if greater utilization within target areas is desired.