Secondary production of the central rangeland region of the United States.

Rangelands are the dominant land use across a broad swath of central North America where they span a wide gradient, from <350 to >900 mm, in mean annual precipitation. Substantial efforts have examined temporal and spatial variation in aboveground net primary production (ANPP) to precipitation (PPT) across this gradient. In contrast, net secondary productivity (NSP, e.

Effects of early or conventional weaning on beef cow and calf performance in pasture or drylot environments.

Performance of cows and calves during 63-d early or conventional weaning periods was evaluated. Spring-calving beef cows ( = 167) of similar age, body condition score (BCS), and body weight (BW = 599 ± 54.5 kg), and their calves (initial BW = 204 ± 26.

Effects of weaning method on postweaning performance by early weaned beef calves.

Health and performance of early-weaned steers were evaluated during a 56-d weaning period, a 56-d feedlot receiving period, and a 165-d feedlot finishing period. Steers ( = 239; 128 ± 14 d of age) were assigned to a 56-d weaning treatment: drylot weaning (D) or pasture weaning (P). Pasture steers grazed mature, native tallgrass range (89.

Quantifying drylands' drought resistance and recovery: the importance of drought intensity, dominant life history and grazing regime.

Projected global change will increase the level of land-use and environmental stressors such as drought and grazing, particularly in drylands. Still, combined effects of drought and grazing on plant production are poorly understood, thus hampering adequate projections and development of mitigation strategies. We used a large, cross-continental database consisting of 174 long-term datasets from >30 dryland regions to quantify ecosystem responses to drought and grazing with the ultimate goal to increase functional understanding in these responses.