Behavioral Adaptations of Nursing Brangus Cows to Virtual Fencing: Insights from a Training Deployment Phase.

Virtual fencing systems have emerged as a promising technology for managing the distribution of livestock in extensive grazing environments. This study provides comprehensive documentation of the learning process involving two conditional behavioral mechanisms and the documentation of efficient, effective, and safe animal training for virtual fence applications on nursing Brangus cows. Two hypotheses were examined: (1) animals would learn to avoid restricted zones by increasing their use of containment zones within a virtual fence polygon, and (2) animals would progressively receive fewer audio-electric cues over time and increasingly rely on auditory cues for behavioral modification. Data from GPS coordinates, behavioral metrics derived from the collar data, and cueing events were analyzed to evaluate these hypotheses. The results supported hypothesis 1, revealing that virtual fence activation significantly increased the time spent in containment zones and reduced time in restricted zones compared to when the virtual fence was deactivated. Concurrently, behavioral metrics mirrored these findings, with cows adjusting their daily travel distances, exploration area, and cumulative activity counts in response to the allocation of areas with different virtual fence configurations. Hypothesis 2 was also supported by the results, with a decrease in cueing events over time and increased reliance with animals on audio cueing to avert receiving the mild electric pulse. These outcomes underscore the rapid learning capabilities of groups of nursing cows in responding to virtual fence boundaries.

Real-Time Monitoring of Grazing Cattle Using LORA-WAN Sensors to Improve Precision in Detecting Animal Welfare Implications via Daily Distance Walked Metrics.

Animal welfare monitoring relies on sensor accuracy for detecting changes in animal well-being. We compared the distance calculations based on global positioning system (GPS) data alone or combined with motion data from triaxial accelerometers. The assessment involved static trackers placed outdoors or indoors vs. trackers mounted on cows grazing on pasture. Trackers communicated motion data at 1 min intervals and GPS positions at 15 min intervals for seven days. Daily distance walked was determined using the following: (1) raw GPS data (RawDist), (2) data with erroneous GPS locations removed (CorrectedDist), or (3) data with erroneous GPS locations removed, combined with the exclusion of GPS data associated with no motion reading (CorrectedDist_Act). Distances were analyzed via one-way ANOVA to compare the effects of tracker placement (Indoor, Outdoor, or Animal). No difference was detected between the tracker placement for RawDist. The computation of CorrectedDist differed between the tracker placements. However, due to the random error of GPS measurements, CorrectedDist for Indoor static trackers differed from zero. The walking distance calculated by CorrectedDist_Act differed between the tracker placements, with distances for static trackers not differing from zero. The fusion of GPS and accelerometer data better detected animal welfare implications related to immobility in grazing cattle.

Factors important for bull purchasing decisions and management in extensive rangeland production systems of New Mexico: a producer survey.

There were 463,000 head of beef cows in New Mexico as of January 1, 2021 (NASS, 2020), down roughly 4% from 2020 (NASS, 2019). Frequent drought often results in herd reduction and loss of valuable genetic progress. Bull selection is critical due to their influence on herd development. A survey was conducted to identify traits important to bull selection in New Mexico. Surveys were collected digitally (n = 83) and via the mail (n = 74). Responses were largely by cow/calf producers averaging 57 ± 1 years old with 24 ± 1 years' experience. Survey respondents represented 4,384,296 acres of private owned, private leased, and leased public rangeland and irrigated pasture meadow in New Mexico and surrounding states. Average cow/calf operation size was 294 ± 39 head and average bull herd size was 21 ± 3 head. Average price paid for a bull in the past 2 years was $3,981 ± 213. Physical characteristics, individual bull performance information, and genetic information are all important traits to New Mexico bull buyers; however, most producers (56%) indicated that structural soundness was the most important factor influencing their selection decisions. Amongst expected progeny differences (EPDs), New Mexico producers consider the calving ease direct (CED) and birth weight (BW) EPDS to be most important (40% and 35%, respectively). Producers also indicated that multitrait selection indexes used by the American Angus Association were important to their selection decisions, with the beef value ($B) and weaned calf value ($W) indexes being cited most often (35% and 31%, respectively). Elements important to bull purchase include the bull's sale preview (87%), body condition score (86%), feed efficiency/average daily gain information (85%), and actual scrotal circumference (82%). Following purchase of a new bull, most (60%) keep the bull separate from the cow herd until the following breeding season, while the remaining 40% of producers turn newly purchased bulls out within 30 days of purchase. Sixty eight percent of producers evaluate semen quality annually or prior to the start of the breeding season. Interestingly, 39% of producers indicated they used reproductive technologies like artificial insemination and synchronization of estrus while most (80%) test for trichomoniasis. The primary factor influencing culling decisions is age, followed by soundness and fertility.

Distribution of livestock sectors in Canada: Implications for manureshed management.

Canada's livestock production and human populations are concentrated in southern regions. Understanding spatial and temporal distributions of animals and excreted nutrients is key to optimizing manure resources and minimizing impact of livestock. Here, we identify manureshed concerns and opportunities by reconciling nitrogen supply and demand on a regional and national scale. Data based on national statistics and farm surveys were allocated to homogeneous soil polygons (Soil Landscapes of Canada [SLC]) to quantify changes in nutrient distribution and ammonia (NH3 ) emissions across Canada (1981-2018). Livestock sectors tied to domestic consumption, dairy and poultry, were stable over time and well dispersed. Export driven beef production has moved west since 1981, whereas pig production was prominent in Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario. Per ha manure N excretion across livestock sectors in 2018 was generally low with 58% and 6% of the SLCs averaging <25 and >100 kg N ha-1 , respectively. Although only 3% of SLCs had average NH3 emissions reaching 16-200 kg ha-1 , most of these were located near cities and emissions spiked in spring when more people might be exposed. The greatest concentrations of nutrients and livestock occurred around the three largest metropolitan areas: Toronto, Montreal-Quebec City, and Vancouver, posing challenges for nutrient recycling and public health. This study shows that as Canadian cities and livestock agriculture grow in southern Canada, so will challenges around food production, human health, and managing nutrients. Livestock and land use strategies are needed to reconcile changing animal sectors and growing populations.

Evaluating water quality benefits of manureshed management in the Susquehanna River Basin.

Manureshed management guides the sustainable use of manure resources by matching areas of crop demand (nutrient sinks) with areas generating livestock manure (nutrient sources). A better understanding of the impacts of manureshed management on water quality within sensitive watersheds is needed. We quantified the potential water quality benefits of manureshed-oriented management through scenario-based analyses in the Susquehanna River Basin (SRB) using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool. Five manureshed management scenarios were developed and compared with a baseline "business-as-usual" scenario. The baseline assumes manure is less transportable, which means some locations have manure application in excess of crop demand. The "watershed nutrient balance" scenarios assume excess manure from surplus locations is transportable and that manure is applied around the SRB based on crop nutrient demand. The "watershed nutrient balance avoiding runoff prone areas" scenarios assume manure is transportable but not applied in vulnerable landscapes of the SRB. Each scenario was evaluated under two application rates considering crop nitrogen demand (N-based) and phosphorus demand (P-based). Phosphorus-based manureshed management was more effective in water quality improvements than N-based management. Phosphorus-based nutrient balance scenarios simulated 3 and 25% reduction in total N (TN) and total P (TP), respectively, from the baseline scenario at the watershed outlet. The N- and P-based scenarios avoiding runoff prone areas simulated 3 and 6% reduction in TN loss and 4 and 25.2% reduction in TP loss, respectively, from the baseline. Overall, the manureshed management scenarios were more effective in improving the quality of local streams in livestock-intensive regions than at the watershed outlet.

Envisioning the manureshed: Toward comprehensive integration of modern crop and animal production.

The specialization and intensification of agriculture have produced incredible gains in productivity, quality, and availability of agricultural commodities but have resulted in the separation of crop and animal production. A by-product of this separation has been the accumulation of manure regions where animal production is concentrated. Enter the "manureshed," an organizing framework for integrating animal and crop production where budgeting of manure nutrients is used to strategically guide their recycling and reuse in agricultural production systems where manure resources are of highest value. To move beyond regional nutrient balance analyses into the transformational realm required to mitigate "wicked" manure problems, manureshed management requires recognition of the challenges to systematically reorganizing resource flows. In better integrating crop and livestock systems, manureshed management must account for the unique nature of managing manure nutrients within individual livestock industries, anticipate trade-offs in substituting manure for commercial fertilizer, promote technologies to refine manure, and engage extensive social networks across scales that range from the farmgate to nation and beyond.

Manuresheds offer a system-level strategy for recovering manure's fertilizer value. Manuresheds address nutrient imbalances and environmental and socioeconomic outcomes. Manuresheds scale from single operations to a "mega-manureshed" transecting the southeastern United States. Manureshed management supports the strategic alignment of technologies, markets, and networks.

Opportunities to implement manureshed management in the Iowa, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania swine industry.

The U.S. swine industry is diverse, but opportunities exist to strategically improve manure management, especially given much of the industry's vertical integration. We investigate opportunities for improving manureshed management, using swine production examples in Iowa, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania as a lens into historical trends and the current range of management conditions. Manure management reflects regional differences and the specialized nature of hog farms, resulting in a large range of land bases required to assimilate manure generated by these operations. Selected representative farm scenarios were evaluated on an annual basis; farm-level manuresheds were largest for Pennsylvania sow farms and smallest for North Carolina nursery farms. Compared with nitrogen-based manuresheds, phosphorus-based manuresheds were up to 12.5 times larger. Technology advancements are needed to promote export of concentrated nutrients, especially phosphorus, from existing "source" manuresheds to suitable croplands. The industry is dynamic, as revealed by historical analysis of the siting of hog barns in Pennsylvania, which are currently trending toward the north and west where there is greater isolation to prevent the spread of disease and a larger land base to assimilate manure. Industry expansion should focus on locating animals in nutrient "sink" areas.

Challenges and opportunities for manureshed management across U.S. dairy systems: Case studies from four regions.

The manureshed represents cropland needed to safely assimilate manure nutrients from an animal feeding operation. Dairy manuresheds can be contained on-farm but may need to involve additional farms that can assimilate excess nutrients. We present case studies reviewing challenges and opportunities to manureshed management in four major dairy-producing states using available information on local manuresheds. Additionally, geographic information system software was used with data from regulated Minnesota dairies to assess cropland assimilative capacities and transport needs surrounding large dairies. Manureshed requirements vary across regions, but increased import of feed and soil phosphorus accumulation constrain on-farm manure utilization across the United States. In Minnesota, a growing proportion of Jersey cattle and differences in continuous corn (Zea mays L.) vs. corn-alfafa (Medicago sativa L.) rotations contribute to the amount of land needed to absorb dairy manure nutrients. Farm-gate budgets reveal that N-based manuresheds can be contained within Idaho dairies, but P-based manuresheds extend beyond the farm. In New Mexico, relocation of surplus manure nutrients off the farm is common via informal networks, but incentives to strengthen these networks could ensure sustainable manureshed management. Evaluation of manureshed requirements in Pennsylvania is often complicated by the need for additional nutrient management planning and greater understanding of nutrient balances on the preponderance of small dairies. Nutrient imbalances with highly concentrated dairy production often lead to the need for manure transport off-farm. However, advances in herd and cropland management offer opportunities to improve on-farm nutrient efficiencies, and emerging networks and technologies promise to facilitate manure export when needed.

The social networks of manureshed management.

Manureshed management-the strategic use of manure nutrients that prioritizes recycling between livestock systems and cropping systems-provides a comprehensive framework for sustainable nutrient management that necessitates the collaboration of many actors. Understanding the social dimensions of collaboration is critical to implement the strategic and technological requirements of functional manuresheds. To improve this understanding, we identified aspirational networks of actors involved in manureshed management across local, regional, and national scales, principally in the United States, elucidating key relationships and highlighting the breadth of interactions essential to successful manureshed management. We concluded that, although the social networks vary with scale, the involvement of a common core set of actors and relationships appears to be universal to the successful integration of modern livestock and crop production systems necessary for functional manuresheds. Our analysis also reveals that, in addition to agricultural producers, local actors in extension and advisory services and private and public sectors ensure optimal outcomes at all scales. For manureshed management to successfully integrate crop and livestock production and sustainably manage manure nutrient resources at each scale, the full complement of actors identified in these social networks is critical to generate innovation and ensure collaboration continuity.

Land use change and collaborative manureshed management in New Mexico.

Agricultural communities of New Mexico regularly redistribute manure nutrients from dairies to nearby croplands to fulfill agronomic nutrient needs and protect water quality. Yet competition for water resources can result in land use change that affects these cooperative manure transfers. Focusing on three clusters of New Mexico dairy farms and their surrounding lands (three manuresheds), we calculated the magnitude of land use changes in 2008-2019 and the balance between manure nutrient supply and crop demand in 2019 to assess how past change may predict future prospects for sustainable management. The overall magnitude of change was small, with each manureshed experiencing a different complement: an exchange of cropland and rangeland in the Roosevelt manureshed (7,975 ha rangeland to cropland; 7,624 ha cropland to rangeland), a 464-ha gain in cropland but a 1,187-ha loss of "spreadable" land (cropland, rangeland, fallow) to developed land in the Doña Ana manureshed, and relatively minor changes in the Chaves manureshed. Nutrient supply and demand were mainly in balance, but a surplus of manure phosphorus (P) in the Chaves manureshed and a thin margin of P assimilation by croplands in the Roosevelt manureshed point to the need for preserving existing croplands and understanding of effects of dairy manure on shortgrass rangeland. Our assessment suggests that an ideal scenario would entail manure being generated in landscapes with portfolios of productive lands that can sustainably use the manure nutrients to minimize environmental quality concerns and agronomic tradeoffs. Coordinated, participatory, and interdisciplinary research and planning are needed.

Poultry manureshed management: Opportunities and challenges for a vertically integrated industry.

Manureshed management seeks to address systemic imbalances in nutrient distributions at scales beyond the farmgate and potentially across county and state boundaries. The U.S. poultry industry, which includes broilers, layers, pullets, and turkeys, has many characteristics that are compatible with achieving a vision of manureshed management, including a history of engaging in local and regional programs to better distribute manure resources. Despite widespread vertical integration that supports large-scale strategic decision making and dry manures that favor off-farm transport, there are still many challenges to poultry manureshed management that require engaging stakeholders other than just the poultry industry. Analysis of county-level nutrient budgets highlights the industry's "mega-manureshed," extending from the Mid-Atlantic, across the southeast, and into northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The analysis also identifies areas with legacy nutrient build-up that are still present today. Implementing manureshed management in the U.S. poultry industry requires comprehensive consideration of manure treatment technologies, alternative uses such as bioenergy production, market development for treated manure products, transport of manure nutrients from source to sink areas, and manure brokering programs that promote manure nutrient distribution. Fortunately, past and present evolution and innovation within the industry places it as a likely leader of the manureshed vision.

Applying ecological site concepts and state-and-transition models to a grazed riparian rangeland.

Ecological sites and state-and-transition models are useful tools for generating and testing hypotheses about drivers of vegetation composition in rangeland systems. These models have been widely implemented in upland rangelands, but comparatively, little attention has been given to developing ecological site concepts for rangeland riparian areas, and additional environmental criteria may be necessary to classify riparian ecological sites. Between 2013 and 2016, fifteen study reaches on five creeks were studied at Tejon Ranch in southern California. Data were collected to describe the relationship between riparian vegetation composition, environmental variables, and livestock management; and to explore the utility of ecological sites and state-and-transition models for describing riparian vegetation communities and for creating hypotheses about drivers of vegetation change. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to classify the environmental and vegetation data (15 stream reaches × 4 years) into two ecological sites and eight community phases that comprised three vegetation states. Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was used to determine the influence of abiotic site variables, annual precipitation, and cattle activity on vegetation clusters. Channel slope explained the greatest amount of variation in vegetation clusters; however, soil texture, geology, watershed size, and elevation were also selected as important predictors of vegetation composition. The classification tree built with this limited set of abiotic predictor variables explained 90% of the observed vegetation clusters. Cattle grazing and annual precipitation were not linked to qualitative differences in vegetation. Abiotic variables explained almost all of the observed riparian vegetation dynamics-and the divisions in the CART analysis corresponded roughly to the ecological sites-suggesting that ecological sites are well-suited for understanding and predicting change in this highly variable system. These findings support continued development of riparian ecological site concepts and state-and-transition models to aid decision making for conservation and management of rangeland riparian areas.