Giovanna Aguilar, Karla Leonard, Christine Perez, Lorena Almaraz, & Dr. Ruben Alarcon
Abstract
Land managers are using grazing animals to help control weeds for fire prevention. During the spring of 2023 goats and sheep were brought to the CSUCI campus to clear a 10 acre field of non-native weeds adjacent to University Drive. The purpose of this study was to document the foraging behavior of the goats and sheep to identify which type of weeds they prefer to feed on. The field was divided into eight paddocks. Prior to the goats arrival, we characterized the vegetation along twelve 20 meter transects and sampled biomass in 0.6 x 0.6 m2 plots. While the goats and sheep were in their paddocks we observed their foraging behavior using binoculars. We monitored goats and sheep and distinguishing their age, breed and size for 10 min increments in order to identify their foraging preferences. The study is ongoing, but we anticipate differences in the foraging preferences of goats and sheep.
Details
Session 1
9:30am – 11:00am
Grand Salon
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