It is (relatively) well known that cattle avoid consumption of certain plants under free grazing conditions, such as ragworts, docks, and buttercups. As is frequently the case with common knowledge, references to scientific publications are hard to find. Have there been any scientific experiments carried out, or have exploratory results been published anywhere on this matter?
There are evidences of a contrasting use of plants by domestic herbivores for free-ranging livestock. Heathlands are nice areas to observe this, since its low productivity favours free ranging management, and sheep, goats, horses and cattle can be found on such areas. There is a nice review on how each of them perform on heathlands and how they shape the plant community at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10457-012-9519-3#
Similar questions have been raised in mountain pastures:
DOI: 10.3170/2008-7-18358
However, these are mainly based on indirect approaches that studied changes in the plant community, not by actually quantifying the uptake by the animal. Some other approaches that I know of study the stomach content or faeces: e.g. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880908002478
It is an interesting question since there are increasing evidences on the importance of herbivores in supporting biodiversity and ecosystem services of these communities.
You may want to get in contact with Jozef Šibík (Slovak academy of sciences) or David J. Cooper (Colorado State) they have been studying grazing on alpine ecosystems for some time now.
Here is one of the first products of their work: Diversity and vegetation patterns in alpine communities as a result of discontinued grazing impact – intercontinental comparison
Jozef Šibík, Ivana Šibíková & David J. Cooper
See also these (and references therein):
Odadi, W.O., T.P. Young, and J.B Okeyo-Owuor. 2007. The effects of wild herbivores on cattle diet in Laikipia rangeland, Kenya. Rangeland Ecology and Management 60:179-185.
Odadi, W.O., S.A. Abdulrazak, M.M. Karachi, & T.P. Young. 2013. Protein supplementation-driven shifts in forage selection by cattle: implications for cattle wildlife coexistence. Ecological Applications 23:455-463.
You may find this publication interesting:
Comparative Studies of the Ingestive Behaviour and Herbage Intake of Sheep and Cattle Grazing Indigenous Hill Plant Communities
J. Hodgson, T. D. A. Forbes, R. H. Armstrong, M. M. Beattie and E. A. Hunter
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Dear colleagues, thank you very much for your answers. They are valuable attributions to my research project.
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