Monthly botanical composition of the diet of cattle in the rangelands of Mendoza plain, Argentina

Monthly botanical composition of cattle diet was determined for the period July 1994 to June 1995 in faecal samples by microhistological analysis. Principal components and cluster analyses were used to evaluate diet homogeneity among months. November through March diets were mainly composed of grasses and forbs (50 to 73%). During the April–September period, shrubs represented 36 to 57% of the overall diet. In October more than half the diet came from two species, one shrub (32%) and one grass (25%) making this month very different from the rest. The composition of cattle diets was significantly correlated with temperature and/or rainfall.