VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Buchloe dactyloides | Buffalo Grass 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Buffalo grass is one of the most important forage grasses of the
shortgrass and mixed-grass prairies.  All classes of livestock graze it
during all seasons [59].  The foliage is nutritious and palatable when
green, and its nutritional quality does not decline greatly as it cures
[52,68].

Buffalo grass is also important wildlife forage.  Wildlife consumers of
buffalo grass include white-tailed deer [22], bison [73], pronghorn,
black-tailed jackrabbit [38], and prairie dogs [24]. Buffalo grass is
especially important in bison [73] and black-tailed prairie dog diets
[24].  Bison in northeastern Colorado consumed it year-round, with mean
percent composition in their diet least in May (41%) and highest in
August (84%) [73].  Black-tailed prairie dog also use it year-round,
consuming all parts of the plant [13].  Annual black-tailed prairie dog
consumption of buffalo grass averaged 23 percent in western South
Dakota, peaking in June and July (34%) and reaching a low in December
(8%) [90].

Mountain plover nest on blue grama-buffalo grass flats in Colorado [47].


PALATABILITY : 
Palatability of buffalo grass has been rated good for cattle, domestic
sheep, and horses [36].  Reitz and Morris [81] rated it one of the most
palatable grasses in Montana.  Livestock utilization may vary by region
and year, however.  In a cattle utilization study in South Dakota
mixed-grass prairie, cattle selected several other graminoids over
buffalo grass even though buffalo grass was the most productive
graminoid on the study site [96].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Nutritional value of fresh, mature buffalo grass in the United States
was [70]:

                   Percent
dry matter          48.9
ash                  6.1
crude fiber         13.0
digestible protein  
  cattle             2.9
  domestic sheep     2.9
  domestic goats     2.7
  horses             2.7 
  rabbits            2.9

The National Academy of Sciences [70] also provides nutritional analyses
of fresh and cured buffalo grass in other phenological stages (immature,
dough stage, ripe, overripe), and for fresh buffalo grass-western
wheatgrass-bluestem (Grama spp.) mixes.  Energy (calories/kg) and
mineral analyses of buffalo grass are given.  Harlan [50] published a
nutritional analysis of buffalo grass seed.

Dittberner and Olson [36] rated buffalo grass fair in energy and protein
value.  They rated its nutritional value for wildlife in several states
as follows:

                      UT      CO      MT      ND

elk                   good    fair    poor    ----
mule deer             good    poor    poor    ----
white-tailed deer     ----    ----    ----    poor
pronghorn             good    ----    ----    poor 
upland game birds     good    good    poor    poor
waterfowl             fair    ----    ----    ----
nongame birds         good    ----    poor    ----
small mammals         good    good    poor    ----


COVER VALUE : 
Dittberner and Olson [36] rated the value of buffalo grass in providing
cover for wildlife as follows:

                         WY       ND

upland game birds       good     poor
small nongame birds     good     poor
small mammal cover      good     poor


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Buffalo grass sod is ranked superior in controlling erosion [100,106].
It has been ranked first among native grasses in controlling wind
erosion [10].  It is recommended for rehabilitating surface-mined lands
[92], and has been successfully established on bentonite [87] and coal
mine [98] spoils.


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Buffalo grass is planted for lawns [42,66,103] and used in hayfield
mixtures.  It is of limited use as a hay grass when planted alone,
however, due to its short stature [89].

The sod houses of early Great Plains settlers were constructed mostly
from buffalo grass [52].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Buffalo grass is highly resistant to grazing [5,9,16].  It usually
increases under heavy grazing, especially at the expense of tallgrass
species [51,76].  Its response to grazing may vary by site, however.  On
the Central Plains Experimental Range in Colorado, Archer and Tieszen
[9] found that buffalo grass importance value increased with moderate to
heavy continuous grazing on ridges and midridges, but decreased with
such grazing on swales.  Importance value was low on all sites with
light grazing.  Buffalo grass responses to various other grazing regimes
are described [66,74,93].

Buffalo grass is highly drought resistant, although somewhat less so
than blue grama [89].

Buffalo grass seed is commerically available [43,81].  Guidelines for
seeding buffalo grass onto rangeland, or establishing it from cut sod,
are available [10,21,31,43]

Marcum and Engelke [65] provide field test results on buffalo grass
response to various pre- and postemergent herbicides.

Related categories for Species: Buchloe dactyloides | Buffalo Grass