I am very interested in basic and applied
research to uncover the mechanisms of diet and habitat
selection. My expertise is in grazing animal nutrition and
behavior, therefore I am interested in how the nutritional
state of animals influences what they eat. My graduate
students and I focus our research on how to increase the use
of woody and undesirable plants on rangeland. I believe that
animals could be selected or trained to eat significantly
greater quantities of unpalatable range plants, like
sagebrush, juniper, l spotted knapweed or yellow starthistle.
This requires an understanding of the metabolic and behavioral
mechanisms that allow animals to consume these plants.
Increasing the use of specific undesirable plants could lead
to controlled, "targeted grazing" methods to manage
habitat, mitigate grazing impacts, or provide biological
control of weedy brush species.
Recent Publications
Roselle, L., S. Seefeldt, and K. Launchbaugh.
2010.
Sheep grazing after wildfire in sagebrush steppe may not
affect vegetation recovery. International Journal of Wildland
Fire 19:115-122.
Frost, R.A., L.M. Wilson, K.L.
Launchbaugh, and E.M.Hovde. 2008.
Seasonal change in forage value of rangeland weeds in North
Idaho. Invasive Plant Science and Management1(4):343-351.
Wallace, J.M. L.M. Wilson,and K.L.
Launchbaugh. 2008. The Effect of Targeted Grazing and
Biological Control on Yellow Starthistle (Centaurea
solstitialis) in Canyon Grasslands of Idaho.
Rangeland Ecology and Management 61:314–320.
Frost, R.A., K.L. Launchbaugh, and C.A. Taylor, Jr. 2008. Age and
body condition of goats influence consumption of juniper and monoterpene-treated
feed. Rangeland Ecology and Management 61:48-54.
Fraker-Marble, M.J., K.L. Launchbaugh, and J.W. Walker.
2007. Differences in food ingestion and digestion among sheep classified as high
or low sagebrush consumers. Rangeland Ecology and Management 60:191-194.
Lopez-Ortiz, S., J.A. Pfister, K.L. Launchbaugh, and C.C. Gay. 2007. Forage
availability and body condition affect intake of lupine (Lupinus
leucophyllus)
by Grazing Cattle. The Professional Animal Scientist 23:450-466.
Launchbaugh, K.L.,
R.J. Daines, and J.W. Walker.
[Eds.] 2006. Targeted
Grazing: A Natural Approach to Vegetation
Management and Landscape Enhancement.
Published by the American Sheep Industry
Association. Centennial, CO
(available online at:www.cnr.uidaho.edu/rx-grazing/Handbook.htm)
Peterson, J.,
K.L. Launchbaugh,
M. Pickering
and S.J. Hollenhorst. 2006.
A comparison of computer-assisted
instruction and field-based learning for
youth rangeland education.Journal of
Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Education25:174-182.
Launchbaugh,
K.L. and L.D. Howery. 2005. Understanding
landscape use patterns of livestock as a
consequence of foraging behavior. Rangeland
Ecology and Management 57:58:99–108.
Lopez-Ortiz, S., K.E. Panter, J.A. Pfister,
and K.L. Launchbaugh. 2004. The effect of
body condition on disposition of alkaloids
from silvery lupine (Lupinus argenteus Pursh)
in sheep. Journal of Animal Sciences 82:
2798-2805.
Pfister, J.A., F.D. Provenza, K.E. Panter,
B.L. Stegelmeier, and K.L. Launchbaugh.
2002. Risk management to reduce livestock
losses from toxic plants. Journal of Range
Management 55:291-300.
Walker, J.W., S.D. McCoy, K.L. Launchbaugh,
M.J. Fraker and J. Powell. 2002.
Calibrating fecal NIRS equations for
predicting botanical composition of diets.
Journal of Range Management 55:374-382.
Education
Ph.D. - Rangeland Science, Utah State University
M.S.
- Rangeland Science, Texas A&M University
B.S.
- Rangeland Management, North Dakota
State University
Contact
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