Abstract
Releasing cattle (Bos taurus) to graze in outfields during the summer months has been a traditional practice in Norway for centuries. While outfields provide a low-cost and efficient method of feeding the cattle in summer, it comes with potential risks and drawbacks. With the recolonization of large carnivores in Norway, livestock must now share the forested outfields, which is an avenue for potential conflict. One modern innovation to the custom of outfield grazing is the use of global positioning system (GPS) collars on the cattle. Farmers use the collars to create a virtual fence to contain cattle via satellite technology. These GPS collars are not only useful tools for containing livestock, but they are also valuable for research purposes, such as tracking cattle locations throughout the summer. For this study, entire herds of adult cattle were collared in Innlandet county for the summer grazing seasons in 2021 (n = 38) and 2022 (n = 40). This study utilized generalized linear mixed models to explore the cattle’s selection of distance to roads, water, land cover type, vegetation features, and topographical features using the resource selection function (RSF) to assess cattle habitat selection. The first research question aimed to identify the most influential habitat variables on cattle selection, revealing that distance to roads, land cover type, and elevation substantially impacted their preferences. Cattle exhibited a strong preference for areas near roads, lower elevations, and regions with high forage availability. The second research question explored if the presence of carnivores altered cattle habitat selection. The findings revealed that in years with carnivore observations, there were changes in the cattle's preferences for elevation, aspect, and proximity to water sources. The relationship between carnivore presence and the selection of these habitat factors exhibited complexity and variability, suggesting that the observed changes in cattle preferences may be influenced by multiple factors beyond the presence of carnivores.
