FEINCIING FOR UMFORM USE OF RANGE 



PROPERLY LOCATED FENCING CAN PROVIDE: 



(a) Better distribution of grazing, 



(b) Easier handling of livestock. 



(c) Protection to run-down areas while they recover. 



(d) Protection while new seedings become established. 



(e) Control of straying and trespassing, 



(f ) Seasonal protection from hazardous areas such as bogs or 

 poisonous plants, 



(g) Segregation of kinds and classes of animals, 

 (h) Greater livestock production, 



HOW TO LOCATE FENCE FOR UNIFORM USE: 



(1) Make pastures with adequate size for each class you want to run 

 separately. For example, yearlings, 



(2) Where possible put interior fences on boundaries between range sites. 



a. If smooth covmtry is fenced in with rough co\intry — the smooth may 

 get too much use before the rough gets enough. 



b. If sands are fenced in with clays — the differences in the kinds of 

 grasses they produce will make it hard to graze the whole pasture 

 as you would like to see it grazed. For example, pasturage best 

 for spring may be half in one past\ire and half in another, if the 

 fence crosses a major soil difference, 



(3) Keep tame pasture, such as crested wheatgrass and smooth brome, fenced 

 separately from native pasture, (If tame and native are in the same 

 pasture, the livestock will usually graze too much on the kind smallest 

 in amount. The production from the kind needed most is then reduced 

 even more, ) 



(U) Where spotty or patchy grazing is serio\iS it may be corrected by a cross 

 fence dividing forage in half and then alternating all the livestock be- 

 tween the two halves while the other half grows up evenly, 



(5) Avoid long narrow pastures, especially those running north and south. 



(6) Avoid forming big pockets such as outfacing slopes in comers away 

 from water, 



(7) Fence location can sometimes divide permanent water for use in two 

 past\ires. If not, the fence location should permit grazing in all 

 directions from permanent water, 



(8) Break long mountain slopes to prevent too early use of high range, 



(9) Consider maintenance as well as ease of construction of fence in 

 proposed location, 



(10) Base pasture size for herd on season needed and potential forage pro- 

 duction, rather than on acres, 



(11) Use temporary fence to bring burned, eroded, reseeded, cleared, or 

 r\ui-down, areas back into full production. 



Your local Soil Conservation Service technicians will be glad to discuss and 

 help you fit this job to your own land, vegetation, and plan of operations, 



U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE 



MT-JS-18 

 57M-205 



