RANGE IMPROVEMENT BY DEFERRED GRAZING. 13 



some localities the stand more than doubled in some seasons, though 

 the forage was grazed each year. Grazing thins the seedling stand, 

 of course, even when confined to the autumn, but in the latter case 

 destruction is not nearly as great as when the lands are cropped 

 before the seedling roots are developed. Moderate autumn grazing 

 on lands at medium elevations resulted in an average loss in seedlings 

 of 51.9 per cent. On the higher ranges 56.7 per cent of the seedlings 

 which had survived the drought period were destroyed by sheep. 

 This loss is largely offset, however, by the planting of another seed 

 crop, from which a stand of seedlings is produced the following 

 year. In view of this and of the urgent need for feed in the autumn, 

 the loss of seedlings due to grazing can not be considered serious 

 enough to justif}^ closing the range. 



The seedlings are not subject to loss by moderate autumn grazing 

 after the first season of growth, since the root system is then so well 

 developed that the plants are not pulled up by cropping or seriously 

 injured by trampling. 



To sum up the advantages of deferred grazing over yearlong graz- 

 ing and season-long protection: (1) It restores and maintains the 

 vegetation without the loss of the forage crop in any year; (2) it 

 insures the seed being planted, thereby overcoming the chief disad- 

 vantage of yearlong protection; (3) it does away with the fire danger 

 resulting from the accumulation of inflammable material under year- 

 long protection. 



In addition, if overstocking and bad management are guarded 

 against, there will be no material injury to forest reproduction or the 

 cover on watersheds. 



APPLICATION OF DEFERRED GRAZING TO RANGE MANAGEMENT. 



Deferred grazing can be applied on any range where the forage 

 is palatable and nutritious after seed maturity, and where water is 

 available for stock. The food value of the herbage of most species 

 in the autumn is relatively high. The herbage of grasses and grass- 

 like plants after seed maturity is somewhat better preserved than 

 that of certain succulent weed species, whose leaves may either be 

 dropped or partly decomposed. Consequent^, grass lands need not 

 be grazed as promptly after the seed matures as weed areas. The 

 weed type of vegetation, however, matures its seed earlier than 

 grasses and grasslike plants, and so offers an exceptional opportunity 

 for deferred grazing. 



Of course, the herbage can not be used unless there is an adequate 

 supply of water for the stock. Water facilities may be developed 

 on many ranges by the construction of dams, by the protection and 

 development of springs, and even by digging wells and building 



