i 



32 BULLETIjST 1089, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICIJLTUEE. 



DEFERRED AND ROTATION GRAZING. 



Good lierding management and a correction of misuse of the rang 

 through the practice of locally confining the herd necessitates em! 

 ployment of the principles of deferred and rotation grazing. Thi 

 involves use of the range under a system which will permit a maxij 

 mum of grazing and at the same time a natural reproduction of th' 

 forage crop in such way as to maintain the relation of grazing t 

 these requirements at different stages of growth. 



The following principles developed by observations of sheep antj 

 cattle grazing on the national forests of the western United States ^ 

 will apply as well to Alaskan reindeer grazing: 



(1) Removal of the herbage year after year during the early part of th 

 growing season weakens the plants, delays the resumption of growth, advance 

 the time of maturity, and decreases the seed production and the fertility c 

 the seed. ;' 



(2) Under the practice of yearlong or season-long grazing, the growth of th^ 

 plants and seed production are seriously interfered with. A range so usee 

 when stocked to its full capacity, finally becomes denuded. 



(3) Grazing after seed maturity in no way interferes with flowerstalk pr< 

 duction. As much fertile seed is produced as where the vegetation is pn 

 tected from grazing during the whole of the year. 



(4) Deferred grazing (grazing after seed maturity) insures the planting c 

 the seed crop and the permanent e.stablishment of seedling plants withoif 

 sacrificing the season's forage. ' 



(5) Deferred grazing can be applied wherever the vegetation remairj 

 palatable after seed maturity and produces a seed crop, provided ample wat€' 

 facilities for stock exist or may be developed. 



(6) Yearlong protection against grazing of the range favors plant growt 

 and seed production, but does not insure the planting of the seed. Moreo're .. 

 it is impracticable, because of the entire loss of the forage crop. * 



Based on the above principles, the system of deferred and rotatio ) 

 grazing aims to minimize the injury from grazing during the earl? 

 and main gTowth periods of the vegetation (1) by having each poii 

 tion of the range bear its share of the early grazing and (2) b' 

 protecting each portion of the range in its turn until after see - 

 maturity, so that the main forage plants will regain their vigor an i 

 reproduce either from seed or vegetatively.^^ This may be accon' 

 plished by di^'iding the grazing unit into three or four parts o 

 about equal carrying capacity, in such way as to give the best contro 

 of stock on each portion, and by rotating the time of grazing frorr 

 year to year progressively between these areas so as to give bot 

 deferred and early grazing to each in turn. 



At this time, on Alaskan ranges, deferred and rotation grazing ca 

 best be secured on parts of the range unit where localized ovei 



^^ Sampson,, Arthur W., Natural revegetation of range lands based upon growth requii 

 ments and life history of the vegetation : Journ. Agr. Research, U. S. Dept. Agr., vol. 

 no. 2, pp. 9.3-148, 1914. 



^ Jardine, James T., and Mark Anderson, Op. cit., pp. 60-65. 



