PLANT SUCCESSION AND RANGE MANAGEMENT. 

 PALATABILITY. 



41 



The profusion of weedy or nongrasslike plants and the scattered 

 occurrence of grasses make the foxglove-sweet-sage-yarrow consocia- 

 tion best suited for the grazing of sheep. In general, only the 

 grasses and a very few of the nongrasslike species of the vegetation 

 characteristic of the second stage are eagerly grazed by cattle and 

 horses. These constitute only a very small proportion of the plant 



Low Larkspur 

 (Oe/p/y/'n/um menj/e^/V)! 



Fig. 15. — Plants characteristic of the early second-weed stage. 



^_^^Peppergrass ^, 



cover. While, as already stated, sheep crop a grass range less closely 

 than cattle and horses, sheep nevertheless eat the herbage of grasses 

 where such feed constitutes only a relatively small part of the total 

 forage crop. Most of the nongrasslike plants are grazed more or 

 less closely by sheep. Therefore, the highest possible utilization of 

 the second-weed-stage type is obtained by the grazing of sheep, pro- 

 vided, of course, the animals are properly handled. 



