14 BULLETIN 790, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGMCTJLTUKE. 



sheep. This belief is due to the closer cropping by sheep and to the 

 fact that sheep are handled in bands and may pack the soil more 

 than cattle. Too early grazing of the same intensity by either class 

 of stock, however, will produce essentially the same result. When 

 the soil is wet cattle do as much damage as sheep or more. They 

 sink deeper into the soft ground, slide around more, and tear or press 

 out more vegetation than do sheep under similar conditions and 

 equally heavy grazing. 



THE CLOSE OF THE GRAZING PERIOD. 



The close of a late spring grazing period should be governed by 

 the time that grazing on the summer range may properly begin. 

 If the spring range will not carry the stock on it until this date, 

 there are too many stock. The close of a summer grazing period 

 should be governed, as a general rule, by weather conditions and 

 by the supply of fall and winter grazing. Late grazing, when not 

 accompanied by bad management of the stock, will not injure the 

 stock. However, it is not advisable as a general policy to graze the 

 range in the fall as long as the stock can get enough forage to live 

 on. A little old feed in the spring and early summer may be neces- 

 sary to help carry them in case of a late growing season and a 

 consequent shortage of new forage growth. Whether the old forage 

 to be reserved for use the following year is provided by an earlier 

 close of the grazing season than would be necessary if no feed is 

 reserved, or by reducing the number of stock without a change in the 

 season, depends upon local conditions. 



The close of winter and early spring grazing periods should be 

 governed by the main growing period of the vegetation on the range 

 in question. If the range is to be kept up and a normal forage crop 

 produced over a period of years following, the vegetation must be 

 given a chance to grow. This means that stock should be removed at 

 the beginning of the main growing season. 



Where yearlong grazing is practiced on range of comparatively 

 uniform altitude, the number of stock should be reduced about 50 

 per cent during the main growing season of the main forage species 

 on the area, and the stock left on the range should be kept well dis- 

 tributed. Further study may show that a reduction greater or less 

 than 50 per cent will give the best results in total animal feed fur- 

 nished each year over a period of years. It may also show that, in 

 addition to reduction of stock, a system of deferred and rotation 

 grazing may be necessary in order to secure the maximum animal 

 feed over a period of years. In the absence of reduction of stock dur- 

 ing the main growing season, a system of deferred and rotation graz- 

 ing to give the forage on each portion of the range a chance to grow 

 to seed maturity occasionally is imperative. 



