Opportunities for Increasing Range Grazing 

 Management Application Opportunities 



The amount of range grazing can be expanded by 

 improving grazing management systems, installing 

 structural and nonstructural range improvements, 

 and plant control. The increase in range grazing must 

 be related to both the demand for range grazing and 

 the demand for improved environmental quality. 



Increased supplies of range grazing can be achieved 

 by applying existing range management technology. 

 Some of the primary management tools are (1) graz- 

 ing management including kinds and classes of live- 

 stock, stocking rates, grazing seasons and improved 

 systems of grazing; (2) range improvements including 

 water development, fencing, seeding, and undesirable 

 plant control and pest management and control using 

 mechanical, fire, chemical, and biological methods; 

 and (3) through coordination with others uses. 



Better range condition and stewardship of the 

 range resource can be achieved through improved 

 management. The science of range management has 

 developed under a philosophy of stewardship — pre- 

 venting damage to public and private resources and 

 restoring depleted rangelands."^^^^ Through proper 

 management, range can be used perpetually for graz- 

 ing while simultaneously providing the public with 

 high-quality air and water, open space, and recre- 

 ation.*" 



Grazing systems are one means for getting the kind 

 of grazing desired throughout a management area. 

 Some simple systems entail no more than turning live- 

 stock into a fenced area, providing them with water 

 and salt, and removing the animals when the vegeta- 

 tion has been grazed to a desired amount. Other sys- 

 tems are quite complex and involve rotating livestock 

 among several pasture units during a given grazing 

 season with the order of rotation varied between 

 years. 



Improved grazing systems designed to consider the 

 multiple requirements of soil, vegetation, livestock, 

 wildlife, and nongrazing uses of the range usually will 

 support more grazing use over time than the grazing 

 management currently practiced in most areas. Initia- 

 tion of improved range management programs on 

 ranges suffering from too many livestock and too lit- 



" Roberts, Paul H. Hoofprints on forest ranges — the early 

 years of National Forest range administration. 151 p., illus. San 

 Antonio, Texas. 1963. 



58Stoddard, Laurence A., and Arthur D. Smith. Range man- 

 agement. Ed. 2, 433 p., illus. New York. 1955. 



5' U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. The western 

 range. Senate Doc. 199, 620 p. 1936. 



*" Lloyd, R. Duane, et. al. Range ecosystem research: The chal- 

 lenge of change. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agric. Info. Bull. 

 No. 346, 26 p. 1970, 



tie management can produce significant increases in 

 forage and environmental quality at low cost. 



Providing forage in relation to the physiological 

 needs of both the plants and grazing animals is one 

 way toward increased effectiveness through manage- 

 ment. An example is managing range in a manner 

 which provides forage for elk winter use, deer spring 

 use, and fall livestock use, and simultaneously main- 

 taining a high ecological condition. Grazing systems 

 and related improvements must be designed to meet 

 specific site requirements and must be applied accord- 

 ingly to economic feasibility, site production poten- 

 tial, and vegetation needs. As range management 

 intensifies, better care and management of the envi- 

 ronment will result. Management systems must con- 

 sider costs of the predicted outputs, i.e., cost- 

 effectiveness is an important criterion of successful 

 grazing systems. 



Structural improvements, such as fences and water 

 developments, are designed to control the movement 

 and distribution of livestock and facilitate their han- 

 dling. Nonstructural improvements are practices, 

 such as seeding, fertilization, and plant control, that 

 are designed to increase production, nutritional qual- 

 ity, and availability of forage. 



Some rangeland is currently underused or not used 

 at all because of inadequate drinking water for live- 

 stock. Under intensive and improved management 

 systems, these ranges often can be brought into pro- 

 ductive use by constructing fences and developing 

 additional water supplies. 



Seeding of palatable grasses and legumes also pro- 

 vides significant opportunities to increase forage pro- 

 duction. Seeding can be used to hasten rehabilitation 

 of depleted ranges, replace less palatable or less desir- 

 able species, or provide forage at critical seasons. For 

 example, crested wheatgrass is often seeded to pro- 

 vide palatable early spring forage so that grazing of 

 native range can be delayed until the native plants are 

 more fully developed and better able to withstand 

 grazing. 



Control of poisonous plants, such as larkspur in 

 the foothills and mountain grasslands of the Rocky 

 Mountains, can open large areas to early summer 

 grazing by cattle. Another opportunity to provide 

 additional range forage, especially in the West, is the 

 control of shrubs such as mesquite, sagebrush, and 

 juniper that have invaded grasslands. 



Insects and diseases consume large amounts of 

 vegetation and limit seed supplies of many range 

 plants. Integrated pest management programs, though 

 now in their infancy, have promise to enhance range 

 yields. 



189 



