Idaho fescue clipped to a 1-cm. stubble height at flowering, 

 but with equal removal of surrounding vegetation, produced 

 double the number of flower stalks and over 20 percent more 

 herbage the following year. 



The variable effects of competition are usually ignored in 

 clipping studies. The investigator often justifies his actions by 

 holding competition more or less constant in any one study 

 and by expressing results in relative terms. Unfortunately, the 

 results from such studies are often used on an actual rather 

 than relative base and applied by the land manager to condi- 

 tions where competition is completely different from that of 

 the study. Is it correct to use herbage removal guides devel- 

 oped from species grown under full competition for the same 

 species grown on range where competition from surrounding 

 vegetation has been reduced by grazing? To answer this ques- 

 tion, we must first know how much influence competition 

 has on the effects of herbage removal. 



This paper describes the results of a study that gives 

 some indication of the relative effects of competition on the 

 ability of Idaho fescue to withstand heavy and extremely 

 heavy clipping. 



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