DESCRIPTIONS OF DEGREES OF FORAGE UTILIZATION 



Photograph Nos. 1, 2, and 3 - Very light to moderately light 



It would not be good economy to leave this amount of forage on 

 the range. Much more of it could be turned into livestock 

 products. This light degree of use favors the growth of tall 

 grasses at the expense of such excellent forage plants as fil- 

 ar ee, bur- clover, soft chess, and others that help keep the 

 range in better nutritive balance. More economic management 

 would therefore call for closer use, about that shown in photo- 

 graph 4, but not so close as shown in photographs 5 and 6. 



Photograph No. 4 - Moderate (about right) 

 Points to notice: 



(1) The range has a protective blanket of old forage growth 

 averaging about 2 inches high. 



(2) The remaining forage cover has a mottled, patchy appear- 

 ance from uneven grazing. 



(3) The forage partly hides small ground objects, squirrel 

 mounds, livestock trails, and small bare soil areas at 

 a distance of 20 feet or more, 



(4) Livestock have not grazed the forage out from under 

 shrubs and around the edges of rock. 



(5) Livestock have eaten the seed heads from the grasses 

 they like best, such as soft chess, but not from 

 grasses like red brome and ripgut grass. 



(6) Bur- clover seeds may be found on the ground (if this 

 species grows on the range) . 



Photographs Nos. 5 and 6 - Close and very close 

 Points to notice: 



(1) The range looks smooth, slicked off, and closely mowed; 

 about the same amount of vegetation is left on the 

 ground in the swales and on hill slopes (see photo- 

 graph 9) . 



(2) Practically all the grass stubble has been grazed off. 



(3) Small rocks, sticks, hoof prints, dung piles, squirrel 

 and gopher mounds, and small areas of bare soil can be 

 plainly seen at a distance of 20 feet or more, because 

 there is not enough old forage to hide them. 



(4) Livestock have grazed the forage out from under shrubs 

 and around rocks - places that are hard to get- at. 



(5) Bur- clover seed is difficult to find on the ground (if 

 this species grows on the range) because it has been 

 licked up by the livestock. 



8- 



