10 BULLETIN 72, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
eaten down, the cattle are put into a paddock which has been resting 
or recovering. Thus fresh paddocks are available for pasturing at 
successive intervals and the stand of grass maintained with a high 
productive capacity. Other ranches in the Territory have had similar 
success and Napier grass has definitely shown its value as a pasture 
grass (fig. 3). 
ROTATIONAL GRAZING 
Napier grass, like other grasses in improved pastures, should not 
be grazed continuously. In order to maintain a good stand and high 
level of productivity, a grass must be allowed to rest and recover after 
heavy grazing. The root reserves of a plant can be built up only when 
the plant is allowed to make some top growth and manufacture car- 
bohydrates in its leaves. If the leaves are continually being removed, 
root reserves become depleted and the plant is easily killed. This is 
Figure 4.— An excellent Napier -grass pasture which has been properly grazed. 
especially important with grasses of the bunch-grass type of growth, 
and Napier grass belongs in this group. 
The ranch should be divided into a number of paddocks and these 
grazed in rotation. Each paddock may be heavily grazed for a 
short period and then rested for a number of weeks so that the grass 
will have ample time to recover and accumulate a good supply of fresh 
top growth. 
The present method of pasturing Napier grass is to allow the grass 
to become fairly mature before the cattle are turned in. Many of the 
coarser and harder stalks are left uneaten, with consequent considera- 
ble waste. It is believed that by the proper method of rotational 
grazing of paddocks, pasturing heavily when the grass is fairly young 
and succulent, removing the cattle to another paddock before the grass 
has become permanently injured by close grazing and tramping, and 
a more frequent grazing of all paddocks for a shorter period each time 
a paddock is pastured, more efficiency and better quality feed would 
be obtained. The carrying capacity of a Napier-grass pasture under 
favorable growing conditions is high. One rancher estimates that one 
