Many, if not most, in the grazing management or range management field seem to think the answer to poor grazing conditions is the result of high livestock numbers. While this certainly has a bearing on grassland health it is not the total answer to the question. When properly applied, reducing numbers is only part of the solution, rest from grazing is essential and most likely the primary issue. (Reducing numbers can actually cause rangeland health issues over the long haul as plants can get old and moribund due to lack of animal impact.)

When observing livestock grazing ‘Ice-cream grasses’ (Some call them decreasers) one finds that they are so palatable that when cattle find them present on the rangeland they will graze it to the ground and when that grass tries to recover from continuous grazing that plant is almost immediately grazed to the ground again and again, thus it slowly dies as it cannot recover from the continuous grazing. (Starved to death as roots can’t replace lost energy reserves.) This is the reason that Mr. Bentley in 1898 had a hard time finding Indian Grass, Eastern Gamma Grass and Big Bluestem on the rangelands in Abilene Texas area. In fact, in his report to the Department of Agriculture, he stated that some grasses were approaching ‘extinction’ at the time of writing. (1898) Thankfully this extinction has not occurred, and we can still find seed sources of these amazing plants, when a properly applied graze-rest program is utilized. (Awesome)

Click on the below Texas GLC web site to read the short article. Mr. Bentley understood what was happening on the rangeland 122 years ago. It is time we take the time to understand.

Cattle Ranges of the Southwest

Yes in 1898 the problem was recognized and published, yet even today in 2020 most are not willing to accept the fact that rest from grazing is critical when asking the rangeland for maximum, sustainable and profitable production.

Photo below shows Indian and Big Blue after brush management. This would not occur if continuous grazing were being practiced and certainly would not be sustained five years post brush management.