Animal unit:
- Commonly defines the average amount of forage consumed by a cow/calf production unit during a year as equal to 26 pounds of dry matter per day.
Warning Signs of Overgrazing:
- Abundance of unpalatable plants
- Distinct browse lines on woody plants
- Pedestaled plants
- Steep gully banks
- Low plant vigor
- Increased need for supplementation
- Increased livestock use of unpalatable plants
- Losses of livestock to toxic plants
Grazing Management Rules of Thumb:
- With proper grazing only 25 percent of each year’s annual forage production is consumed by livestock.
- Insects, rabbits, trampling, etc. consume 25 percent of each year’s annual forage production.