ENCS406 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Cirsium Arvense, Livestock Grazing Comparison, Agropyron

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Environmental and Conservation Sciences
• Course: ENCS406
• Professor: Edward Bork

Document Summary

0. 7 ha/aum for excellent condition festuca-stipa rt on loamy range site. Converting aum/acre to ha/aum (stocking rates) (cid:884). 5 (cid:1876) aum/acre=(cid:1877) ha/aum (cid:883) production (often high in quality: ex. Wetlands > grasslands > shrublands > forests. Proportion of wetland area is small, but their importance is big: lots of crude protein. Increaser species are shorter, tolerant of grazing and xeric conditions: danthonia, koeleria, Agropyron, dryland carex: heavy grazing of grassland may increase woody species (symphoricarpos and populus). If the prefere(cid:374)tial grasses are hea(cid:448)ily grazed to the poi(cid:374)t (cid:449)here they"re degraded, there"s (cid:373)ore soil a(cid:374)d (cid:373)oisture a(cid:448)aila(cid:271)le for adja(cid:272)e(cid:374)t (cid:449)oody spe(cid:272)ies to e(cid:374)(cid:272)roa(cid:272)h upo(cid:374) Cattle spent twice as much time in open grassland as they (cid:449)ould"(cid:448)e if they (cid:449)ere ra(cid:374)do(cid:373)ly grazing. Ideally, defer usage to the late summer/fall then you can get away with heavier stocking. If you must graze in the spring, graze lightly!