There is nothing wrong with asparagus, but it is not as attractive as
ice cream, especially if there is no immediate competition for food. Overgrazed
“ice cream” plants and under-grazed “asparagus” plants commonly occur in the
same pasture under season long grazing conditions. Might I add that
under-grazing can result in overgrown plants that will choke themselves to
death over time, if not defoliated. A lot of money annually is pumped into
restoration projects, fencing, research, and litigation because of overgrazed
riparian areas that constantly get hammered by livestock doing what livestock
do best; that is, eat the best grass first.
If we use our knowledge of herd animals to mimic the grazing ungulates
of the past. Then livestock would be confined to herd and forced to constantly
move across rangelands mimicking wild animals of the past. I am confident and
the few land managers practicing this “management intensive” grazing style can
attest that rangelands would improve drastically. Rather that burning overgrown
forests and rangelands, which releases carbon into the atmosphere, we could
manage forage in a way that gives grass plants the competitive advantage
against shrubs and trees. Properly-grazed bunch grasses thrive, and can out
compete other plants for resources. Since grass captures more moisture and
carbon than trees and shrubs when in a thriving condition, not only would
rangeland production improve but this may be the best hope we have to solving
global warming.
The poster I made describes this in a visual way. Since I am a visual
learner, I hope it will help some people understand these concepts better than
I do.
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