Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

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© FAO 2005

CONTENTS 

Foreword xiii 

Acknowledgements xv 

Contributors xvii 

Glossary of technical terms and abbreviations used in the text xviii 

Chapter 1 – Introduction 1 

Purpose of the book 13 

Structure of the book 13 

Complementary information resources 16 

References 17 

Chapter 2 – The changing face of pastoral systems in grass-dominated 

ecosystems of eastern Africa 

R.S. Reid, S. Serneels, M. Nyabenge and J. Hanson 

19 

Scope 19 

Mapping rangelands, livestock and pastoral peoples 21 

Plant communities in grasslands and rangelands 31 

Political and social systems in pastoral lands of eastern Africa 38 

Integration of grasslands into smallholder farming systems 

Case studies of the evolution of extensive range systems over the 

44 

last 40 years 45 

General 

Evolution of land use changes in the semi-arid rangelands surrounding the 

45 

Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem, straddling the Kenyan–Tanzanian border 46 

Protected areas and local land use: source of conflict in Tanzania 

Control of the tsetse fly and evolution of a subhumid-grassland in 

48 

southwestern Ethiopia: Ghibe Valley 50 

Current research in pastoral systems of eastern Africa 51 

Management of grasslands 51 

Desertification: driven by climate or overgrazing by livestock? 

How have pastoral ecosystems changed in response to livestock 

54 

and human-use changes? 57 

Overgrazing 57 

Competition between livestock and wildlife 57 

Changes in rangeland burning regimes 57 

Rangeland fragmentation and loss of wildlife habitat 57 

Impacts of expansion of cultivation and settlement 58 

Carbon sequestration 58

iv 

Bush encroachment 60 

Rehabilitation of grasslands 61 

Priorities for research and development programmes in pastoral lands 62 

Some history 62 

Rapidly changing systems with changing needs 

Focus generally on human welfare and maintaining environmental goods 

63 

and services 63 

More emphasis on providing pastoral people with high quality information 

Restoring pastoral access to key resources, increasing mobility and flexibility, and 

63 

ensuring security 

Addressing gaps in our knowledge about how pastoral systems work in 

64 

eastern Africa 64 

Addressing gaps in our knowledge about how these systems can be improved 65 

References 65 

Chapter 3 – Grasslands of South Africa 

Anthony R. Palmer and Andrew M. Ainslie 

77 

Introduction 78 

Physical features 81 

Climate 83 

Rainfall 83 

Seasonality of rainfall 84 

Temperatures 84 

Soils 85 

People 86 

Livestock 87 

Wildlife 88 

Land tenure 89 

Freehold and commercial sector 90 

Communal and subsistence sector 90 

Authorities responsible for management 92 

Market systems 92 

Landforms and agro-ecological zones 93 

Biomes 93 

Grassland 94 

Savannah 95 

Nama-karoo 97 

Thicket 97 

Succulent karoo 99 

Fynbos 100 

Forest 100

Pastoral and agricultural systems 100 

Veldt grazing 101 

Legume and fodder introduction 105 

Dryland fodder 107 

Irrigated fodder 107 

Exceptional circumstances fodder 108 

Constraints to pasture and fodder production and improvement 109 

Evolution of grasslands over the last 40 years 110 

Research 111 


Development of techniques for the rehabilitation of grasslands 112 

Sustainable management of the environment and maintenance of biodiversity 114 

Seed production 

Recommendations and lessons learned concerning sustainable grassland 

114 

management 114 

Maintenance of production and productivity 115 

Priorities for the development of programmes and research 115 

References 116 

Chapter 4 –Grasslands of Patagonia 

Andrés F. Cibils and Pablo R. Borrelli 

121 


Political system 128 


Aboriginal distribution 128 

Welsh colonization 129 

First settlers 129 

Last settlers 129 

Management authorities 130 


Wool market systems 130 

Meat marketing 131 

Dominant natural vegetation 131 

Patagonian shrub steppes 133 

Semi-deserts and shrub steppes 134 

Shrub-grass and grass-shrub steppes 134 

Grass steppes 135 

Monte shrublands and Monte ecotone 135 


Sheep farming systems 138 

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vi 

Grazing management 139 

Sheep management 140 

Sheep breeds and genetic improvement 140 

Fine-wool production systems 140 

Lamb and fine-crossbred-wool production systems 140 

Evolution of Patagonian grasslands over the last 40 years 

Ongoing research, management, restoration and biodiversity maintenance 

141 

activities 143 

Research activities 143 

Management activities 146 

Restoration activities 147 

Biodiversity maintenance 148 

Seed production 149 

Recommendations and lessons learned 149 

Adaptive management – the Santa Cruz example 150 

The value of simple or flexible stocking strategies 151 

Conflict between short- and long-term production 153 

The role of Decision Support Systems 153 

Priorities for development programmes and research 154 


Chapter 5 – The South American Campos ecosystem 

Olegario Royo Pallarés (Argentina), Elbio J. Berretta (Uruguay) and 

Gerzy E. Maraschin (Brazil) 

171 


General description of the region 173 

Climate 173 

Livestock production 173 

Wildlife 173 

Floristic composition 174 

Climax vegetation 174 

Grassland types and production systems in Argentina 175 

Growth and forage production 176 

Production systems 178 

Productivity of the best farms 178 

Grassland types and production systems in Uruguay 178 

Vegetation limitations for animal production 184 

Production systems 186 

Grassland production systems in Southern Brazil 190 

Dry matter accumulation in natural grasslands 193 

Optimizing animal production from natural grassland ecosystems 195

Natural grassland dynamics 198 

Fertilizing Campos grassland 199 

Fertilization in Argentina 199 

Fertilization of Campos Grasslands in Uruguay 200 

Fertilization of natural grasslands in southeast Brazil 202 

Structural changes on fertilized natural grasslands in SE Brazil 203 

Improvement techniques 205 

Over-seeding 205 

Legume introduction 206 

Sward preparation for seeding 207 

Legumes for improvement 207 

Stock management 209 

Research and development priorities 209 

Ecological grassland management for maintaining productivity 210 


Chapter 6 – Grasslands of central North America 

Rex D. Pieper 

221 


Location and general description of the region 222 

Climate 225 

Topography and soils 226 

Fauna 227 

Vegetation patterns 230 

Primary production 234 

Pastoral and Agricultural Systems 236 

Crop production 236 

Grazing management 237 

Balancing seasonal variations of forage supply 240 

Grazing systems 241 

Intensification? 242 

Rangeland burning 244 

Development of grasslands 244 

Current status of grassland research and management 246 

Future of the Great Plains 251 


Chapter 7 – Grazing management in Mongolia 

J.M. Suttie 

265 


Changes in administrative systems in the twentieth century 273 

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Grazing lands, pasture and fodder 276 

Hay from natural pasture in Arkhangai 279 

Grazing livestock production 283 

Livestock in herding systems 284 

Evolution of stock numbers 288 

Intensive livestock production 291 

The present grazing situation 294 

The recent droughts and zuds 301 

Sustainability 302 


Chapter 8 – The Tibetan Steppe 

Daniel J. Miller 

305 


General description 307 

Climate 308 

Grassland biodiversity 309 

Dominant natural vegetation 311 

Classification of grassland types and plant communities 316 

Vegetational attributes 317 

Botanical composition 317 

Grassland productivity 318 

Nutrient content of herbage 318 

Grassland degradation 319 

The Tibetan Pastoral Production System 320 

Historical and cultural aspects 321 

Livestock management 323 

Herds on the move 326 


Transformation of the traditional pastoral production system 328 

Snowstorms and pastoral system dynamics 331 

Dilemma on the Tibetan Steppe 332 

Mobility 333 

Conclusion 335 


Chapter 9 – Australian grasslands 

John G. McIvor 

343 


Location 344 

Physical features 344

Climate 344 

Rainfall 344 

Temperature and evaporation 345 

Growing seasons 346 

Soils 347 

Livestock 347 

Wildlife 347 

Social aspects and institutions 348 

People 348 

Political system 348 

Land tenure and ownership 348 

Authorities responsible for land management 349 



Natural vegetation 353 

Tropical tall-grass 353 

Brigalow 355 

Xerophytic mid-grass 356 

Temperate tall-grass 356 

Temperate short-grass 356 

Sub-alpine sodgrass 357 

Saltbush-xerophytic mid-grass 357 

Acacia shrub–short-grass 358 

Xerophytic tussockgrass 359 

Xerophytic hummockgrass 359 

Sown pastures 359 

Temperate pastures 360 

Tropical pastures 362 

Available species and cultivars 364 

Seed production 364 

Current grassland issues 364 

Research 364 


Resource issues and rehabilitation 368 

Biodiversity in grasslands 369 

Environmental management 

Sustainable pasture management: learning from the past, managing for 

369 

the future 370 

Importance of legumes 371 

Role of native pastures 372 

Environmental weeds 373 

ix

x 

Future 374 


Chapter 10 – The Russian Steppe 

Joseph G. Boonman and Sergey S. Mikhalev 

381 


The steppe in perspective 382 

Semantics 384 

Climate, vegetation and soils 384 

Ecological classification 385 

Ecological (site) potential 386 

Ramenskii’s grassland classification 387 

Botanical condition (ecological monitoring) 391 

Steppe dynamics in relation to botanical composition 393 

Weather 393 

From fallow to steppe 393 

The Steppe and its types 394 

Forest steppe 395 

Steppe 396 

Virgin steppe 396 

Semi-desert 397 

Meadow types 399 

Liman 399 

Floodplain meadows 399 

Fallow 401 

Mid-term to old fallow 401 

Young fallow 402 

Avenues of steppe improvement 402 

Management interventions 403 

Grazing 403 

Grazing (stocking) management 405 

Haymaking 405 

Fire 406 

Ploughing 406 

Physical improvements 408 

Examples of the effect of management on botanical composition 408 

Fertilizer 409 

Mid-term depression 410 

Sown forage 410 

The dilemma 411

Crop-pasture rotations 411 

Physical effects of grasses on the soil 412 

Mixed farming based on crop-grass rotations 412 

Conclusions 413 


Chapter 11 – Other grasslands 417 


Africa 417 

North Africa 417 

West Africa 419 

Madagascar 424 

South America 426 

The Llanos 426 

The Gran Chaco 427 

Pampas 430 

Flooding Pampas grasslands 431 

Cropland Pampas cultivated pastures 432 

Monte shrubland 433 

Asia 434 

Central Asia 434 

China 436 

South Asia 443 

Himalaya-Hindu Kush 443 

India 448 

Pakistan 449 

The Near East 451 

Syrian Arab Republic 451 

Jordan 453 

Europe 455 

Turkey 455 


Chapter 12 – Grassland perspectives 463 


Grassland systems 463 

The state of the grasslands 464 

Grassland development, improvement and rehabilitation 469 

Grassland resources 469 

Pasture development methods 471 

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xii 

Herd management 474 

Stocking rates and stock distribution 476 

The lean season 477 

Stratification 479 

Sown pasture and fodder 480 

Sown fodder 481 

Social and economic factors 486 

Tenure 486 

Markets and trade 487 

Herder organization and community participation 487 

Demotic factors 488 

Diversification 488 

Grassland in the environment 488 

Some conclusions 491 


Index 495

FOREWORD 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has long 

been concerned with grasslands, forage crops and pastoral development 

issues, which have been the focus of various field-based activities and Regular 

Programme work of the Grassland and Pasture Crops Group within the 

Crop and Grassland Service. 

Grasslands cover a very large portion of the earth’s surface and are 

important as a feed source for livestock, as a habitat for wildlife, for 

environmental protection and for the in situ conservation of plant genetic 

resources. In both developed and developing countries, many millions 

of livestock farmers, ranchers and pastoralists depend on grasslands and 

conserved products such as hay and silage and on a range of fodder crops for 

their livelihoods. Rapid increases in human and livestock populations have 

contributed to increased pressures on the world’s grasslands, particularly in 

arid and semi-arid environments. Now more than ever, information is needed 

on the status of the world’s grasslands. 

FAO, through the Grassland and Pasture Crops Group, has endeavoured 

over many years to make available information on grassland themes to 

a range of audiences. Earlier books included those of Whyte, Nillson- 

Leissner and Trumble (1969) on Legumes in Agriculture and Whyte, Moir 

and Cooper (1975) on Grasses in Agriculture, Tropical Grasses by Skerman 

& Riveros (1990) and Tropical Forage Legumes by Skerman, Cameron and 

Riveros (1988), Pasture - cattle - coconut systems by Reynolds (1995), with 

Managing Mobility in African Grasslands by Niamir-Fuller (1999). More 

recent publications have included studies on: Hay and Straw Conservation 

(Suttie, 2000); Silage in the Tropics (t’Mannetje, 2000); Grassland Resource 

Assessment (Harris, 2001); Transhumant Grazing Systems in Temperate Asia 

(Suttie & Reynolds, 2003); Know to Move, Move to Know (Schareika, 2003); 

Site-Specific Grasses and Herbs (Krautzer, Peratoner and Bozzo, 2004); Wild 

and Sown Grasses (Peeters, 2004); Fodder Oats: a world overview (Suttie & 

Reynolds, 2004); Forage Legumes for Temperate Grasslands (Frame, 2005); 

and Grasslands: Developments, Opportunities, Perspectives (Reynolds & 

Frame, 2005). The publications are complemented by detailed information on 

grassland species and extensive Country Pasture Resource Profiles to be found 

on the FAO Grassland Web site at . 

The present book provides an overview of a range of grassland systems 

worldwide, with contributions by experts from many regions, and in a final 

chapter briefly assesses the state of the grasslands, their management, various 

grassland resources, the complementary roles of sown pastures, fodder crops 

and natural grasslands and concludes by looking at various social, economic 

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xiv 

and environmental factors. Researchers, grassland scientists and policymakers 

will find the material useful and the book will contribute towards 

the accumulated knowledge on the world’s grasslands. The contributions 

of authors are much appreciated by FAO in its efforts to disseminate 

information on grasslands and pastoral systems. The considerable input 

made by the editors is particularly acknowledged – retired staff member 

James Suttie, and Stephen Reynolds and Caterina Batello of the Grassland 

and Pasture Crops Group of the Crop and Grassland Service – both for their 

personal contributions and Stephen Reynolds for ensuring that the book was 

brought to publication. 

Mahmoud Solh 

Director 

Plant Production and Protection Division 

FAO Agriculture Department

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

This publication is based on a number of regional and country studies written 

by various authors, who are acknowledged in the text. Particular thanks to Dr 

Wolfgang Bayer, who assisted with the early review of some of the chapters. 

In locating and contacting authors to prepare papers, the following provided 

much appreciated assistance: Prof. Klaus Kellner, School of Environmental 

Sciences and Development, Potchefstroom University, South Africa; Drs 

Dennis Cash and Bok Sowell, Montana State University, and Professor Denis 

Child, Colorado State University, United States of America; and Dr Rod 

Heitschmidt, ARS, Miles City, Montana, United States of America. 

The authors of Chapter 2 have dedicated their chapter to Jim Ellis and 

Peter de Leeuw. Both made an important contribution to rangeland science 

in East Africa and are referred to in the chapter. Jim was killed in a skiing 

accident in 2002 and Peter passed away in 2003. 

Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho, Faculdade de Agronomia – UFRGS, 

Porto Alegre, Brazil helped to locate photographs from Brazil for Chapter 5. 

Pablo Borrelli assisted with Spanish translations of the manuscripts from 

which Chapter 5 was prepared and the authors of Chapter 5 acknowledge 

the assistance of Ing. Ag. Oscar Pittaluga, who provided comments on early 

drafts. The author of Chapter 7 acknowledges the inputs of B. Erdenebaatar 

and N. Batjargal. Thanks also to Dr Jonathan Robinson for comments and 

to Petra Staberg for assistance with the FAO Grassland Web site, and in 

particular with the finalization and layout of the Country Pasture/Forage 

Resource Profiles. Mary Reynolds assisted with proofreading. 

Dr J. Boonman died tragically after preparing the draft of Chapter 10 with 

Professor Sergey Mikhalev, but indicated while preparing the paper that he 

wished to dedicate it to the memory of Dr David Pratt and his early work on 

the grasslands of East Africa. 

Thanks are due to the authors – M.A. Al-Jaloudy, O. Berkat, M. Tazi, A. 

Coulibally, M. Dost, A.R. Fitzherbert, M.F. Garbulsky, V.A. Deregibus, D. 

Geesing, H. Djibo, Z. Hu, D. Zhang, H. Kagone, A. Karagöz, C. Kayouli, 

M. Makhmudovich, A. Masri, B.K. Misri, D. Nedjraoui, K. Oppong-Anane, 

D. Pariyar, J.H Rasambainarivo, N. Ranaivoarivelo, O. Thieme, R.R. Vera 

and K. Wangdi – of a number of Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles 

on the FAO Grassland Web site , 

from which information has been drawn, particularly in the preparation of 

Chapter 11. 

Photographs, unless otherwise acknowledged, are by the authors of each 

chapter or by the editors. Stephen Reynolds selected and located photographs 

in the text. Cathleen J. Wilson generously agreed to three of her photographs 

being used in Chapter 2 on the understanding that they are not used elsewhere 

xv

xvi 

or copied without her permission, as did Marzio Marzot in several chapters. 

Peter Harris kindly provided a number of photographs, as did Dr Jeff 

Printz, USDA-NRCS, and Alice Carloni of TCIP, FAO. Dr Mae Elsinger, 

Rangeland Biologist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)-Prairie 

Farm Rehabilitation (PFRA) Range and Biodiversity Division, Manitoba, 

Canada, provided a number of photographs by various authors from 

AAFC-PFRA files, which are identified with her name in Chapter 6. Other 

photographs used were provided by SARDI (South Australian Research 

and Development Institute), Dr M. Halling, Dr Martín Garbulsky, Dr V. 

Alejandro Deregibus, Prof. Alain Peeters and Duane McCartney, Lacombe 

Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Mr Constantin Melidis 

and Elena Palazzani provided assistance with the scanning of a number of 

photographs. Several of the grassland maps were prepared by Christopher 

Aurich. Lucie Herzigova, FAO, assisted with the finalization of a number 

of the figures. Cover design was by Studio Bartoleschi, Rome. Cover 

photographs are by Daniel Miller, Stephen Reynolds and Marzio Marzot. 

Final editing for consistency of language and style, and preparation for 

publication, was by Thorgeir Lawrence.

CONTRIBUTORS 

Ainslie, Andrew M., ARC-Range & Forage Institute, Grahamstown, South 

Africa. 

Batello, Caterina, Grassland and Pasture Crops Group, FAO Crop and 

Grassland Service. 

Berretta, Elbio J., Director, Regional INIA Tacuarembó Ruta 5, km 386, 

45000 Tacuarembó, Uruguay. 

Boonman, Joseph G.† (deceased), Boma Consult, The Hague, Netherlands. 

Borrelli, Pablo R., OVIS XXI, Santa Fe 2843 10°B, 1425-Buenos Aires, 

Argentina. 

Cibils, Andrés F., Dept. of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State 

University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, United States of America. 

Hanson, Jean, International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, 

Ethiopia. 

McIvor, John G., CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Queensland Bioscience 

Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia. 

Maraschin, Gerzy E., Professor, Faculdade de Agronomía – UFRGS, 

RS – Brazil. 

Mikhalyov, Sergey S., Professor of Grassland Science, Agronomy 

Faculty, Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow, Russian 

Federation. 

Miller, Daniel J., United States Agency for International Development, 

1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20523, United States of 

America. 

Nyabenge, M., International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. 

Palmer, Anthony R., ARC-Range & Forage Institute, Grahamstown, South 

Africa. 

Pieper, Rex D., New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

Reid, Robin S., International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. 

Reynolds, Stephen G., Senior Officer, Grassland and Pasture Crops Group, 

FAO Crop and Grassland Service. 

Royo Pallarés, Olegario, Belgrano 841, 3470 Mercedes, Provincia Corrientes, 

Argentina. 

Serneels, S., International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. 

Suttie, James M., FAO Grassland and Pasture Group Staff Member 

(retired). 

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Glossary of technical terms and 

abbreviations used in the text 

ABARE Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource 

Economics 

AFLP amplified fragment length polymorphism 

aimag largest Mongolian rural administrative unit, ≈ province, 

comprising several sum 

airag fermented mares milk, mildly alcoholic 

AMBA Argentine Merino Breeder Association 

ANPP annual above ground primary productivity 

AR accumulation rate 

ARC Agricultural Research Council (South Africa) 

ARC-RFI Range and Forage Institute (South Africa) 

ARC-ISCW Institute for Soil Climate and Water (South Africa) 

ARS Agricultural Research Service (United States of America) 

AUM animal unit month 

AUY animal unit year 

AVHRR advanced very high resolution radiometer 

bag smallest Mongolian administrative unit below sum, 

replacing the former soviet-type brigade 

badia semi-desert grazing land (Arabic) 

bod traditional large livestock unit in Mongolia 

brigalow Acacia harpophylla forest and woodlands 

BSE bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) 

CAM Crassulacean acid metabolism 

camp paddock (South Africa) 

CCD [United Nations] Convention to Combat Desertification 

in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or 

Desertification, particularly in Africa 

CEC cation exchange capacity 

CIS Confederation of Independent States 

CISNR Commission for Integrated Survey of National Resources 

(China) 

CONICET Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y 

Técnicas (Argentina) 

CP crude protein 

CRP Conservation Reserve Program (United States of 

America)

CRSP Collaborative Research Support Program (United States 

of America) 

CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research 

Organization 

CYE comparative yield estimate 

DGR daily growth rates 

DLWG daily liveweight gain 

DSS decision support system 

DWR dry weight rank 

EEA/EEPRI Ethiopian Economic Association/Ethiopian Economic 

Policy Research Institute 

ENSO El Niño-Southern Oscillation 

ephemeroids Russian term denoting perennials whose vegetative parts 

die down annually (e.g. Poa bulbosa) 

foggage reserved standing herbage for grazing after the growing 

season 

FO forage offer 

FSAU Food Security Analysis Unit (Somalia) 

FSU former Soviet Union 

garrigue low growing secondary vegetation with aromatic herbs 

and prickly dwarf shrubs in the Mediterranean basin 

GEF Global Environment Facility 

ger Mongolian herders mobile felt dwelling (Russian yurt) 

GIS geographical information system 

GLASOD Global Assessment of Soil Degradation (global study 

published in 1990 by the UNEP and the International 

Soil Reference and Information Centre in cooperation 

with the Winand Staring Centre, the International Society 

of Soil Science, FAO and the International Institute for 

Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences) 

GSSA Grassland Society of Southern Africa 

GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit 

HPG high performance grazing 

HUG high utilization grazing 

IBP International Biological Program 

IEA Instituto Ecologia Applicata, Rome, Italy 

IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development 

IGBP International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme 

INIA Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria 

INTA Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria [National 

Institute for Agricultural Technology, Argentina] 

IFEVA-UBA Instituto de Investicaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas – 

Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) 

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xx 

IUCN The World Conservation Union 

khainag yak × cattle hybrid (Mongolia) 

khot ail traditional herding unit of households camping and 

working together (Mongolia) 

Kolkhoz a collective or cooperative farm in the soviet system 

Kray territory (Russian Federation) 

LADA land degradation assessment in drylands 

LAI leaf area index 

Landsat TM land remote-sensing satellite – thematic mapper 

LAR leaf appearance rate 

LER leaf expansion rate 

LEWS Livestock Early Warning System 

LFA landscape function analysis 

liman flood meadow (Russian Federation) 

LLS leaf life span 

LSU livestock unit 

LTER Long-Term Ecological Research (this is a Network/ 

Program in the United States of America) 

LWG liveweight gain 

malezales marshy, low-lying wetlands – South America 

masl metres above sea level 

matorral drought-resistant Mediterranean scrub, taller than garrigue 

(= French maquis) 

MAP mean annual precipitation 

negdel Mongolian former cooperative — replaced by sum 

NDVI normalized difference vegetation index 

NIRS near infra-red spectroscopy 

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(United States of America) 

nomadism generally used of pastoral groups thought to have no fixed 

base, but follow entirely erratic rain storms 

Oblast region (Russian Federation) 

OM organic matter 

otor movement of livestock to distant pasture to improve 

condition 

PAGE policy analysis of the greenhouse effect 

PAR photosynthetically active radiation 

PAP primary aerial productivity 

ppm parts per million 

PROLANA El Programa para Mejorar la Calidad de la Lana Argentina 

rakhi alcoholic drink distilled from airag 

RAPD random amplified polymorphic DNA

RASHN Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences 

RCE regional centre of endemism 

SAGPyA Secretaría de Agricultura Ganadería, Pesca y Alimentos, 

(Argentina) 

SETCIP Secretaría de Ciencía, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva 

Sovkhozy state-operated agricultural estate in the former USSR for 

specialized large-scale production 

SP secondary production 

SPOT Satellite probatoire d’observation de la Terre 

(Experimental Earth Observation System) 

SPUR2 Simulation of Production and Utilization of Rangelands 

(software) 

sum Mongolian administrative unit, below aimag 

transhumance pastoral systems where people with their animals move 

between distinct seasonal pastures, usually at considerable 

distance or altitude from each other 

tugrik or togrog Mongolian national currency 

UFRGS Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul [Federal 

University of Rio Grande del Sul, Brazil] 

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme 

USGS/EDC United States Geological Survey/EROS Data Center 

UVB ultraviolet B 

veldt extensive grasslands in South Africa 

WWF World Wide Fund for Nature 

zud climatic disaster that affects livestock – usually deep 

frozen snow which denies access to grazing, but may 

be lack of snow to drink, unusual cold, or drought 

(Mongolian) 

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Figure 1.1 

Extent of the world’s grasslands. 

xxii

S.G. REYNOLDS 

Chapter 1 

Introduction 

Grasslands in the wider sense are among the largest ecosystems in the world 

(Figure 1.1); their area is estimated at 52.5 million square kilometres, or 

40.5 percent of the terrestrial area excluding Greenland and Antarctica (World 

Resources Institute, 2000, based on IGBP data). In contrast, 13.8 percent of 

the global land area (excluding Greenland and Antarctica) is woody savannah 

and savannah; 12.7 percent is open and closed shrub; 8.3 percent is non-woody 

grassland ; and 5.7 percent is tundra. 

In its narrow sense, “grassland ” may be defined as ground covered by vegetation 

dominated by grasses, with little or no tree cover; UNESCO defines 

grassland as “land covered with herbaceous plants with less than 10 percent 

tree and shrub cover” and wooded grassland as 10–40 percent tree and shrub 

cover (White, 1983). In this study, grassland is used in its wider sense of “grazing 

land ”. Definitions of grassland and the associated term “range” are multitude, 

many with specific local legal connotations; the Second Expert Meeting 

on Harmonizing Forest -related Definitions for use by Various Stakeholders 

(FAO, 2000) gives eleven pages of them. The Oxford Dictionary of Plant 

Sciences (Allaby, 1998) gives a succinct definition : 

“Grassland occurs where there is sufficient moisture for grass growth, but where environmental 

conditions, both climatic and anthropogenic, prevent tree growth. Its occurrence, therefore, 

correlates with a rainfall intensity between that of desert and forest and is extended by grazing 

and/or fire to form a plagioclimax in many areas that were previously forested.” 

Plate 1.1 

Grasslands – sheep on spring grazing. 

1

2 

Plate 1.2 

Mosaic of cultivated cropland and grassland. 

Grasslands of the world 

This study has been undertaken by the Grassland and Pasture Crops Group 

of FAO and grassland is taken to be grazing land . The emphasis is on extensive 

grazing lands (Plate 1.1) since these form large, identifiable units. Unsown 

grassland that occurs as a mosaic of uncultivated patches within farming land 

(Plate 1.2) is not dealt with here, but it is nevertheless important in smallholder 

systems as a source of livestock feed; in commercial systems it is more important 

as a wildlife habitat and a refuge for biodiversity . 

No grassland is entirely natural , and there are many degrees of interference: 

fire , whether spontaneous or lit by man, has influenced, and continues 

to influence, large areas; and grazing by livestock and, in some continents, by 

large herds of wild herbivores. More invasive interventions have been clearing 

of woody vegetation either to give better grazing or originally for cropping; 

subdivision with or without fencing ; provision of water points to extend the 

grazing area or season; and various “improvement ” techniques such as oversowing 

with pasture grass and legume seeds – with or without surface scarification 

and fertilizer . In the early days of FAO, Semple (1956) summarized much 

of the available techniques and problems, and most are relevant today, although 

some technologies have progressed in detail. In general, grassland is said to be 

natural if it is not the result of full ploughing and sowing – the composition of 

much old sown pasture has, of course, little to do with the seed mixture used 

at its establishment. 

The better-watered parts of many of the world’s great grassland zones have 

been developed for arable farming, notably in the North American Prairie, 

the South American Pampas , and the East European Steppe , and grazing is 

now often relegated to the more marginal lands, unfit for cropping, where 

S.G. REYNOLDS

J.M. SUTTIE 


Plate 1.3 

Milking at a transit camp on the way to summer pastures in Tarialan, Mongolia. 

the population is often totally dependent on livestock for its livelihood. In 

Africa also there is little extensive grassland uncultivated in regions where the 

rainfall permits the production of even meagre subsistence crops . The effect of 

developing the best land for crops has several negative effects on the use of the 

remaining land for grazing, including obstructing traditional migration routes 

in zones of transhumance and denying access to water points . 

The terms “nomadism” and “transhumance ” are sometimes used indiscriminately 

when applied to mobile livestock production systems . Transhumance 

describes those pastoral systems where people with their animals moved 

between two distinct seasonal pasture areas, usually at considerable distance or 

altitude from each other (Plate 1.3). Nomadism is used for pastoral groups that 

have no fixed base, but follow erratic rain storms. 

Great grazing lands still exist, however. Among the most important are 

the steppes that stretch from Mongolia (Plate 1.4) and northern China to 

Europe; the Tibet -Qinghai Plateau (Plates 1.5 and 1.6) and the adjacent 

mountain grazing of the Himalaya -Hindu Kush (Plate 1.7); the North 

American prairies; in South America – the Pampas , the Chaco, Campos 

(Plate 1.8), Llanos and Cerrados pastures, the cold lands of Patagonia 

(Plate 1.9) and the Altiplanos; the Australian grasslands; in the Mediterranean 

Region and western Asia there are large areas of semi -arid grazed land; south 

of the Sahara there are the vast Sahelian and Sudano-Sahelian zone s, as well 

as most of the eastern part of Africa from the Horn to the Cape. 

Two fairly important types of grassland are not dealt with. Very large areas 

in the tropics are covered by Imperata cylindrica , often in nearly pure stand; 

this relatively unpalatable, strongly rhizomatous grass is hard to eradicate,

4 

Plate 1.4 

Horse herd on grasslands near Arkhangai, Mongolia. 

Plate 1.5 

Grasslands on the Qinghai Plateau, China. 


burns easily and thus makes the re-establishment of forest cover difficult. It 

usually establishes itself when forest has been cleared, often for crop production. 

It occurs throughout the tropics; the total area has not been established, 

but Garrity et al. (1997) estimate that the area of Imperata is 35 million 

hectares in Asia alone. There are also large areas of potential grazing in the 

herbage under tree crops (Plate 1.10), mainly in the tropics; some is used, but 

much is not yet exploited for livestock production; this is dealt with in detail 

in another FAO publication, Pasture – cattle – coconut systems (Reynolds, 

1995). 

Extensive grazing is usually the exploitation of managed natural ecosystems 

on which human activities may have had a considerable impact to facilitate or 

S.G. REYNOLDS 

PETER HARRIS

S.G. REYNOLDS 

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 1.6 

The high plateau near Lake Namtso, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. 

Plate 1.7 

Subalpine pastures at Suri Paya, Kaghan Valley, Pakistan. 

improve livestock production; it is a land use, not a specific crop, and must, for 

example, compete with crops , wildlife , forestry and recreation. The choice of 

use is not fixed and depends on economic factors as well as soil and climate. It 

is usually on land unsuitable for intensive cultivation because of topography, 

poor soil or a short growing season – the season may be limited by moisture 

availability or temperature. Exploitation by the grazing animal is, in many 

countries, the principal practical method of exploiting the natural vegetation 

of arid , stony, flooded, montane or remote areas. It follows, therefore, that all 

discussion of grassland must be in the context of animal production and of the 

human communities that gain their livelihood thereby (Riveros, 1993).

6 


Plate 1.8 

The Campos – winter scene on the Basaltic Campos in the north of Uruguay. 

Plate 1.9 

Patagonia – sheep being herded on the Magellan steppe, near the Coyle river. 

Sown pasture (Plate 1.11) is important within commercial arable farming 

systems , and, since it competes with other crops for land and inputs, must be 

economically viable compared with other crops at the farm -system level. In 

well -watered areas it may replace natural grassland , often in association with 

crop production. Sown pastures are usually most productive in their early 

years and yields fall off thereafter; to remain productive they require careful 

management and inputs, with or without periodic resowing; they usually 

ELBIO BERRETTA 

PABLO BORELLI

S.G. REYNOLDS 

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 1.10 

Cattle grazing under coconuts. 

Plate 1.11 

Improved pastures – Brazil. 

also need fencing and water reticulation. Since grazing requires fairly large, 

enclosed areas to be managed effectively, sown pasture is not really suited to 

smallholder farms. 

Sown fodder, often irrigated in semi -arid areas, can provide conserved fodder 

for winter use, and examples are given in the chapters on North America, 

Patagonia , Russia and the Campos . Fodder growing is traditional in some 

smallholder areas, but, unlike sown pasture , fodder can be used on any size 

of farm , not only large ones, whether for use green or conserved; how it has

8 


Plate 1.12 

Inner Mongolia – meadow hay prepared by herders for winter feeding. 

Plate 1.13 

Straw stacked for use as winter feed – Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. 

become very important economically in the Pakistan Punjab is described by 

Dost (2004). Hay from natural meadows has been used by herders (Plate 1.12) 

for a very long time, but traditional pastoralists do not usually sow fodder; 

Wang (2003) describes an interesting scheme in the Altai region of Xinjiang 

in China , wherein Kazakh herders produce alfalfa (Medicago sativa ) hay for 

winter feed on irrigated lowlands while maintaining their spring to autumn 

transhumant migration. 

Crop residues , especially straws and stovers (Plate 1.13), are very important 

as livestock feed in both commercial and traditional systems ; in commercial 

farming they are usually part of the roughage ration and supplemented with 

S.G. REYNOLDS 

S.G. REYNOLDS


other fodders and concentrates; in traditional subsistence systems they may be 

the main feed when grazing is not available. In the irrigated lands of southern 

Asia, crop residues are often the main feed of large ruminants year-round. 

Residues are not discussed in detail in most of the studies, but their conservation 

and use is described in a recent FAO Grassland Group publication (Suttie, 

2000). In some extensive grazing systems with adjacent cropping zones , crop 

residues may also figure as lean-season feed. Lean seasons vary: in some areas it 

is winter ; in tropical areas it is the dry season ; and in Mediterranean zones it is 

the hot, dry summer . It is, of course, much more important in agricultural and 

mixed farming areas. Crop residues and stubbles are important in West Africa n 

transhumance systems and there is a complementarity between cropping and 

stock rearing communities : herders move north into the desert fringe during the 

rains (and the season when the crops are on the ground) and move back to the 

agricultural areas after harvest, in the dry season; traditionally the farmers did 

not keep livestock. 

Some studies reported here, notably those on the Campos , North America 

and Australia , describe how exotic pasture plants have been introduced to 

grassland , often with fertilizer application and varying degrees of scarification 

of the surface and checks to the native vegetation , and have become naturalized. 

With an increasing interest in maintaining biodiversity and protecting 

native vegetation, attitudes to introduced “improving” plants may be changing. 

A primary quality of an improving plant is its ability to spread and colonize 

natural vegetation; now such qualities may cause a plant to be listed as an 

invasive alien. 

Grazing systems can be roughly divided into two main types – commercial 

and traditional, with the traditional type often mainly aimed at subsistence. 

Commercial grazing of natural pasture is very often large-scale and commonly 

involves a single species, usually beef cattle or sheep , which would 

mainly be for wool production. Some of the largest areas of extensive commercial 

grazing developed in the nineteenth century on land which had not 

previously been heavily grazed by ruminants; these grazing industries were 

mainly developed by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australasia, 

and to a much less degree in southern and eastern Africa . 

Traditional livestock production systems are very varied according 

to climate and the overall farming systems of the area. They also use a 

wider range of livestock, since buffaloes, asses, goats , yak and camels are 

predominantly raised in the traditional sector. All species are discussed in 

the various chapters, but buffalo, of which there are 170 million worldwide 

(FAOSTAT, 2004), are little mentioned since most are kept in agricultural or 

agropastoral systems in tropical and sub-tropical Asia (only Egypt and Brazil 

have significant numbers elsewhere), and are fed largely on crop residues , 

not on grasslands. In traditional farming systems livestock are often mainly 

kept for subsistence and savings, and are frequently multi-purpose, providing

10 


Plate 1.14 

Mongolia – the higher altitude summer pastures of Turgen are used to avoid the 

insects in the lower Uvs lake basin. 

meat , milk , draught, fibres and frequently fuel in the form of dung-cakes. In 

many cultures the number of livestock is associated with social standing. 

Many traditional systems are sedentary, and these are usually agropastoral, 

combining crop production with livestock that can utilize crop residues and 

by-products and make use of land unsuitable for crops . Extensive grassland s, 

however, are frequently exploited by mobile systems, transhumant or nomadic, 

where herds move between grazing areas according to season; some move 

according to temperature, others follow feed availability. Other factors may 

affect migratory movements: in the Great Lakes Basins region of Mongolia , 

herders have to leave the low grazing lands near Uvs lake and go to the mountains 

in June because of plagues of biting insects (Plate 1.14), returning to the 

lakeside in autumn , but having to move to the mountains in winter to avoid the 

very low temperatures of the basin (Erdenebaatar, 2003). Two areas of mobile 

herding are described in the chapters on Mongolia and the Tibet Plateau . 

Mobile herders often keep mixed flocks, as this helps reduce herding risk as 

well as making a fuller use of the vegetation on offer – the various species may 

be herded separately. 

Political and economic changes over the past 150 years have had a marked 

effect on the distribution, condition and use of grasslands and these are 

described in most of the chapters. Settlement, ranching and the inroads of 

cropping into former grassland have been mentioned above. Former colonies 

have gained their independence and states that had been under absolute rulers 

have become democracies; this has often led to the breakdown of traditional 

authorities and grazing rights , raising the problems of privately owned live- 

J.M. SUTTIE


stock on public land. The great grazing lands of Central Asia , China and the 

Russian Federation have gone from feudal systems to collective management 

and then, in the past twenty years, to decollectivization and privately owned 

stock – approaches to management and grazing rights have varied from country 

to country and some are described in the chapters on the Russian Federation, 

Mongolia and Tibet Autonomous Region, China . 

The herbaceous layer of grazing lands is usually, but not always, grasses; several 

other plant types cover large grazed areas. Cyperaceae, especially Kobresia 

spp. , dominate many of the better-watered, hard-grazed yak pastures, especially 

those of the alpine meadow type . Halophytes, notably Chenopodiaceae, 

both herbaceous and shrubby, are important on alkaline and saline soils in 

many arid and semi -arid grazing lands. In tundra, lichens, especially Cladonia 

rangifer, and mosses provide reindeer feed. Sub-shrubs are important: various 

species of Artemisia are important in steppic regions of the old world from 

North Africa to the northern limit of the steppe, and also occur in North 

America. Ericaceous sub-shrubs (species of Calluna , Erica and Vaccinium ) are 

very important grazing for sheep and deer on UK moorland. 

Browse is frequently mentioned as a significant feed source, often consumed 

in the lean season and in some cases fruits are also eaten. Tree fodder is especially 

important in tropical and sub-tropical situations with alternating wet and 

dry season s and is discussed in the chapters on Africa and Australia (where it 

may be referred to as “top feed”). Various mixed shrub formations (garrigue, 

maquis ) are grazed in the Mediterranean zone. Trees and shrubs, notably Salix 

spp. , are also winter feed in some cold areas. 

Extensive grassland s have multiple uses in addition to being a very important 

source of livestock feed and of livelihoods for stock raisers and herders. 

Most grasslands are important catchment areas and the management of their 

vegetation is of primordial importance for the water resources of downstream 

lands; mismanagement of the grazing not only damages the pasture , but, since 

it increases erosion and run-off, can cause serious damage to agricultural land 

and infrastructure lower in the catchment and cause siltation of irrigation systems 

and reservoirs. The main benefits of good catchment management mainly 

accrue to communities outside the grasslands, but the maintenance efforts 

have to be made by herders or ranchers. These grasslands are major reserves 

of biodiversity , providing important wildlife habitat and in situ conservation of 

genetic resources. In some regions, grasslands are important for tourism and 

leisure, and may have sites of religious significance (Plate 1.15); in other areas, 

wild foods, medicines and other useful products are collected (Plate 1.16). 

Grasslands are a very large carbon sink at world level. Minahi et al. (1993) 

state that they are almost as important as forests in the recycling of greenhouse 

gasses and that soil organic matter under grassland is of the same magnitude as 

in tree biomass; the carbon storage capacity under grassland can be increased by 

avoiding tillage.

12 


Plate 1.15 

Stupas (Mane in Nepali) at Sailung in Ramechap district, Nepal , at about 3 000 m 

altitude, used by Buddhists to offer prayers for peace. 

Plate 1.16 

Drying herbs at the summer camp, Qinghai. 

S.G. REYNOLDS 

PETER HARRIS


PURPOSE OF THE BOOK 

This book is primarily aimed at agricultural scientists, educationalists, 

extensionists and decision-makers with interests in the grassland and land-use 

fields . It brings together information on the characteristics, condition , present 

use and problems of the world’s main natural grasslands. Since grassland 

is commercialized through grazing livestock, particular attention is paid to 

the livestock production systems associated with each main type . Grazing 

resources do not, of course, consist solely of the edible herbage – many other 

factors have to be taken into account, notably water in all areas and shelter in 

winter -cold climates. Seasonality of forage supply is a characteristic of almost 

all grazing lands so the strategies for dealing with lean seasons are described. 

The main problems of each type are described and possible strategies for 

their sustainable management discussed – taking into account their multiple 

functions beyond simply livestock production. 

STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK 

Nine area or country studies are presented as full chapters. 

Chapter 2 covers eastern Africa in its wider sense from Eritrea and southern 

Sudan to Rwanda and Burundi. These comprise extensive semi -arid to arid 

grasslands, savannah, bushlands and woodlands, but also include the natural 

grazing areas of the extensive highland areas of the region, which are also pastoral 

rangelands. Stock rearing is traditional and has been a major land use for a 

very long time. The population is very varied; pastoral groups tend to be of different 

ethnicities from agricultural or agropastoral groups. Most pastoral systems 

are in the semi-arid areas, with small areas in hyper-arid and sub-humid 

zones . Access to resources are under national laws, but frequently traditional 

land use rights are granted by local communities . National land tenure systems, 

introduced after independence, are unrelated to traditional ones. Planted fodder 

is becoming important in farming systems as free grazing becomes scarce. 

Chapter 3 covers South Africa , which has a range of climates from winter 

rainfall in the extreme south to summer rainfall in the lower latitudes. Much is 

semi -arid extensive grazing , especially towards the west. Grassland is mainly 

in the central, high regions. Sour-veldt occurs under high-rainfall on acid soils, 

and sweet -veldt on fertile soils in semi-arid zones . Savannah occurs in the north 

and east, and arid savannah extends to the Kalahari. Production systems in 

communal areas, based on pastoralism and agro-pastoralism, are subsistencebased 

and labour intensive; crop land is allocated to households, grazing areas 

are shared by a community. Commercial areas are fenced ranches . Much of 

the better-watered grassland has been converted to crops ; in communal areas 

this gives a patchwork with thicket. Sown pasture is not of major importance, 

except on dairy farms . 

Chapter 4 covers Patagonia , which is treeless semi -arid grass and shrub 

steppes that have only been grazed by domestic livestock for a little over a

14 


century. Temperatures decrease from north to south. Most vegetation has been 

seriously modified by sheep , particularly in the past 40–50 years, with palatable 

grasses being replaced by unpalatable woody plants. European settlement 

began at the end of the nineteenth century, with commercial sheep farming. 

Sheep farming is almost a monoculture in the steppes. Overstocking and poor 

grazing management have led to serious pastoral degradation , which, coupled 

with poor prices for livestock products, has caused serious economic problems 

for stock owners. 

Chapter 5 deals with the Campos , grassland with few trees or shrubs, 

which includes parts of Brazil , Paraguay and Argentina , and all of Uruguay . 

Grassland -based livestock production is very important, exploiting the natural 

grassland that covers most of the area. Stock rearing is on large, delimited 

holdings and is commercial. Poor herbage quality is a major limiting factor to 

livestock production, as is usual in moist sub-tropical grasslands. Fattening off 

grass can take up to four years. Intensive fattening of younger stock uses some 

sown pasture . Exotic temperate legumes can be grown and may be over-sown 

into native swards after land preparation; once established, legumes encourage 

the development of winter grasses. 

Chapter 6 deals with the grasslands of Central North America. At the time 

of settlement from Europe, there was extensive grassland from the prairies 

of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, on mainly level topography. Great Plains 

grassland is in three bands running north-south: tall-grass ; mixed grass; and 

short-grass with the tall-grass in the better watered west. About half of the beef 

cattle in the United States of America (USA ) are in the great plains. Woody 

vegetation types are embedded, with the trees varying according to latitude. 

C4 species comprise more than 80 percent from 30° to 42°N, while C3 species 

increase dramatically north of 42°N. Cattle predominate, sheep are far fewer 

and declining. Most land is privately owned, much in small farms . In dry areas, 

there is extensive ranching. Grazing is seasonal, especially in the north, with 

supplemental feed in winter . Many small operations are no longer economically 

viable so are being abandoned. 

Chapter 7 deals with Mongolia , where 80 percent of the country is extensive 

grazing and a further ten percent is forest or forest scrub, which is also grazed. 

Its climate is arid to semi -arid and the frost-free period of most of the steppe is 

one hundred days; transhumant herding on natural pasture is the only sustainable 

way of using such land. Cattle , with yak in the higher areas, horses, camels , 

sheep and goats are raised; local breeds are used. During the past century, management 

has changed from traditional transhumance, to collectives that retained 

herd mobility from the 1950s, to private herding from 1992. Mixed herds are 

kept, with herd composition varying according to region. Herding is based on 

using different pastures for the four seasons of the year. While livestock are now 

privately owned, grazing rights have not yet been allocated; this causes problems 

for maintenance of pastoral infrastructure and respect of good grazing practice.


Chapter 8 deals with the Tibetan Steppe , another cold , arid zone of 

mobile herding . Its high, cold grazing lands vary from cold deserts to semi - 

arid steppe and shrublands, to alpine steppe and moist alpine meadows. 

Much is above 4 000 m; some camps are as high as 5 100 m. It is traditionally 

an area of transhumant herding, which has undergone vast changes in 

the past half century – from feudalism, through a collective period, to privatized 

livestock and individual grazing rights , which are circumscribing the 

mobility necessary for herding risk avoidance in such a climate. The steppe 

contains the headwaters of many of the major rivers of Asia and has a very 

rich flora and fauna with many endemic species, so grazing management is 

not only important for herders’ livelihoods but also for catchment maintenance 

and in situ preservation of genetic resources and biodiversity . 

Chapter 9 deals with Australia ’s grasslands. Australia has a latitudinal 

range of 11°S to 44°S, which, coupled with annual precipitation from 

100 mm to 4 000 mm, generates a wide range of grassland environments. 

Native herbage remains the base of a significant portion of the grazing 

industry. Most farms rely on animal products from grasslands, and most 

grasslands products are exported. Arid and semi -arid tropical areas are 

used for extensive cattle grazing; water from artesian wells and bores is 

necessary. Pasture growth is very seasonal and stock lose weight in the dry 

season . In the intermediate rainfall zones , crops are combined with sheep 

rearing; ley farming systems , where a legume-based pasture phase of two 

to five years is alternated with crops for one to three years, were widely 

adopted in southern areas. Sown pasture technology is well developed in the 

temperate zone, based on the use of selected, exotic species, with emphasis 

on legumes. Development of sown pastures was slower in the tropical areas 

and suffered a setback when disease affected Stylosanthes stands. 

Chapter 10 deals with the Russian steppe, which is described with a 

view to its rehabilitation as a natural resource. The vast plains formerly 

provided a formidable grazing resource , due more to their extent than to 

their productivity . In the 1950s, the lion’s share of the virgin steppe was 

ploughed not just for cereal but, ironically as it turned out, largely for 

fodder production. Large-scale stall-feeding operations based on maize 

silage and cereals were typical, but proved unsustainable , and livestock 

numbers have dwindled to less than half in the past decade. In the 

current transition to family-based livestock farming, however informal 

as yet, direct grazing has regained terrain. Fortunately, the succession 

from fallow land to “typical” steppe vegetation is quite rapid and passes 

through seral stages dominated by Agropyron spp. , which provide a 

more powerful herbage resource than the climax Stipa spp. and Festuca 

sulcata steppe. Ecological monitoring of the steppe as a natural resource 

is paramount in order to assist in rehabilitating the fallow grasslands to 

the preferred botanical composition .

The above coverage leaves some obvious gaps, but it is not possible in a 

book of normal size to cover all grasslands in similar detail. Chapter 11 gives 

summarized information on many of the large grazing areas not covered in 

the nine studies, with sections on: (i) Africa – North Africa ; West Africa ; and 

Madagascar ; (ii) Latin America – the Llanos ; and the Gran Chaco ; (iii) Western 

Asia – Turkey ; Iran; the Syrian Arab Republic ; and Jordan ; (iii) Central Asia 

– Uzbekistan; and Kyrgyzstan ; (iv) The Himalaya -Hindu Kush zone; and 

(v) China other than the Tibet -Qinghai Plateau. Much of the information for 

the minor studies comes from the FAO “Country Pasture Profiles”, studies 

that provide information on the pasture and forage resources of countries, and 

usually drafted by national scientists. They are available on the FAO Web site, 

as described in Chapter 11. Much information for temperate Asia is available 

in the FAO Grassland Group publication Transhumant Grazing Systems in 

Temperate Asia (Suttie and Reynolds, 2003). 

A final chapter discusses grassland perspectives. 

COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION RESOURCES 

Four recent FAO Grassland Group publications deal with extensive grasslands: 

Grassland Resource Assessment (Harris, 2001); Managing Mobility in 

African Rangelands (in conjunction with IT Publications and Beijer Institute 

of Agricultural Economics) (Niamir-Fuller, 1999); Grasslands: Developments 

Opportunities Perspectives (Reynolds and Frame, 2005); and Transhumant 

Grazing Systems in Temperate Asia (Suttie and Reynolds, 2003). The FAO 

Grassland Web site contains a series of Country Pasture Profiles that give country-by-country 

descriptions of grassland -based production systems . To date, 

80 countries have been described – see: http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/ 

doc/pasture /forage.htm. These profiles provide the basis for Chapter 11 and 

are described therein. The interrelation of grassland, crops , livestock and other 

grassland resources is analysed in The Future is an Ancient Lake. Traditional 

knowledge, biodiversity and genetic resources for food and agriculture in Lake 

Chad Basin ecosystems (Batello, Marzot and Touré, 2004). 

Sown pasture and fodder and their conservation are discussed in a number of 

FAO publications, including: Hay and Straw Conservation (Suttie, 2000), which also 

deals with fodder cultivation ; Silage making in the tropics with particular emphasis 

on smallholders (t’Mannetje, 2000); Wild and Sown Grasses (Peeters, 2004); Site- 

Specific Grasses and Herbs. Seed production and use for restoration of mountain 

environments (Krautzer, Peratoner and Bozzo, 2004); Forage Legumes for Temperate 

Grasslands (Frame, 2005); Fodder Oats: a World Overview (Suttie and Reynolds, 

2004). Tropical forages are dealt with in Tropical Grasses (Skerman and Riveros, 1989) 

and Tropical Forage Legumes (Skerman, Cameron and Riveros, 1988). 

The FAO-AGP Grassland Index gives descriptions of and agronomic information 

on a wide range of forages – see .


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Allaby, M. 1998. Oxford Dictionary of Plant Sciences. Oxford, UK: Oxford 

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Batello, C., Marzot, M. & Touré, A.H. 2004. The Future is an Ancient Lake. 

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in Lake Chad Basin ecosystems . Rome, Italy: FAO. 309 p. 

Dost, M. 2004. Fodder Oats in Pakistan . pp. 71–91, in: J.M. Suttie and S.G. 

Reynolds (eds). Fodder oats, a world overview. FAO Plant Production and 

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Erdenebaatar, B. 2003. Studies on long-distance transhumant grazing systems in 

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18 


Riveros, F. 1993. Grasslands for our world. In: M.J. Barker (ed). Grasslands for 

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Suttie J.M. 2000. Hay and straw conservation for small-scale and pastoral conditions. 

FAO Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 29. 303 p. Available online – see 

http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/005/X7660E/ 

X7660E00.htm 

Suttie J.M. & Reynolds, S.G. 2004. Fodder Oats: a World Overview. FAO Plant 

Production and Protection Series, No. 33. 251 p. 

Suttie J.M. & Reynolds, S.G. 2003. Transhumant grazing systems in temperate 

Asia. FAO Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 31. 331 pp. 

t’Mannetje, L. (ed). 2000. Silage making in the tropics with particular emphasis on 

smallholders. FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper, No. 161. 180 p. 

Wang, W.L. 2003. Studies on traditional transhumance and a system where herders 

return to settled winter bases in Burjin county, Altai Prefecture, Xinjiang , China . 

pp. 115–141, in: J.M. Suttie and S.G. Reynolds (eds). Transhumant grazing systems 

in temperate Asia. FAO Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 31. 

White, F. 1983. The Vegetation of Africa; a descriptive memoir to accompany the 

Unesco/AETFAT/UNSO vegetation map of Africa. Natural Resources Research 

Series, XX. Paris, France: UNESCO. 356 p. 

World Resources Institute - PAGE. 2000. Downloaded from http://earthtrends. 

wri.org/text/forests-grasslands-drylands/map-229.htm

Chapter 2 

The changing face of pastoral systems in grass - 

dominated ecosystems of eastern Africa 

R.S. Reid, S. Serneels, M. Nyabenge and J. Hanson 

SUMMARY 

All eastern Africa is in the tropics, but its grasslands cover a very wide range of 

altitudes. Extensive grassland s are mostly in arid and semi -arid zones . The area 

is subject to droughts and a high degree of pastoral risk . Potential vegetation is 

largely desert and semi-desert , bush and woodland, with only a small area of 

pure grassland , but the grass -dominated herbaceous layer of the other formations 

is very important for wildlife and livestock; 75 percent of eastern Africa is 

dominated by grasslands, often with a varying amount of woody vegetation. The 

grasslands have been grazed by livestock and game for millennia. Eastern Africa 

is a centre of genetic diversity for grasses. Six to eleven main grassland zones 

have been described. Grasslands are either under government control , are open 

access or are common property resources . Access to resources are under national 

laws but frequently traditional land use rights are granted by local communities . 

National land tenure systems are unrelated to traditional ones. Governments supported 

cropping and reduction of communal grazing land ; contraction of pastoral 

systems reduces the scale of resource use by pastoral peoples. The population is 

very varied – pastoral groups tend to be of different ethnicities from agricultural or 

agropastoral groups. Most pastoral systems are in the semi-arid areas, with small 

areas in hyper-arid and subhumid zones. Traditionally, livestock and their products 

were for subsistence and wealth, but now many are marketed. Grasslands are 

increasingly being integrated into farming as pastoral systems evolve. Sown forages 

are widely used in agricultural areas. Cattle , like people, are mostly in the non-pastoral 

areas (70 percent), except in countries with little high-potential land. Cattle, 

camels , sheep , goats and donkeys are the main livestock kept by the pastoralists for 

subsistence; most herds are mixed . Indigenous breeds are the majority, although 

exotic cattle are kept for dairying in high altitude zones. Wildlife are widespread in 

the grazing lands and are important for tourism . Agricultural development along 

watercourses limits access by wildlife and pastoral stock. 

SCOPE 

This chapter focuses on the grazing lands or rangelands of Burundi, Eritrea , 

Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia , the Sudan, the United Republic of 

Tanzania (Tanzania) and Uganda (Figure 2.1). These comprise extensive semi - 

19

20 

Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central African 

Republic 

Democratic Republic 

of the Congo 

Angola 

Egypt 

Zambia Mozambique 

Figure 2.1 

Countries in eastern Africa as defined for this chapter. 


arid to arid grasslands, savannah, bushlands and woodlands, and also cover the 

natural grazing areas of the extensive highland areas of the region. These are 

also the pastoral rangelands that Holechek, Pieper and Herbel (1989) defined as 

“uncultivated land that will support grazing or browsing animals”. 

Pastoral management systems in eastern Africa have developed over 

the last three to four thousand years by the indigenous groups of pastoral 

Key 

Lakes 

Bounding countries 

International boundaries 

Rivers 

Capital cities

The changing face of pastoral systems in grass-dominated ecosystems of eastern Africa 21 

peoples living in the region, whose livelihoods depend on livestock. These 

traditional and often sustainable ways are now being threatened by agricultural 

development , the need to produce more food from marginal lands, population 

growth and global climate change. Fluctuations in rainfall and drought are 

recurring problems in the rangelands of the region and 70 million people in 

the Horn of Africa, many of whom are pastoralists, suffer from long-term 

chronic food insecurity (FAO, 2000). Poverty levels are high, with more than 

half of the people in the region surviving on less than US$ 1 per day (Thornton 

et al., 2002). The population of the region has doubled since 1974, and it is 

predicted to increase another 40 percent by 2015 (FAO, 2000). Against this 

background, the traditional ways of pastoralists continue to change, and many 

are settling (or are settled) and diversifying their income-generating activities 

into crop production, wage labour and other activities, while other family 

members continue to herd the family stock and move to follow the availability 

of forage. 

This chapter examines the changes in pastoral rangeland systems in eastern 

Africa over recent years and estimates future changes in the rangelands of the 

region due to global climate change, human population growth and market 

opportunities. 

Mapping rangelands, livestock and pastoral peoples 

The productive potential of the eastern Africa n region varies enormously from 

place to place, as shown by the differences in the growing season across the 

region (Figure 2.2; Fischer, Velthuizen and Nachtergaele, 2000). On this map, 

areas coloured brown and yellow have less than 60 growing days 1 and thus 

rarely support crops (= arid , according to White, 1998); areas adequate for shortseason 

crops with 60–120 growing days are shown in light green (= semi -arid ); 

areas with 121–180 days, shaded in medium green, can support longer-season 

crops (= dry subhumid); and areas with >180 growing days are in dark green, 

and have few production constraints (= wet subhumid). Over the region, about 

37 percent of the land surface (or 2.3×10 6 km 2 ) is only agriculturally suitable for 

grazing by wildlife and livestock (= arid and semi-arid areas), while the other 

63 percent (3.9×10 6 km 2 ) is additionally suitable for crop cultivation , forestry 

and other types of land use. Of these arid and semi-arid areas principally suitable 

for grazing, about 1.6×10 6 km 2 (or about 70 percent of the grazing land ) is arid 

and completely unsuitable for crop production (zero growing days) and thus is 

probably only available for grazing during the rare high rainfall years or during a 

1 Growing days are defined as “the period (in days) during the year when precipitation (P) 

exceeds half the potential evapotranspiration (PET) plus a period required to evapotranspire 

up to 100 mm of water from excess precipitation assumed stored in the soil profile” (FAO, 

1978). The mean daily temperature during the growing period has to exceed 5°C (Fischer, 

Velthuizen and Nachtergaele, 2000).

22 

Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 

African Republic 



Angola 

Zambia 

Egypt 

Tanzania 

Mozambique 


Key 

Number of days 

0 

1 - 60 

60 - 120 

120 - 180 

> 180 

Missing data 

Lakes 



Rivers 

Capital cities 

Figure 2.2 

Length of growing period (days) with sufficient soils and water to grow crops . Reclassified 

from Fischer, Velthuizen and Nachtergaele, 2000. 

few weeks or months in normal or low rainfall years. Significant drylands cover 

northern Sudan, eastern Ethiopia, much of Eritrea and Somalia and northern 

Kenya, while most of Tanzania , Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda are relatively 

wet. These four high-rainfall countries and southern Kenya, the highlands of


Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 




Angola 

Zambia 

Egypt 

Mozambique 

Figure 2.3 

Potential vegetation in eastern Africa . Re-classified from White, 1983. 

Ethiopia and southern Sudan have the highest potential for intensive croplivestock 

production. Much of this is now already under cropland, with the 

exception of southern Sudan (for cropland, see Figure 2.7). 

The potential vegetation of eastern Africa is largely desert and semi - 

desert (26 percent of the land surface), bushland (33 percent) and woodland 

Key 

Afro-montane 

Mangrove and halophytic vegetation 

Bushland, thicket and mosaics 

Desert 

Forest and forest transitions 

Grassland and grassland mosaics 

Semi-desert vegetation 

Woodland and woodland transitions 

Lakes 



Rivers 

Capital cities

24 

Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 




Angola 

Zambia 

Egypt 

Mozambique 


Key 

No. of species/km 2 

0 

1 - 10 

11 - 30 

31 - 50 

51 - 70 

71 -n 83 

Lakes 



Rivers 


Figure 2.4 

Density of large mammal species in eastern Africa , based on data from IEA, 1998. 

(21 percent) (from Figure 2.3; White, 1983). Only 12 percent of the region is 

naturally forested, and even less is pure grassland (7 percent). Afromontane 

vegetation, much of it potential grazing land , is rare (0.5 percent) and mostly 

restricted to Ethiopia, with very small amounts on volcanic mountains in Kenya, 

Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania . Although pure grassland is found only in central

J.M. SUTTIE 


Plate 2.1 

Predator harvesting game. Cheetah among Harpachne schimperi – Athi plains, 

Kenya. 

and south-eastern Sudan, northern and western Tanzania and northwest Kenya, 

the herbaceous layer of semi-deserts, bushlands and woodlands are dominated 

by grasses, so they are included here as part of the “grass -dominated areas” 

of eastern Africa because of their importance for livestock and wildlife . This 

means that 75 percent of eastern Africa is dominated by either pure grasslands 

or grasslands with varying amounts of woody vegetation within or above the 

grass layer. Significant woodlands exist only in southern Sudan, Tanzania and 

Eritrea , and in northern Uganda and western Ethiopia. 

Eastern Africa is renowned for the diversity and number of its large grazing 

and browsing wildlife (Plates 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3). A map of the density (number 

per km 2 ) of species of medium and large mammals in eastern Africa was developed 

by a simultaneous overlay of 281 individual species distribution maps (see 

Figure 2.4, developed by Reid et al. (1998) based on analysis of databases from 

IEA (1998)). The highest diversity of medium to large mammal species is found 

in two large, contiguous patches: one in the Rift Valley of south-central Kenya 

and central Tanzania , and the other in and east of the Ruwenzori Mountains 

in southwestern Uganda and northern Rwanda. This is the richest diversity of 

mammals of this size in all of Africa (Reid et al., 1998) and probably the world. 

Most of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda support diverse 

groups of large mammals, with fewer in most of Djibouti, Eritrea , Ethiopia and 

Somalia . This map does not account for the rarity or endemism of large mammals, 

which can be distributed quite differently from overall diversity.

26 

Plate 2.2 

Large non-ruminant herbivores – zebra herd – Athi plains, Kenya. 

Plate 2.3 

Gerenuk - dry area browsers – Tsavo East, Kenya. 


As expected, most of the people in eastern Africa live in the wetter and 

highland areas (Figure 2.5; Deichmann, 1996; Thornton et al., 2002). High 

population levels are found in the Ethiopian highlands, the Lake Victoria 

Basin and the southern Tanzanian highlands. Significant clusters of people 

J.M. SUTTIE 

J.M. SUTTIE


Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 




Angola 

Zambia 

Egypt 

Mozambique 

Key 

No. of people/km 2 

< 1 

1 - 10 

11 - 20 

21 - 50 

61 - 100 

> 100 

Lakes 



Rivers 


Figure 2.5 

Human population density in eastern Africa in 2001. From Deichmann, 1996; Thornton et al., 

2002. 

live in areas marginally suitable for cultivation in Eritrea around Asmara, in 

central Sudan and along the coasts of Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia . The only 

places where many people live in drylands are along the Nile in northern 

Sudan, around Mogadishu in Somalia and in western Somaliland of northern 

Somalia. Few people live in most of the drylands of eastern Africa and in the

28 

Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 




Angola 

Zambia 

Egypt 

Mozambique 


Key 

No. of cattle/km 2 

< 1 

1 - 5 

6 - 20 

21 - 50 

51 - 100 

101 - 300 

Missing data 

Lakes 



Rivers 


Figure 2.6 

Cattle population densities in eastern Africa in the late 1990s, from Kruska, 2002. 

wetter areas of the Sudd in southern Sudan, in the tsetse belts of Tanzania and 

in protected areas. 

Cattle are largely distributed in a pattern similar to the human population 

distribution in eastern Africa (Figure 2.6; Kruska, 2002), with high concentrations 

around Lake Victoria and in the Ethiopian highlands. Few cattle are found in 

the driest areas of northern Sudan, eastern and northern Ethiopia, Eritrea and


northeastern Somalia . There are also few cattle in wet, southern Sudan (the 

Sudd) and northern Uganda, and in the subhumid, miombo woodland regions 

of southern Tanzania . Most of the cattle are in non-pastoral areas across the 

region: 70 percent are in cropland and urban areas, while 30 percent are in 

pastoral lands. These proportions vary strongly from country to country, 

partly because of differences in amounts of high-potential land. For example, 

about 35 percent of Kenya is high potential and 80 percent of the nation’s cattle 

herd resides there. In contrast, there is very little high-potential land in Somalia 

and Djibouti and thus all the cattle live in drylands in those countries. 

A previous global analysis of pastoral systems (from Reid et al., 2003) 

has been used to estimate the extent of grass -dominated pastoral systems in 

eastern Africa . This pastoral systems map (Figure 2.7) was created using four 

Geographical Information System (GIS ) data layers: land cover (USGS/EDC, 

1999; Loveland et al., 2000), length of growing period (Fischer, Velthuizen 

and Nachtergaele, 2000), rainfall (IWMI, 2001; Jones and Thornton, 2003) and 

human population density for Africa (Deichmann, 1996). 

Initially, land cover, length of growing period and human population maps 

were used to establish the location of all cultivatable land (>60 growing days), all 

land cover currently under crops in the USGS coverage (dryland cropland and 

pasture ; irrigated cropland and pasture; mixed dryland and irrigated cropland 

and pasture; cropland and grassland mosaic; and cropland and woodland 

mosaic) and any other areas with sufficient human population (>20 people/ 

km 2 ) to exclude extensive rangeland use (for details, see Reid et al., 2000a; 

Thornton et al., 2002). This classification thus joined all but the most extensive 

agropastoral systems with cropland, and maps about 9 percent more cropland 

than is in the USGS database. “Urban” included all areas with more than 

450 people/km 2 . The remaining areas (not cultivatable, low human population 

density) were discriminated into pastoral system classes by mean annual rainfall 

as follows: areas receiving less than 50 mm of rainfall were classified as hyperarid 

; areas with 51–300 mm were arid; and areas with 301–600 mm were semi - 

arid . Highland areas were those with temperatures of more than 5°C but less 

than 20°C during the growing season, or less than 20°C for one month a year. 

Most of eastern Africa ’s pastoral systems are semi -arid (34 percent), with 

much smaller areas of arid (12 percent), hyper-arid (8 percent), humid to subhumid 

(9 percent), and temperate and highland (1 percent) pastoral systems 

(Figure 2.7). Cropland and urban areas cover 27 percent of the region. Only 

Sudan has the driest (hyper-arid) pastoral systems, while eastern Eritrea , 

northern Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and northern Kenya support extensive 

arid pastoral systems. The most common land cover type in Kenya, Somalia, 

Ethiopia and Sudan is semi-arid rangeland. Tanzania , Uganda and Sudan have 

the most extensive wet pastoral systems. 

By comparing potential vegetation (Figure 2.3) and pastoral and cropland 

systems (Figure 2.7), we can see what types of vegetation farmers have pre-

30 

Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 




Angola 

Zambia 

Egypt 

Mozambique 


Figure 2.7 

Pastoral system areas and cropland and urban areas of eastern Africa in 2001, based on 

Thornton et al. (2002) and Reid et al. (2003). 

ferred to use for cropland. On average, 27 percent of the region is cropped, 

but this is disproportionately found in afro montane vegetation (74 percent 

converted to cropland), forest (62 percent converted), woodland (34 percent 

converted) and bushland (31 percent converted). Farmers have ploughed lesser 

Key 

Hyper-arid pastoral 

Arid pastoral 

Semi-arid pastoral 

Humid/subhumid pastoral 

Temperate/highland pastoral 

Cropland or urban 

Other (mostly forests) 

Lakes 



Rivers 

Capital cities


areas of pure grassland (23 percent converted), semi -deserts (3 percent) and 

deserts (1 percent). These land use choices have pushed pastoral use from the 

wetter to the drier areas in eastern Africa over time. 

PLANT COMMUNITIES IN GRASSLANDS AND RANGELANDS 

The grasslands of eastern Africa are very diverse, with a range of dominant 

species dependent on rainfall , soil type and management or grazing system . 

Eastern Africa is renowned as a centre of genetic diversity of tropical grasses 

and the centre of greatest diversity of cultivated grass species (Boonman, 1993). 

Over 90 percent of the major cultivated forage grasses have their centre of 

origin in sub-Saharan Africa and are indigenous to the extensive grasslands of 

eastern Africa. There are an estimated 1 000 species of grass indigenous to the 

region, with more than 600 species found in Kenya alone (Boonman, 1993). The 

wide distribution and adaptability of many of these species across a range of 

environments and management systems indicates the presence of considerable 

genetic diversity within the region. This diversity has been exploited to select 

superior ecotypes for use in many other parts of the world. Brachiaria species, 

originating from eastern Africa, are the most widely planted forage grass, 

with estimates of areas under Brachiaria pastures in Brazil ranging from 30 to 

70 million hectares in 1996 (Fisher and Kerridge, 1996). 

To aid description and study of the rangeland, many attempts have been made 

to classify the vegetation into types that cover large areas of the region. Rattray 

(1960) identified 12 types of grassland in eastern Africa , based on the genera of 

the dominant grass in the grassland. These include Aristida , Chloris , Cenchrus , 

Chrysopogon , Exotheca , Hyparrhenia , Heteropogon , Loudetia , Pennisetum , 

Panicum , Setaria and Themeda . Pratt and Gwynne (1977) described six ecoclimatic 

zones based on climate, vegetation and land use. These are described 

as the afro-alpine area of upland grasslands; the equatorial humid to dry subhumid 

area of forests and bushlands (Plates 2.4 and 2.5); the dry subhumid to 

semi -arid area of savannah, shrub and woodland; the semi-arid areas of dry 

woodland and savannah (such as the Acacia -Themeda association); the arid 

area of Commiphora , Acacia, Cenchrus ciliaris and Chloris roxburghiana ; and 

the very arid area of dwarf shrub grassland of Chrysopogon. A more recent 

classification , based primarily on the dominant grass, is described as vegetation 

type or region by Herlocker (1999). He described eleven vegetation regions 

in eastern Africa as Pennisetum mid-grass ; Pennisetum giant grass; Panicum- 

Hyparrhenia tall-grass ; Hyparrhenia tall-grass; Hyparrhenia-Hyperthelia tallgrass; 

Themeda mid-grass; Chrysopogon mid-grass; Leptothrium mid-grass; 

Cenchrus-Schoenefeldia annual mid-grass; Panicum-annual; Aristida mid- and 

short-grass region; and Aristida short-grass region. 

Themeda triandra (Plate 2.6) is one of the most widespread grass species in 

sub-Saharan Africa but it is only the dominant grassland type in central and 

northern Tanzania . The species is very variable and shows wide adaptation to

32 


Plate 2.4 

Acacia bushlands cover much of the rich volcanic soils of eastern Africa. 

Plate 2.5 

Farmers use many of the trees in bushlands and woodlands to manufacture 

charcoal for market. 

R.S. REID 

R.S. REID

C.J. WILSON 


Plate 2.6 

Maasai sheep grazing in a Themeda grassland, southwestern Kenya. 

growth in both the highland regions and the lowland savannahs. Themeda, 

Bothriochloa , Digitaria and Heteropogon mixtures are common in the open 

dry savannah areas of Tanzania, such as the Serengeti plains. Short tufted 

ecotypes of Themeda triandra are found at high altitudes and taller more 

woody types are found in the open lowland savannahs (Rattray, 1960). These 

vary in palatability, but all types quickly lose palatability with age. Themeda 

triandra can tolerate light to moderate grazing , and productivity can reach 

400 kg/ha/day in the wet season in the Serengeti plains, making them among 

the most productive grasslands in the world (Herlocker, 1999). Plant biomass, 

quality and species numbers decline in the absence of grazing, are at a peak 

under moderate to high grazing (McNaughton, 1976, 1979, 1984) and can 

decline under very high grazing. In the Mara region in Kenya, to the north, 

which is a continuation of the grassland ecosystem of the Serengeti Plains, 

Themeda makes up about 50 percent of the grass cover in lightly to moderately 

grazed sites, dropping to 1–5 percent cover near settlements where Maasai 

corral their livestock each night (Vuorio, Muchiru and Reid, in prep.). 

The dominant grass species in the drylands of eastern Africa include Aristida , 

Cenchrus , Chrysopogon and Heteropogon . These are often found growing as 

an association, the dominant species determined by the environment and 

soil type . Aristida grassland is widely distributed in the dry pastoral areas of 

Kenya, Ethiopia and the Sudan. Although many species are tough and have

34 


low palatability, they have wide adaptability to a broad range of environments. 

Cenchrus grassland is often found associated with Aristida, or in Somalia 

with Leptothrium (Herlocker, 1999), and has higher palatability and better 

adaptation to hot dry areas with high evapotranspiration. Cenchrus is one of 

the few grass genera that has been characterized for agronomic attributes. Over 

300 ecotypes, mostly collected from Tanzania and Kenya, were characterized 

for 12 agronomic attributes (Pengelly, Hacker and Eagles, 1992). The ecotypes 

showed wide variability in their agronomic traits and were clustered into six 

groups (Pengelly, Hacker and Eagles, 1992). The annual C. biflorus , which 

is adapted to dryland areas, is also found in eastern Africa associated with 

Schoenefeldia sp. and is typical of one dry area south of the Sahara in western 

Eritrea (Herlocker, 1999). 

Chrysopogon plumulosus is the most widespread species found in the semi - 

desert grasslands and bushlands of the Horn of Africa (Herlocker, 1999) and is 

avidly grazed, especially in Somalia and Sudan, where it is burnt to stimulate 

regrowth for grazing . Chrysopogon is very sensitive to grazing. Overgrazing 

results in elimination of the species and a change in species composition to 

annuals such as Aristida spp. (Herlocker, 1999). This harsh management 

regime in low rainfall areas has resulted in reduced stands of this grassland 

in recent years (IBPGR, 1984). Herlocker (1999) recognized three zones in 

the Chrysopogon region according to the associated woody vegetation . These 

include Commiphora -Acacia bushland and Acacia etbaica open woodland, 

which occur across the region, and the Acacia bussei open woodland in Somalia 

and Ethiopia. He also recognized two subregions: the Cenchrus -Chloris subregion 

in the wetter areas and the Sporobolus subregion in the drier areas. Rattray 

(1960) recognized the Chloris areas as a vegetation type in its own right, and 

included the Sporobolus as an associated grass in a Chrysopogon vegetation type 

in very dry semi-desert areas of Somalia and Ethiopia. 

Although not a vegetation type recognized by Herlocker (1999), Heteropogon 

grassland is found in open woodland or grassland in the semi -arid and arid 

rangelands in Somalia (Box, 1968), Kenya and Ethiopia. It is represented 

mostly by H. contortus , which is commonly called spear grass due to its awns 

and needle-sharp tips on the grass florets. It is a persistent species, which is 

indigenous to the region, spreads rapidly through seed and grows in lowland 

or middle altitudes with poor, stony, well drained soils. It is commonly found 

with annual species of Aristida and Digitaria (Rattray, 1960). The species does 

not have good palatability and is only useful when young. 

Chloris roxburghiana is a dominant species in dryland areas of Kenya, 

Ethiopia, Tanzania , Somalia and Uganda, and is usually found growing in 

association with Chrysopogon aucheri and Cenchrus ciliaris in Commiphora 

and Acacia woodland (Rattray, 1960). Despite its wide distribution, Herlocker 

(1999) treats this vegetation type as a subtype of the Chrysopogon mid-grass 

region. Chloris roxburghiana is widespread throughout the entire region and


is an important species for livestock and wildlife . This species contributes up 

to 50 percent of the diet of wild herbivores in eastern Kenya (IBPGR, 1984) 

but is in danger of disappearing due to overgrazing and land degradation 2 . The 

species is very variable. A recent study using random amplified polymorphic 

DNA (RAPD) markers to study diversity among four populations from ecologically 

distinct sites in eastern Kenya showed significant variation among the 

populations (W.N. Mnene, KARI, Nairobi, pers. comm.). 

Chloris gayana is an important native species and a component of the 

Hyparrhenia type of grassland (Rattray, 1960) in open steppe and wooded 

grassland vegetation or flooded valleys in the higher rainfall areas of Kenya, 

Ethiopia, Tanzania , Somalia and Uganda. Herlocker (1999) considers this vegetation 

type part of the Hyparrhenia-Hyperthelia tall-grass region of miombo 

woodland. The miombo woodland is an important vegetation type covering 

the southern two thirds of Tanzania. Chloris gayana, or Rhodes grass , is not 

an important grass ecologically in the vegetation of the region, but is important 

commercially as a forage grass. It shows wide adaptability with high palatability, 

and is a fast-growing, persistent, frost- and drought -tolerant species valued 

for grazing (Skerman and Riveros, 1990). Commercial cultivars of Rhodes 

grass have been developed from genotypes collected in Kenya and grown in 

the region since the 1930s (Boonman, 1997). An analysis of genetic diversity 

in Chloris gayana using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) 

revealed considerable variation between the diploid and tetraploid cultivars, 

with genetic similarity ranging between 66 and 89 percent in the diploids and 

63 and 87 percent in the tetraploids (Ubi, Komatsu and Fujimori, 2000). 

Hyparrhenia is one of the most widespread grassland types in eastern 

Africa , and this grassland region, which is characterized by woodlands and 

wooded grasslands dominated by H. rufa , covers parts of Uganda, Kenya 

and Ethiopia (Herlocker, 1999). Several other species of Hyparrhenia are 

found in the region, of which the most important are H. hirta , H. diplandra 

and H. filipendula . These tough perennial grasses are usually found growing 

in combination with other grasses in woodland or open grassland, from the 

lowland to mid-altitude areas. They are fast growing, and grazed while young, 

but become tough and unpalatable as they mature and lose nutritive value 

(Skerman and Riveros, 1990). Crude protein levels of H. dissoluta in Kenya can 

decrease from over 14 percent to less than 3 percent after flowering (Dougall, 

1960). After flowering, these grasses are much valued and used as thatching for 

traditional rural housing, and mature grasses have commercial value, being sold 

as standing grass to be cut for roofing in some rural areas. This and burning 

ensure young regrowth with higher value for grazing in many areas. Grazing 

2 In this chapter, we consider degraded land to be land that due to natural processes or human 

activity is no longer able to sustain an economic function or the original ecological function, 

or both (GLASOD, 1990).

36 


is important to encourage growth of other more palatable and valuable forage 

grasses, such as Cynodon dactylon , Panicum maximum and Setaria sphacelata 

(Herlocker, 1999). 

Loudetia species are often found mixed with Hyparrhenia spp. and 

Themeda triandra in open grassland on shallow, rocky, sandy soils. They provide 

late-season grazing for livestock (Rattray, 1960) but have low palatability 

(Skerman and Riveros, 1990). Although Herlocker (1999) did not consider this 

a vegetation type per se, and Rattray (1960) only considered this as a grassland 

type for Uganda, Loudetia is widely distributed in rangeland ecosystems in 

Tanzania , Kenya and Ethiopia, but is never the dominant species. The most 

common species in the region is Loudetia simplex , which shows considerable 

variability in morphology in Ethiopia (Phillips, 1995). However, the genus has 

not been widely studied due to its low economic importance. 

The highland areas of eastern Africa cover about 80 million hectares of 

Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Exotheca abyssinica grassland is common on 

poor waterlogged soils in high altitude areas of eastern Africa, especially on 

the seasonally waterlogged vertisols, of which there are 12.6 million hectares 

alone in Ethiopia (Srivastava et al., 1993). This species is closely related to 

Hyparrhenia and is often found growing in association with Themeda triandra 

. E. abyssinica has tough leaves and low nutritive value (Dougall, 1960), 

providing good grazing while young but quickly becoming tough and unpalatable. 

Setaria incrassata and S. sphacelata are also common grassland species 

found in Acacia woodland up to 2 600 m altitude on the vertisols of Uganda, 

Sudan and Ethiopia (Rattray, 1960). S. incrassata is a very variable species, with 

morphotypes varying in plant robustness, bristles, and number and density of 

spikelets (Phillips, 1995). It is closely related to S. sphacelata, which is also a 

very variable species, allowing selection of a range of cultivars from Kenyan 

ecotypes that vary in frost tolerance, maturity, pigmentation and nutritive value 

(Skerman and Riveros, 1990). Both S. sphacelata and S. incrassata are palatable 

grasses that withstand heavy grazing. 

Pennisetum grassland areas can be classified as two types : high altitude 

grasslands of P. clandestinum and savannah grassland of P. purpureum (Rattray, 

1960; Herlocker, 1999). Although belonging to the same genus, these species 

are morphologically and ecotypically very distinct, and have very different distribution 

and ecological niches. Both species are indigenous to eastern Africa , 

with high economic importance, and are cultivated in many other parts of the 

world. 

P. clandestinum is a prostrate stoloniferous perennial that is widely distributed 

in areas from 1 400 m to over 3 000 m in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania 

and Uganda. Its common name, Kikuyu grass , derives from the highlands 

of Kenya, where it is abundant, being named after the Kikuyu ethnic group 

of central Kenya. It shows wide adaptability to drought , waterlogging and 

occasional frosts (Skerman and Riveros, 1990). It is highly digestible, palatable,


persistent and withstands severe defoliation and grazing . It is the dominant 

species in natural pastures in many parts of the eastern Africa n highlands. It 

is an invasive secondary species, which can quickly colonize disturbed soil in 

cropping areas and fallow land, spreading by seeds or stolons, and may become 

a serious weed in cropland (Boonman, 1993). It shows wide variability, with 

three distinct ecotypes classified on leaf width and length, stolon size and floral 

structure (Skerman and Riveros, 1990). Several ecotypes have been selected 

as commercial cultivars, which have been widely introduced into tropical 

highland and subtropical areas. It is now widely grown outside its native 

distribution and is commonly cultivated in the Americas. Studies in the USA 

using starch gel electrophoresis to describe the distribution of genetic variation 

within and among introduced populations found a relatively high proportion 

of polymorphic loci across populations, indicating fixed heterozygosity due to 

polyploidy (Wilen et al., 1995). The highland grazing areas of P. clandestinum 

are often mixed with P. sphacelatum and Eleusine floccifolia . These two grasses 

are frequent in overgrazed pastures in the highlands and mid-altitudes in the 

Rift Valley, but are not palatable (Sisay and Baars, 2002) and are important for 

traditional basket making. Cattle avoid these grasses, which have the potential 

to become major weeds on upland pastures unless collected for basket making. 

Basket making is an important activity and source of income for rural women 

and collection of these weedy grasses also maintains the quality of the communal 

grazing areas and grasslands in the highlands. 

Pennisetum purpureum is a tall, erect, vigorous perennial species that grows 

in damp grasslands and forest areas up to 2 400 m in Kenya, Tanzania , Uganda 

and Sudan. Herlocker (1999) recognized this as a vegetation region in Kenya 

and Uganda, around the shores of Lake Victoria. Pennisetum purpureum 

is widely distributed through sub-Saharan Africa and is commonly called 

elephant grass or Napier grass, named after Colonel Napier of Bulawayo in 

Zimbabwe, who promoted its use at the start of the century. It is now widely 

used for cut-and-carry (where grass is collected by hand and carried to stallfed 

cattle ) for the smallholder dairy industry in eastern Africa and frequently 

produces up to 10–12 t/ha dry matter in rainfed conditions (Boonman, 1993). 

Elephant grass is palatable when young and leafy. It is fast growing and should 

be cut often to avoid its becoming tough and unpalatable with a high proportion 

of stem. Due to its importance in the region, considerable research has been 

done on elephant grass, including studies on its diversity. Tcacenco and Lance 

(1992) studied 89 morphological characters on 9 genotypes of elephant grass to 

determine which characters were most useful for description of the variation 

in the species, and concluded that variation existed from plant to plant, even 

within the same accession. A larger collection of 53 accessions was characterized 

for 20 morphological and 8 agronomic characters (Van de Wouw, Hanson 

and Leuthi, 1999). Again the germplasm was found to be very variable, but 

accessions could be clustered into six groups with similar morphology. More

38 


recently, molecular techniques using RAPD markers were applied to study the 

genetic diversity in the same collection, and also among farm clones in Kenya 

(Lowe et al., 2003). This technique was able to separate out hybrids between 

P. purpureum and P. glaucum from pure elephant grass accessions. Despite being 

clonally propagated, genetic diversity (Magguran, 1988) across all accessions 

was found to be fairly high, with a Shannon’s diversity index of 0.306. 

Panicum maximum is another tall, fast growing species that is often found 

associated with Pennisetum in eastern Africa n grasslands or associated with 

Cenchrus and Bothriochloa in Acacia woodland in the dry savannah areas 

(Rattray, 1960). Herlocker (1999) recognized the Panicum-Hyparrhenia region 

along the coast northwards from Tanzania , through Kenya into Somalia . 

Panicum maximum is more widely distributed in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania 

and is typical of shady places in the foothills of mountain ranges up to 2 000 m. 

P. maximum is a pioneer grass that comes in after clearing and cultivation of 

the lowland forest . There is a wide variation in plant habit, robustness of culms 

and pubescence (Phillips, 1995), and ecotypes with good agronomic characters 

have been selected as commercial cultivars. P. maximum is fast growing and 

palatable, and its wide adaptation and variability make it an excellent grazing 

species in the savannahs. A collection of 426 ecotypes of P. maximum collected 

from Tanzania and Kenya were evaluated for morphological and agronomic 

traits in Brazil (Jank et al., 1997). Twenty-one morphological descriptors were 

found to discriminate among accessions and were used to cluster the collection. 

Considerable variation was found among the ecotypes and some with 

wide adaptation were selected for establishment of a breeding programme. 

Other locally well -adapted ecotypes are also being developed for use within 

the region of adaptation. 

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS IN PASTORAL LANDS OF EASTERN 

AFRICA 

Most dry grasslands of eastern Africa are characterized by frequent droughts 

and high levels of risk of production for pastoral peoples (Little, [2000]). 

Livestock are one of the few ways to convert sunlight into nutritious food in 

these drylands (wildlife are also important). Pastoralists traditionally manage 

risk by moving their livestock on a daily and seasonal basis to follow changes in 

the quality and quantity of pasture (IFAD, 1995). Cattle , camels , sheep , goats 

and donkeys are the main livestock species and are kept by the pastoralists for 

subsistence for their milk , meat and traction. Most herds are mixed as a means 

of adaptation to a changing environment, to supply food for the family and to 

act as a cash reserve in times of shortage, during droughts or disease-pandemics 

(Niamir, 1991). 

Although sale of livestock is a major source of income for pastoralists today, 

widespread sale (or commoditization) of livestock only became common in the 

last century, with colonialism (Hodgson, 2000). Settled crop-livestock farmers


are particularly oriented toward marketing: selling animals, milk and hides regularly. 

Herds are managed in a way that minimizes sales because of the traditional 

social and economic functions of livestock other than income generation 

(Coppock, 1994). In most pastoral areas, livestock are used as a social “safety 

net”, with livestock exchange cementing mutual obligations to help each other 

in times of need. Like many other pastoral areas, cattle are also of particular 

significance in the Borana area of Ethiopia as a symbol of wealth and prestige, 

and owners are reluctant to sell. Sheep and goats are usually sold to raise cash 

for household needs. Although marketing of livestock products (milk, meat , 

hides) in pastoral systems is a relatively new phenomenon, pastoral peoples 

who live near markets and roads are increasingly selling products. 

Traditionally, herders consume a large part of the milk produced; any surplus 

is shared with neighbours, exchanged in barter or sold in urban areas. In 

Somalia , a commercial milk chain through a cooperative has been established 

by the pastoralists for marketing camel milk in Mogadishu as a source of 

income to buy sugar, clothes and medicines (Herren, 1990). An EU-funded 

project, Strengthening food security through decentralized cooperation, active 

from 1996 to 2002, also supported establishment of a small processing plant for 

pasteurizing camel milk and marketing the resulting products in suitable packaging 

for the Somali market (EC, 2000). The 2001–2 drought had a considerable 

effect on camel calving intervals and milk sales. In some parts of Somalia, there 

was virtually no income from milk sales following the drought. Milk formerly 

provided approximately 40 percent of a household’s income and the return on 

livestock sales, which typically provide an additional 40 percent of income, was 

halved after the drought (FSAU, 2003). Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania living 

close to main roads or towns sell fresh milk, butter or fermented milk. The 

Borana in southern Ethiopia sour cow’s milk and process it into butter for sale 

in local markets or for transport to large cities (Holden and Coppock, 1992). 

Distance to market, season and wealth of the household (which is directly 

related to the number of livestock owned) influence marketing of dairy products 

in the southern rangelands of Ethiopia (Coppock, 1994). 

Most of the extensive grasslands in the region are either under the control of 

the government and designated as wildlife and conservation areas for national 

parks (about 10 percent of the land area) or are open access or common property 

resources . Access to these resources and the conditions under which they 

can be used are under national laws, but frequently traditional land use rights 

are granted by local communities . Traditionally, long-term sustainability of 

these rangelands has been ensured by agreed management norms, but these 

are increasingly breaking down as lands privatize, crop farmers migrate to 

pastoral areas and human needs grow. Governments are also reducing support 

to pastoral peoples, who are often marginalized in national affairs (IFAD, 

1995). Options for income generation and alternative land uses for extensive 

grasslands for pastoralists are limited and can lead to overutilization and land

40 


degradation if none of the users take responsibility for the management and 

sustainability of the system. 

Common property and traditional access regimes with sustainable range 

management institutions and resource sharing arrangements were practiced in 

the region until the colonial era (IFAD, 1995) and continue in some areas today. 

These were and are based on a transhumance grazing system developed over 

many years to exploit the ecological heterogeneity and make optimal use of the 

scarce resources of grazing and water throughout the year. These traditional 

management practices include grazing rotation strategies and establishment 

of grazing preserves for the dry season . Drought is the most serious challenge 

facing pastoralists in the region and access to land and water are often the cause 

of conflict between pastoralists, ranchers and crop-livestock farmers (Mkutu, 

2001). Traditional systems of access to water are common in most countries 

in the region. The pastoralists of northern Somalia and southern Ethiopia also 

have a complex and well -regulated system of well management to regulate 

water use, as well as traditional informal and formal social controls on use of 

common property and open property resources to ensure sustainable use of 

the grassland and water resources (Niamir, 1991). This is exemplified by herder 

response to drought and conflict in southern Somalia, where herders move 

camels and cattle great distances to good pastures in times of drought, while 

they graze small stock closer to home (Little, [2000]). 

Over the last century, these indigenous range management institutions have 

been weakened by demographic, political and social change in the region. 

The greatest threat to the traditional pastoralist system comes from the rapid 

population growth of the last twenty years and conversion of communal 

grassland to open access state property or private land, which has led to more 

grassland being used for smallholder crop-livestock farming. Policies have 

constrained the movement of pastoralists and promoted sedentarization and 

many permanent settlements have been established in the rangelands; with 

many pastoralists choosing to shift their production systems to include croplivestock 

farming (Galaty, 1994; Campbell et al., 2000). In S.E. Kajiado District, 

Kenya, land use conflict reflects ongoing competition over access to scarce land 

and water resources between herders, farmers and wildlife – competition that 

has intensified strongly over the last 40 years, after the district became open to 

outside migrants. 

Today, farming extends into the wetter margins of the rangelands, along rivers 

and around swamps. This has reduced the area available for grazing and the 

ease of access to water for both domestic stock and wildlife . Political alliances 

have emerged among land managers to gain or maintain control of critical land 

and water resources and to influence policy on agriculture, wildlife and tourism 

and land tenure (Campbell et al., 2000). Another well -documented example 

of this is from the Beja pastoralists in northeastern Sudan, who, as a result 

of drought , are changing their nomadic way of life as camel and smallstock


herders to more settled, smallholder farming and rearing of small ruminants. 

Like other pastoralists in the region, they find that small ruminants are easy 

to manage near the homestead, cost less, are more easily sold and breed more 

quickly than camels (Pantuliano, 2002). Government policies have supported 

cropping and reduction of communal grazing land and, more recently, mobility 

patterns and access to key resources have been constrained by conflict and civil 

insecurity. Many Beja now move very little or not at all, reducing their capacity 

to make effective use of the rangeland from the perspective of livestock 

production. As Beja settle, vegetation around settlements has changed, with 

the disappearance of seven palatable species and an increase in unpalatable species 

(Pantuliano, 2002). These changes are typical of those faced by pastoralists 

across the region. Even so, many families (or parts of families) still send the 

younger family members for transhumance in the dry season while the women 

and older family members remain on the farm to take care of the crops and 

smallstock. 

The national land tenure systems of the region are unrelated to the traditional 

land tenure and access regimes of the pastoralist groups. In Ethiopia, the Sudan 

and Somalia , all land is state owned and cropping land can be leased from or 

allocated by the government. In Somalia, land tenure is under a mixture of traditional 

and modern legal systems (Amadi, 1997). The 1975 Land Reform Act 

of Somalia gave land for state enterprises and mechanized agriculture (Unruh, 

1995); pastoralists only had rights as part of government-sponsored cooperatives 

and associations, and were forced to move from their traditional lands to 

more marginal lands with open access. All land belonged to the state and 50year 

leases were provided to users, although many enclosures were not legally 

leased and ownership was respected by local communities under traditional 

systems (Amadi, 1997). Following the conflict and the absence of a central 

government, the deregulation of land tenure and unauthorized enclosure of 

pastoral land for grass production by entrepreneurs for export livestock production 

to Kenya left poor herders and agropastoralists with little livelihood 

security (de Waal, 1996). For the Sudan, the government recognizes rights of 

possession over land but also reserves the right to acquire land from local owners 

for the state (Amadi, 1997). In Ethiopia, land is allocated through the land 

administration, and redistribution occurs, so people do not have secure rights 

over their land (EEA/EEPRI, 2002), resulting in inter-ethnic and inter-communal 

conflict over resources . In neighbouring Eritrea , land is owned by the 

community, and land tenure is governed by traditional laws and administered 

under traditional village administrative bodies (Amadi, 1997). 

Land tenure in Uganda is very complex, reflecting the rich history of the 

country. Mailo tenure is particular to the Buganda area of the country and 

dates back to 1900 when the king (kabaka) of the Buganda people shared land 

among the chiefs to own in perpetuity. In 1975, the Land Reform Decree made 

all land public with title vested in the Uganda Land Commission, and allowed

42 


leasehold tenure (Busingye, 2002). Although the mailo system was officially 

abolished, it continued until the late 1990s, when the 1995 Constitution and 

the Land Act of 1998 were implemented. Freehold tenure was also granted by 

the state and later by the Land Commission, mostly to institutions for religious 

and educational purposes (Busingye, 2002). The 1995 Constitution and 1998 

Land Act also identified a new land tenure system called customary tenure. 

The land is held, used and disposed of following the customary regulation of 

the community, and people using the land have some rights . Customary tenure 

is the most common system in the rangelands (Amadi, 1997). The emphasis is 

on use, which is controlled by the family, who distribute land to male family 

members for their use rather than ownership. Customary tenure also includes 

the communal land, where users have rights to grazing , farming, fuelwood, 

access to water and land for traditional uses and burial grounds (Busingye, 

2002). Ownership is through the family or community, and there are no individual 

ownership rights. Traditional authorities allocate the land and resolve 

disputes. In addition some land was declared Crown Lands in 1900, and areas 

are still held by the state under the Uganda Land Commission as protected 

areas, some of which are now open access. 

The land tenure system in the United Republic of Tanzania is a legacy 

of colonial rule, with all lands being public land and remain vested in the 

President as a trustee for and on behalf of all citizens of Tanzania (Nyongeza, 

1995; Shivji, 1999). The state grants rights of occupancy and tolerates customary 

occupation and use of land. All public land is categorized under three types : 

General, Reserved or Village land, which are each managed and administered 

by ministry officials. The Commissioner for Lands has the power to allocate 

land on the general, and even reserved, lands. When a village registers its land, 

the title deeds are held in trust for the whole village by the Village Chairman 

and Council. Numerous land-related conflicts exist in Tanzania, partly caused 

by conflicting land use policies. The Villagization Programme (1974–76) 

concentrated people together, displacing some and allocating them land that 

was taken from others. Some of the villages were relocated into reserved 

land, thus creating pockets of habitation and cultivation in protected areas. 

With the economic liberalization in the mid 1980s, large-scale land alienation 

occurred, in particularly in the Arusha region, where vast parts of rangelands 

were leased out to large-scale farmers (Igoe and Brockington, 1999). Village 

land can also be allocated by the government, if it is not registered or its use 

can not be demonstrated. To secure their title deeds, many pastoralists started 

cultivating. Much of the rangeland areas in Tanzania have been categorized as 

reserved lands, having been set aside as national parks, game reserves or game 

controlled areas, thus making them inaccessible for herders and their livestock 

(Brockington, 2002). 

Land tenure in Kenyan pastoral systems has evolved rapidly over the last half 

century. About the 1940s, Kenyan colonial authorities introduced an entirely


new type of land use to rangeland ecosystems : wildlife -only protected land. In 

subsequent years, the Kenya Game Department transferred the management 

of game reserves in Maasailand to local District Councils. After independence 

in 1963, these reserves were designated “County Council Reserves” 3 (Lamprey 

and Waller, 1990). Most of these conservation areas were established in the dry 

season grazing reserve for pastoral people, livestock and wildlife. This change 

in land tenure appropriated these critical resources for use by wildlife alone for 

the first time. 

Also in the mid-1960s, the Kenya Government gave pastoral groups title 

deeds to large tracts of grazing land that they had used traditionally over a 

long period (Lawrance Report, 1966). Each member shared ownership of the 

entire ranch under the Group Representatives Act, 1968, but the livestock were 

owned by individual members (Lamprey and Waller, 1990). Although these 

ranches were large (Koyake Group Ranch in the Mara area is 971 km 2 ) and 

group ranch boundaries were relatively porous to livestock and wildlife movement, 

these group ranches started to circumscribe who could live where in the 

ecosystem . The group ranch system was instituted more strongly in the wetter 

rangelands in the south and just north of Mt. Kenya; arid rangelands further 

northwest and northeast were largely unaffected by this change in tenure . 

Since the early 1980s, group ranches have been adjudicated and are becoming 

privatized (Galaty, 1994). Areas near towns and roads were the first to be 

privatized. For example, the rangeland nearest to Nairobi was privatized in the 

early 1980s, while other group ranches in drier areas are currently undergoing 

subdivision. Pastoral land owners are struggling to balance the trade-offs of 

private tenure : even though secure ownership is a boon, lack of access to wider 

grazing lands and loss of wildlife are not. Groups and families are trying to 

address these problems with reciprocal grazing arrangements and establishment 

of community wildlife reserves . This process has partly been driven by 

pastoral peoples throughout Kenya beginning to settle permanently to have 

access to schools, health care and other business opportunities in the higher 

potential areas. At the same time, pastoral people want to secure their ownership 

rights as they see large tracts of communal land leased to outsiders for 

mechanized agriculture. 

Privatization of land in pastoral areas robs pastoral peoples of one of their 

greatest assets: communal access to land . In the 1960s, Hardin (1968) decried 

communal access to land, describing it as the “tragedy of the commons ”, 

assuming that communal access meant free and unregulated access leading 

to overuse. This has been used as an argument in favour of privatization. 

3 Intitially established in the late 1940s as ‘National Reserves’ under Kenya Royal National 

Parks, these areas were once again redesignated as national reserves under the 1976 Wildlife 

(Conservation and Management) Act. However, they continued to be managed by county 

councils.

44 


However, most communal access to pastoral land and water is not unregulated, 

rather it is governed by traditional rules of access controlling who uses the land 

and water, where and when. These rules were designed to sustain grassland 

productivity for the use of all in communally shared lands. Privatization of 

land is now causing the “tragedy of privatization” , where pastoral people are 

impoverished because land holdings are too small to support their livelihoods 

in dry grazing lands . This is what Rutten (1992) nicely coined as “selling land 

to buy poverty”. The overgrazing issue is discussed below, applicable to both 

communal and privatized land. 

INTEGRATION OF GRASSLANDS INTO SMALLHOLDER FARMING 

SYSTEMS 

As pastoral systems evolve and herders avoid drought and disasters through 

diversification and risk management , sedentarization and settlement to improve 

income-earning capacity is occurring in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia 

(Little et al., 2001). There continues to be an expansion of cropping in areas 

where agriculture is feasible, to allow herders to better manage risk and respond 

to drought (Little et al., 2001). As cropping expands into the rangelands of the 

region, grasslands have become an integral part of crop-livestock systems. 

Nearly all grassland areas in developing countries are grazed (CAST, 1999). 

One viable alternative for settled crop-livestock farmers in the region is to use 

cultivated forage grasses to support livestock production and reduce the pressure 

on the natural grassland. Cultivated forages have received less attention 

from breeders than other crops (CAST, 1999). However, recent expansion in 

dairying, especially around urban areas in eastern Africa , and the anticipated 

increased demand for livestock production proposed by Delgado et al. (1999) 

has led smallholder farmers to pay more attention to increased use of cultivated 

grasses. Inclusion of grasses into a crop-livestock system can also have positive 

environmental benefits. Vegetation cover can be improved through transfer of 

seeds and trampling and breaking soil crusts and fertility improved by manure 

deposited during grazing (Steinfeld, de Haan and Blackburn, 1997). Fallow 

and grassland rotations improve soil fertility and minimize soil erosion, while 

reduced nutrient losses from manure from livestock fed on grasses in a cutand-carry 

system double the effective availability of nitrogen and phosphorus 

and can be put back into the system to maintain nutrient balances (de Haan, 

Steinfeld and Blackburn, 1997). 

Rhodes grass and elephant grass are among the earliest tropical grasses 

grown in eastern Africa , since the start of the twentieth century. They have 

been widely planted for livestock production in Kenya and Uganda since the 

1930s (Boonman, 1993) and are an important part of crop-livestock systems in 

higher-potential areas. Grass rotations and fallowing of crop lands were common 

practices to provide soil cover and restore organic matter some 50 years 

ago, but this practice has reduced due to increasing population pressure and


demand for crop land (Boonman, 1993). Due to scarcity of land, most dairy 

farmers in the heavily populated highlands of eastern Africa now practice a cutand-carry 

zero grazing system . Currently, elephant grass is the most important 

forage crop in dairy systems in the Central Kenya Highlands (Staal et al., 1997) 

and has been shown to constitute between 40 to 80 percent of the forage for 

the smallholder dairy farms . In Kenya alone, more than 0.3 million smallholder 

dairy producers (53 percent) rely on elephant grass as a major source of feed. 

The demand is so high that landless farmers plant along highway verges and on 

communal land to cut and sell to stock owners. 

Rhodes grass has also been widely used for improved pastures due to its 

wide adaptation and vigorous root system, which confers reasonable tolerance 

to drought and persistence under grazing and makes it suitable for erosion 

control , and of value for hay making (Boonman, 1993). It shows some cold 

tolerance, and several commercial varieties have been developed in Kenya. It 

ranks second only to elephant grass in yield and drought tolerance, producing 

up to 18 t DM/ha in suitable environments (Boonman, 1993). 

Another cultivated grass with wide adaptability that is being grown in 

eastern Africa is setaria (Setaria sphacelata ). Herbage yield can equal Rhodes 

grass and it is more persistent at higher altitudes, up to about 3 000 m above 

sea level, and can tolerate frost and seasonal waterlogging (Boonman, 1993). 

However, it is not as drought tolerant as Rhodes grass and has a tendency 

to invade agricultural land, and can become weedy and difficult to eradicate. 

Although its use reduced in Kenya during the 1980s, it is still a useful grass in 

wetter and higher-altitude areas, and it is now gaining importance for use in soil 

stabilization and erosion control along bunds in Tanzania and central Kenya 

(Boonman, 1993). Unfortunately, none of these options for improved forage 

production are available to settled pastoralists across the vast dryland areas of 

the region. 

CASE STUDIES OF THE EVOLUTION OF EXTENSIVE RANGE SYSTEMS 

OVER THE LAST 40 YEARS 

General 

Expansion of cropland, intensification of livestock production and changes 

in land tenure are common forces for change in pastoral systems around the 

world (Niamir-Fuller, 1999; Blench, 2000). Across Africa, colonial and postcolonial 

policies favoured crop cultivation over livestock production, thus 

giving agriculturalists the economic “upper hand” compared to pastoralists 

(Niamir-Fuller, 1999). As described earlier, pastoralists are thus either pushed 

onto more marginal lands for grazing or they begin to take up crop agriculture 

themselves, becoming agropastoralists (vide Campbell et al., 2000). In most 

cases, customary political and management systems are becoming weaker 

(Niamir-Fuller, 1999). Livestock development projects are also driving change 

in pastoral lands by opening up remote pastures with the spread of borehole

46 


technology and fragmentation of rangelands by veterinary cordon fences ; this 

is true in eastern Africa , but particularly in southern Africa. Conflicts have 

resulted in changes in land tenure, with restricted access to traditional grazing 

lands as well as reduced mobility of pastoralists in insecure areas (Mkutu, 

2001). 

This “contraction” of pastoral grazing systems reduces the scale of resource 

use by pastoral peoples. Pastoral success depends largely on tracking patchy 

resources through time. In most traditional systems , this requires an opportunistic 

strategy of movement from daily and weekly changes in grazing orbits, to 

seasonal migrations over large landscapes. Many of the forces driving change 

in pastoral systems curtail the ability of pastoralists to move: sedentarization 

limits the maximal grazing distance achievable from a fixed homestead; privatization 

of land tenure limits access to many pastures; and gazetting of protected 

areas prevents pastoralists from reaching some pastures. 

Evolution of land use changes in the semi -arid rangelands 

surrounding the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem, straddling the Kenyan– 

Tanzanian border 

Maasailand in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania has been subject to 

considerable vegetation changes since the beginning of the twentieth century. 

Over the past century, the area has passed through successive stages of 

transformation as the result of the interaction between four distinct, and 

probably cyclical, processes of change: change in vegetation; climate; tsetse 

and tick infection; and pastoral occupation and management . At the end of 

the nineteenth century, Maasai pastoralists had access to extensive grasslands 

(Waller, 1990). During and following the great rinderpest epidemic of 1890, 

cattle populations in eastern Africa succumbed rapidly: by 1892, 95 percent 

had died. Famine and epidemics of endemic diseases such as smallpox reduced 

human populations to negligible numbers in Maasailand. Wild ruminants also 

died in great numbers due to rinderpest, but gradually developed immunity. 

By 1910, wildlife numbers rose, with the exception of wildebeest and buffalo, 

whose numbers were kept low from yearling mortality. These natural disasters 

disrupted the grazing patterns and reduced intensity. Dense woodlands and 

thickets established in the Mara Plains and northern Serengeti (Dublin, 1995) 

because fires were less frequent, since population decreased with the famine 

and there were fewer people to light fires, so fuel loads grew with less grazing 

offtake. This dense, woody vegetation was a habitat for tsetse flies, which fed 

on the abundant wildlife and prevented significant human re-settlement. Until 

the 1950s, Maasai chose to settle and graze away from the Mara Plains (Waller, 

1990). At that time, the human population in the area was rapidly increasing 

and Maasai herdsmen used fire to improve grazing pastures (Plate 2.7) and to 

clear tsetse-infested bush . Increased elephant densities further maintained the 

woodland decline in the Maasai Mara and Serengeti as the animals moved to the

R.S. REID 


Plate 2.7 

Large areas of eastern African grasslands burn every year, providing short green 

regrowth for many species of livestock and wildlife in these ecosystems. 

protected areas from the surrounding, more densely inhabited areas. Between 

1957 and 1973, woodlands in the Mara decreased from about 30 percent to 

about 5 percent cover (Lamprey and Waller, 1990). By the mid-1970s the 

wildebeest population had increased to about 1.5 million, and currently 

fluctuates around 1 million (Dublin, 1995). 

Over the past 25 years, considerable changes in land cover and land use have 

taken place in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem and in the rangelands surrounding 

the protected core of the ecosystem (Serneels, Said and Lambin, 2001). The 

ecosystem is made up of protected land (Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro 

Conservation Area (NCA) and several Game Controlled Areas in Tanzania , 

and Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya), surrounded by semi -arid 

rangelands that are largely inhabited by Maasai agropastoralists. Land cover 

changes leading to a contraction of the rangelands were most pronounced 

in the Kenyan part of the ecosystem, surrounding the Maasai Mara. About 

45 000 ha of rangelands were converted to large-scale mechanized farming after 

1975. Expansion of the wheat farms reached a maximum extent in 1997–8, at 

60 000 ha. By 2000, about half of the wheat fields had been abandoned, mostly 

because the yields in the drier areas were too uncertain to make cultivation 

viable. The abandoned areas once more became available to livestock and wildlife 

. Permanent settlements have spread from the north to the south in the last 

50 years, with significant settlement areas now on the northern border of the 

Mara Reserve (Lamprey and Waller, 1990). In the rangelands, most attempts at

48 


subsistence cultivation were abandoned after a few years, due to crop destruction 

by wildlife and highly variable yields linked with climate variability. In 

the Tanzanian part of the ecosystem, land cover changes were less pronounced. 

No conversion for large-scale farming occurred; most land cover changes were 

either expansion of smallholder cultivation or natural succession in rangelands. 

Extensive areas of cultivated land (subsistence to medium-scale agriculture) 

were found in the unprotected lands, right up to the border with the protected 

areas west of Serengeti and southeast of NCA. In the NCA and the Loliondo 

Game Controlled Area, about 2 percent of land cover changes were attributed 

to smallholder impact over the past 20 years. In the NCA, cultivation is regulated: 

only hand-hoe cultivation is allowed and fields are small and scattered. In 

the Loliondo, no such restrictions are in place, but the area is very inaccessible, 

so the lack of opportunities to export the crops outside the area effectively 

controls the extent of cultivation. 

The conversion of rangelands to agriculture has had a serious impact on the 

wildebeest population in the Kenyan part of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem . 

The population declined drastically over the past twenty years and is currently 

fluctuating around an estimated population of 31 300 animals, which is about 

25 percent of the population size at the end of the 1970s. Fluctuations in the 

wildebeest population in the Kenyan part of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, 

over the last decades, have been correlated strongly with the availability 

of forage during the dry and the wet seasons (Serneels and Lambin, 2001). 

Expansion of large-scale mechanized wheat farming in Kenya since the early 

1980s has drastically reduced the wildebeest wet-season range, forcing the 

wildebeest population to use drier rangelands or to move to areas where 

competition with cattle is greater. The expansion of the farming area has not 

influenced the size of the total cattle population in the Kenyan part of the 

study area, nor its spatial distribution. The much larger migratory wildebeest 

population of the Serengeti, in Tanzania , did not decline at the same time as 

the Kenyan population but is also regulated by food supply in the dry season 

(Mduma, Sinclair and Hilborn, 1999). Around the Serengeti, in Tanzania, land 

use changes are much less widespread, occur at a lower rate and affect a much 

smaller area compared with the Kenyan part of the ecosystem. Moreover, 

land use changes around the Serengeti have taken place away from the main 

migration routes of wildebeest. 

Protected areas and local land use: source of conflict in Tanzania 

Savannah ecosystems are well represented in African protected area networks 

(Davis, Heywood and Hamilton, 1994). In Tanzania , very large tracts of 

savannah have been set aside for conservation , partly because these rangelands 

support the most diverse assemblage of migrating ungulates on earth (Sinclair, 

1995). However, there are few resources to manage these conservation areas 

effectively and the rural populations surrounding them are among the poorest


in the world. Thus, conflict and complementarity between conservation and 

development have become major issues in Ngorongoro (Homewood and 

Rodgers, 1991), Mkomazi (Rogers et al., 1999), Selous (Neumann, 1997) and 

Tarangire (Igoe and Brockington, 1999). 

Mkomazi Game Reserve in Northern Tanzania is a 3 200 km 2 savannah 

area stretching from the Kenya-Tanzania border to the northeastern slopes of 

the Pare and Usambara mountains. Mkomazi lies within the Somali-Maasai 

regional centre of endemism (RCE) (White, 1983), where the dominant vegetation 

is Acacia -Commiphora bush , woodland and wooded grassland . Mkomazi 

borders the Afromontane RCE, with the lowland and montane forests of the 

Usambaras recognized as an outstanding centre of plant diversity (Davis et al., 

1994), an endemic bird area (Stattersfield et al., 1998) and a centre of endemism 

for many other taxa (Rodgers and Homewood, 1982). This “dry border” ecotone 

position means that Mkomazi species richness may be enhanced not only 

by the presence of species primarily associated with the adjacent ecosystems , 

but also by divergent selection driving the evolution of new forms (cf. Smith 

et al., 1997). This diversity makes Mkomazi particularly valuable to opportunistic 

land users like pastoralists, but also for conservation of its rich species 

and landscape diversity. Based on the perceived species richness and concerns 

by the conservationists about the impacts on Mkomazi’s vegetation of large 

numbers of cattle grazing in the western part of the reserve and large mammal 

populations, the resident pastoralists were evicted from the park in 1988 and 

use of its resources by the neighbouring communities was prohibited. 

Mkomazi has been widely presented as undergoing ecological degradation 

prior to the 1988 evictions and recovery since then (e.g. Mangubuli, 1991; 

Watson, 1991). Data to confirm or refute that claim are as yet unavailable 

(Homewood and Brockington, 1999), but eviction was viewed as a risk -averse 

decision from a conservation point of view. However, from a pastoral point 

of view, the eviction did have serious impacts on the livelihoods of those who 

were evicted. Besides pastoral people, a large number of non-pastoral people 

also depended on the reserve for their livelihoods and used the reserve for 

beekeeping, collection of wild foods to supplement their diets or for sale at 

the local markets, and collection of fuelwood. Since the eviction, an estimated 

25 percent of the livestock population have been restricted to a narrow and 

insufficient grazing area between Mkomazi reserve and the mountains bordering 

it to the south. Others have moved away from the reserve onto the increasingly 

crowded rangelands. Options for long-distance migration were greatly 

reduced, as the evictions occurred three years after the proliferation of largescale 

commercial agriculture in northeastern Tanzania (Igoe and Brockington, 

1999). 

The impact of the evictions from Tarangire National Park, north-central 

Tanzania , shortly after its creation in 1968 was not felt immediately. There 

was no large-scale farming in the region at that time and pastoral Maasai were

50 


able to develop alternative, if less optimal, subsistence strategies. The effects 

became visible more than 20 years later, during the 1993/4 drought . By this 

time, some of the best wet-season pastures in Simanjiro District had been lost 

to large-scale commercial agriculture and more livestock were forced onto the 

dry -season grazing grounds in the early grazing season, depleting the season’s 

grass growth sooner. The Maasai of Simanjiro found previous drought-coping 

strategies precluded by loss of access to drought reserve areas which had been 

enclosed inside the Tarangire National Park or allocated to large-scale commercial 

farms (Igoe and Brockington, 1999). 

The examples of Mkomazi and Tarangire clearly point to costs and benefits 

in conservation decisions, with conflicts likely to intensify as human needs 

grow. 

Control of the tsetse fly and evolution of a subhumid-grassland in 

southwestern Ethiopia : Ghibe Valley 

Wetter grasslands and woodlands have also evolved rapidly in the last century. 

One cause of that change is the control of trypanosomiasis, the disease 

transmitted to livestock and people by the tsetse fly, which allowed farmers to 

use animal traction more extensively (greater numbers and more healthy oxen) 

and thus to expand the amount of land they cultivated at the household level 

(Jordan , 1986). Despite the logic of this progression, Ghibe Valley in Ethiopia 

is one of the few places in Africa where these changes have been seen clearly 

(Reid, 1999; Bourn et al., 2001) 

Ghibe Valley is located about 180 km to the southwest of Addis Ababa, 

where the main road to Jimma descends from the Ethiopian highland massif. 

Tsetse flies were first controlled in this area in 1991, using pesticide-drenched targets 

and pesticide poured on the cattle themselves. Within this landscape in 1993, 

just after the control , the majority of the arable land was wooded grassland used 

by wildlife and the few livestock herded by agropastoral peoples. Smallholder 

farms covered about a quarter of the arable land, while large-holder farms covered 

less than 1 percent (Reid et al., 1997). About 90 percent of this landscape 

supports soils that are moderately to highly suitable for agriculture. Smallholder 

farmers grow a diversity of crop types , including maize, sorghum, tef, noug or 

niger seed (Guizotia abyssinica), false banana (Ensete ventricosum), groundnuts, 

wheat, beans and hot peppers, while large-holders grow a number of crops for 

market (citrus, onions, maize, spices). People use the large uncultivated tracts 

of grassland and woodland for settlements, hunting, wild plant gathering, beekeeping, 

livestock grazing , firewood collection, charcoal making and woodlot 

cultivation . 

Rapid land use and land cover change was caused by the combined effects 

of drought and migration, changes in settlement and land tenure policy, and 

changes in the severity of trypanosomiasis (Reid et al., 2000b; Reid, Thornton 

and Kruska, 2001). Each cause affected the location and pattern of land use


and land cover in different ways. Previous to the control , a strong increase in 

the severity of the trypanosomiasis caused massive loss of livestock, farmers 

were unable to plough as effectively and the area of cropland contracted by 

25 percent. Changes after tsetse control were slow to appear on the land itself, 

with nearly a five-year delay in impact on land use, although there was a more 

immediate impact on livestock health and populations. Changes were bi-directional 

and varied in speed, with both intensification and dis-intensification 

(Conelly, 1994; Snyder, 1996) occurring within the same landscape , sometimes 

slowly and sometimes rapidly. 

These changes in land use caused profound changes in ecological properties 

and the structure of the valley’s ecosystems (Reid et al., 2000b). When land use 

expanded, large areas of woodland were cleared for cultivation and firewood 

became more scarce. As human populations grew, plants with medicinal value 

became more rare and the large herds of grazing herbivores were decimated. 

Most of the biodiversity in the valley is limited to the narrow ribbons of woodland 

along the rivers; it is these rich woodlands that farmers began to clear after 

successful tsetse control (Reid et al., 1997; Wilson et al., 1997). 

CURRENT RESEARCH IN PASTORAL SYSTEMS OF EASTERN AFRICA 

Management of grasslands 

Management regimes for the grasslands of eastern Africa generally fall into 

three types : (1) state-managed for tourism and ranching; (2) commercial use 

for livestock or crop production; or (3) traditional management by pastoral 

and agropastoral groups. Livestock production, particularly cattle , is the major 

use for rangelands, with over 100 million head of livestock in the rangelands 

of eastern Africa (Herlocker, 1999). There is also a growing market for meat 

from wildlife , which is being met through commercial ranching and culling in 

the region. Grassland management is linked to use by livestock and wildlife, 

and there is often conflict between their exploitation for commercial income 

generation and the more sustainable management regimes of traditional groups. 

Wildlife -based tourism is of particular importance for generation of state, private 

and community income in the rangelands of Kenya (Plate 2.8) and Tanzania 

(Myers, 1972) and to a lesser extent in Uganda and Ethiopia. Recent efforts to 

privatize land and introduce more livestock are also changing the way people 

interact with wildlife. 

Government development projects have focused on improving the productivity 

of the rangelands and increased livestock production from common 

property resources . The World Bank has sponsored several projects on rangeland 

management , including in Somalia , Kenya and Ethiopia. Earlier projects 

focused on increasing the productivity of rangelands for livestock production 

and several included formation of pastoral associations, which dealt with grazing 

rights and policies. These projects had disappointing results due to the 

parastatal organizational form, inappropriate technologies and poor apprecia-

52 


Plate 2.8 

Acacia bushland near Nakuru, Kenya, supports endangered Rothchild’s giraffe. 

tion of traditional systems and people. Only recently have issues of integrated 

natural resource management and full involvement of stakeholders been given 

attention, although there remain problems in reaching the local people through 

public sector organizations (de Haan and Gilles, 1994). 

Traditional management systems by pastoralists recognized the need for 

controlled access to conserve the biodiversity and allow the rangeland to recover. 

Traditional grazing systems are more effective for sustainable resource use 

and maintenance of rangeland condition (Pratt and Gwynne, 1977). However, 

the traditional systems are under threat from increased livestock populations 

and decreased grazing lands , resulting in increased grazing pressure . This is 

already being recognized by Boran pastoralists in Ethiopia, who perceive 

that the condition of the rangelands is poor compared to 30 to 40 years ago 

(Angassa and Beyene, 2003) and consider the rangelands degraded and their 

livestock production declining. 

Annual variation in amount and distribution of rainfall , together with grazing 

, fire and human activities, results in wide variation in grassland productivity 

(Walker, 1993). Rangeland ecosystems are very resilient and recover well 

when there is sufficient rainfall and controlled use of the resources . Range 

condition is dependent on both the grazing system , considered as timing and 

frequency of grazing, and grazing intensity, defined as the cumulative effects 

grazing animals have on rangelands during a particular period (Holechek et 

al., 1998). Grazing intensity is closely associated with livestock productivity, 

trends in ecological conditions, forage production, catchment status and soil 

C.J. WILSON

C.J. WILSON 


Plate 2.9 

Heavily grazed grassland in the highlands near Bule, Ethiopia. 

stability. It is considered as a primary tool in range management , and flexibility 

of grazing intensity is critical to rangeland ecosystem health. Grazing intensity 

has a major impact on range condition (Plate 2.9). In a recent study in Ethiopia, 

range condition, based on the herbaceous layer, basal cover, litter cover, relative 

number of seedlings, age distribution of grasses, soil erosion and soil compaction, 

was higher in lightly grazed areas in the Rift Valley than in the heavily 

grazed communal lands (Sisay and Baars, 2002). In Serengeti and Maasai Mara, 

grazing was found to stimulate net primary productivity at most locations, 

with maximum stimulation at intermediate grazing intensities and declines at 

high levels of grazing. Stimulation was dependent upon soil moisture status at 

the time of grazing (McNaughton, 1985). 

There are many examples in the literature of the impact of management on 

species composition and diversity (Herlocker, 1999). In a study in the rangelands 

of southern Ethiopia, perennial grasses were relatively resilient in terms 

of cover and productivity in response to grazing , while continuous grazing 

encouraged forbs with lower grazing value for cattle (Coppock, 1994). Grazing 

affects species diversity and richness in grasslands (Oba, Vetaas and Stenseth, 

2001). Optimal conservation of plant species richness was found at intermediate 

levels of biomass production and was found to decline if biomass increased 

in ungrazed areas of arid -zone grazing lands in northern Kenya. These intermediate 

levels can be achieved by manipulating management and grazing 

pressure , although there will be seasonal fluctuations due to environment. In 

the Serengeti Plains in Tanzania , elimination of grazing led to dominance by

54 


tall vegetatively propagated grass species, while the short sexually reproduced 

species disappeared (Belsky, 1986). This implies that even though the greatest 

number of species are found at intermediate grazing intensities, some species 

are always lost when ungrazed pastures are grazed. Although there are more 

species at intermediate levels of grazing, it is possible that any grazing negatively 

affects rare plant species that are sensitive to grazing. 

Desertification : driven by climate or overgrazing by livestock? 

One of the most controversial and debated aspects of research about pastoral 

systems is the existence and extent of overgrazing, desertification and land 

degradation 4 in pastoral lands, particularly in Africa. Global assessments of 

drylands maintain that much of the earth’s land surface is degraded (GLASOD, 

1990) and that livestock are the principal global cause of desertification 

(Mabbutt, 1984). Analysts suggest that African pastures are 50 percent more 

degraded than those in Asia or Latin America (GLASOD, 1990). However, 

other analyses show that livestock numbers only exceed likely carrying 

capacities of arid and semi -arid rangelands in about 3–19 percent 5 of Africa 

(Ellis et al., 1999). In addition, there is no sustained evidence for a reduction 

in productivity , as measured by no change in the water-use efficiency of the 

Sahelian vegetation over 16 years, suggesting that the extent of the Sahara 

is more strongly influenced by drought than grazing (Tucker, Dregne and 

Newcomb, 1991; Nicholson, Tucker and Ba, 1998). 

However, these broad assessments are only correlative and can not assess 

cause and effect rigorously, and can not measure the relative impacts of different 

causative agents. Certainly, at more local scales, livestock impacts are 

highly visible and persistent around towns, water points and along cattle 

tracks (e.g. Georgiadis, 1987; Hiernaux, 1996). More illuminating – but much 

more difficult to acquire – are two types of evidence: (1) remote sensing studies 

at the landscape scale, tracking the extent of degradation or desertification 

and of sufficient duration to cover drought and non-drought periods; and 

4 Definitions of desertification, overgrazing and degradation are controversial and 

problematic. We use the term desertification here to refer to the concepts used by the cited 

global assessment (GLASOD, 1990). We use degradation to mean an irreversible change in 

ecosystem state or function. We agree with de Queiroz (1993) that “degradation” has been 

defined relative to human management objectives and thus is relative; for example, a change 

from grassland to bushland is “degradation” to a cattle -keeper but may be “aggradation” 

from the perspective of carbon sequestration . We would prefer a set of quantitative measures 

that can assess the state of a particular piece of land and be used by land managers to assess 

the desirability of different changes from the context of their own management objectives. 

We define overgrazing here as any level of herbivore grazing that induces either temporary 

or permanent changes in the species composition or function of a grassland. 

5 Carrying capacity is exceeded in 19% of areas receiving 0–200 mm rainfall per annum, 15% 

of the 200–400 mm zone, 3% of the 400–600 mm zone and 8.5% of the 600–800 mm zone 

(Ellis et al., 1999).


(2) either long-term experiments or observational studies at the pasture scale 

that assess the relative impacts of drought, livestock and other agents on ecosystem 

dynamics . Most of the research on land degradation and desertification 

in Africa has been focused on the Sahel , which has been intensively studied 

since the first droughts in the 1970s. Some landscape-scale studies based on 

a combination of fine-resolution satellite data and field measurements have 

been carried out in different parts of Africa and demonstrated the existence 

of local-scale degradation of rangelands in Ferlo, Senegal (Diouf and Lambin, 

2001) and Turkana, Kenya, where highly affected areas covered only 5 percent 

of the land surface (Reid and Ellis, 1995). The importance of studying land 

degradation and desertification problems over a sufficiently long period is 

illustrated by studies conducted in Burkina Faso by Lindqvist and Tengberg 

(1993) and later by Rasmussen, Fog and Madsen (2001). The first group of 

scientists studied the amount of woody vegetation cover in three sites in 

northern Burkina Faso (1955–89). They found that important loss in woody 

vegetation cover occurred during the first of a series of droughts that started 

in the late 1960s, when large areas of bare soil developed. The authors found 

little evidence of vegetation recovery until 1989, despite increasing rainfall since 

1985. Rasmussen, Fog and Madsen (2001) revisited the area, adding 10 years of 

satellite data. They found a decrease in albedo and thus increase in vegetation 

cover over the period 1986–1996, which was confirmed by fieldwork, thus 

showing the recovery of vegetation after drought. Interviews with local people 

indicated that the species composition of the regenerating herbaceous vegetation 

has changed considerably since the late 1970s. Land degradation caused by 

heavy grazing pressure was mostly found in the proximity of important water 

resources , which probably cover only a small proportion of the landscape in 

total. Schlesinger and Gramenopoulos (1996) also used the amount of woody 

vegetation cover as an indicator of desertification in western Sudan, but studied 

sites that were devoid of human use over the period 1943–1994. They analysed 

a time series of aerial photographs and Corona satellite images and did not find 

a significant decline in woody vegetation for the study period, despite several 

droughts having occurred during that period. Thus, at least in this area, they 

showed that the Sahara is not expanding and that drought had little effect on 

woody vegetation. In another part of the Sudan, the concentration of livestock 

around water points and settlements led to local loss of vegetative cover and 

accelerated erosion (Ayoub, 1998). In contrast, others have found that heavy 

livestock grazing around pastoral settlements in arid areas had minor impacts 

on woody vegetation and biodiversity , with impacts confined within the settlements 

themselves (Sullivan, 1999). Woody vegetation can replace palatable 

grass species in heavily grazed areas, caused by grazing pressure rather than 

climate (Skarpe, 1990; Perkins, 1991). 

At the pasture or field level, the picture is more complex. Generally, livestock 

grazing , browsing and trampling causes loss of vegetation , competition

56 


with wildlife and sometimes a change in soils when use is prolonged and heavy. 

The impacts depend to some degree on the level and variability of rainfall 

(Ellis and Swift, 1988). In areas of southern Ethiopia with more and reliable 

rainfall supporting perennial vegetation (an equilibrium grazing system ), the 

impacts of grazing in one season can reduce vegetative cover and production 

in the next (Coppock, 1994). In systems on the edge of perennial grass production, 

heavy grazing, especially in combination with drought , can reduce 

vegetative cover and production, even during subsequent wet years when more 

lightly grazed areas recover fully (de Queiroz, 1993). In systems with low and 

erratic rainfall (non-equilibrium systems), heavy grazing may (Milchunas and 

Laurenroth, 1993) or may not (Hiernaux, 1996) strongly influence production 

in subsequent seasons. Heavy grazing in annual grasslands changes the species 

composition of grassland vegetation, with more species in areas protected from 

grazing and fewer in heavily grazed areas (Hiernaux, 1998). 

The nature of interrelationships and thresholds between biophysical, 

socio-economic, institutional and policy factors at different spatial scales and 

temporal dimensions influencing land degradation and desertification are 

still poorly understood. A recent initiative on land degradation assessment 

in drylands (LADA project), executed by FAO, responds to the need for an 

accurate assessment of land degradation in drylands at a flexible scale and to 

strengthen support to plan actions and investments to reverse land degradation, 

improve socio-economic livelihoods, conserve dryland ecosystems and their 

unique biological diversity (see: http:/www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/lada/home. 

stm). Besides developing a set of tools and methods to assess and quantify 

the nature, extent , severity and impacts of land degradation on ecosystems, 

catchments, river basins and carbon storage in drylands at a range of spatial 

and temporal scales, the project also aims to build national, regional and global 

assessment capacities to enable the design and planning of interventions to 

mitigate land degradation and establish sustainable land use and management 

practices (Nachtergaele, 2002). 

Another useful livestock evaluation tool to enhance early warning systems 

to detect changes in livestock condition is being developed under the USAID 

Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) by Texas 

A&M University (Corbett et al., 1998). The Livestock Early Warning System 

(LEWS) integrates advanced crop and grazing models , based on empirical 

relationships between weather, vegetation , regrowth potential, soil and climate 

dynamics , with near infra-red spectroscopy (NIRS) for faecal analysis to detect 

changes in diet of free ranging livestock. These changes are linked to changes 

in vegetation patterns and can be used to predict drought and feed shortages 

for livestock some 6 to 8 weeks before pastoralists begin to see changes in the 

condition of the rangelands and their livestock. This allows them to better prepare 

for the coming feed shortages and nutritional crises in a timely manner by 

transhumance , as well as avoiding overgrazing of the rangeland resources .


HOW HAVE PASTORAL ECOSYSTEMS CHANGED IN RESPONSE TO 

LIVESTOCK AND HUMAN-USE CHANGES? 

Overgrazing 

A discussion of the impacts of grazing is provided in the preceding section and 

will not be considered further here, but grazing is without doubt one of the 

major forces effecting change in pastoral systems . 

Competition between livestock and wildlife 

Livestock can and do compete with several species of wildlife for forage in 

eastern Africa , but this may vary according to rainfall . Wildlife appear to avoid 

heavily grazed areas completely in arid northern Kenya (De Leeuw et al., 

2001), but mix more closely with livestock in semi -arid rangelands in southern 

Kenya (Waweru and Reid, unpub. data). 

Wildlife probably avoid areas close to settlements because livestock remove 

most of the forage. Around Samburu pastoral settlements in northern Kenya, 

Grevy’s zebra graze away from the settlements during the day, but move close 

to them during the night (Williams, 1998). Samburu build their settlements 

along riverine areas, within walking distance of streambeds where Samburu dig 

wells . After livestock are put into their corrals for the night, zebra come down 

to the streambeds to drink and leave by the next morning. They may also come 

close to the settlements at night for better predator protection as well . 

In the group ranches around the Maasai Mara game reserve , wildlife avoid 

areas very close to settlements, but cluster at intermediate distances from settlements 

(Reid et al., 2001). Wildlife may cluster around settlements to have 

access to moderately grazed grasslands, where their access to energy and nutrients 

is very high. They may also graze close by for protection from predators . 

Current settlements tend to be built on areas that have been settled for a long 

time and contain numerous old settlement scars where nutrient enrichment in 

the soils below old livestock corrals can last for a century or more (Muchiru, 

Western and Reid, submitted). 

Changes in rangeland burning regimes 

Livestock grazing and less frequent rangeland burning can strongly affect the 

state of the vegetation in rangeland systems . Wildlife and livestock systems, when 

side-by-side, often are of two different vegetative states: wildlife systems remain 

grasslands if elephants and fire are present (e.g. Dublin, 1995), while neighbouring 

livestock systems are much more woody (Western, 1989). Traditional rangeland 

burning is an essential practice to maintain the grassland state critical to grazers, 

but may reduce the amount of carbon sequestered in these ecosystems . 

Rangeland fragmentation and loss of wildlife habitat 

Fragmentation can also occur when fence lines are built to prevent the spread 

of disease or to prevent wildlife from foraging in enclosed pastures. This

58 


fragmentation prevents both livestock and wildlife from reaching parts of 

the landscape ; often the fenced parts contain key resources like swamps and 

riverine areas. Impacts on wildlife are not entirely known, but decreases in 

population sizes and viability can be expected. Eventually, fragmentation can 

completely exclude species from an area. 

Impacts of expansion of cultivation and settlement 

Recent evidence suggests that the impact of cultivation on vegetation , wildlife 

and soils in pastoral ecosystems is greater than that of livestock. Expansion of 

cultivation fragments rangeland landscapes when farmers convert rangeland into 

cropland (Hiernaux, 2000). Land degradation through crop cultivation has been 

documented (Niamir-Fuller, 1999), but the impacts of livestock use and crop 

cultivation (or any other land uses) has rarely been compared. The conversion 

of savannah to cultivation in parts of the Mara ecosystem of Kenya, along 

with poaching and drought , has caused more than a 60 percent loss in resident 

wildlife populations in the Mara ecosystem in the last 20 years (Ottichilo et al., 

2000; Homewood et al., 2001; Serneels, Said and Lambin, 2001). 

In non-cultivated areas, mixed livestock-wildlife systems may be more 

productive than either wildlife-only or livestock-only systems (Western, 

1989). These mixed systems, when maintained at moderate livestock grazing 

levels, coupled with pastoral rangeland burning , may support higher levels of 

plant and animal biodiversity than livestock-only or wildlife-only systems, 

analogous to the increase in plant diversity seen at the edge of wildlife reserves 

frequented by pastoralists and their livestock (Western and Gichohi, 1993). 

Further, it is hypothesized that when livestock populations are moderate in 

size or mobile , pastoralism produces significant global benefits in the form 

of biodiversity conservation , carbon sequestration , soil retention, soil fertility 

maintenance and catchment protection. 

Estimates of how the expansion of cultivation will affect pastoral systems 

over the next half century are based on scenarios of human population growth 

and climate change for the year 2050 from Reid et al. (2000a) and Thornton et al. 

(2002). Surprisingly, these changes may bring about an absolute expansion of cultivation 

of only 4 percent, or a relative increase of about 15 percent (Figures 2.8 

and 2.9). Most of the change will probably occur around the edges of currently 

cultivated land in areas with the most rainfall . Thus pastoral areas are expected to 

continue to contract further in the future and pastoral peoples to either continue 

to adopt agropastoralism or become restricted to drier and drier land. 

Carbon sequestration 

It is not clear whether current changes in the eastern Africa n rangelands 

(land use change, overgrazing, fragmentation) are causing a net release or net 

accumulation of carbon, either above or below ground. Expansion of cultivation 

into rangelands probably strongly reduces carbon below ground, but may


Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 




Angola 

Egypt 

Mozambique 

Key 


Non-cropland 

Lakes 



Rivers 


Figure 2.8 

Estimated extent of cropland and urban areas in eastern Africa in 2000. From Thornton et al., 

2002. 

increase carbon above ground if farmers plant significant numbers of trees 

(the success of which depends on rainfall ). If overgrazing converts grassland to 

bushland, then above-ground carbon will increase, but below-ground effects are 

unknown. In addition, rangelands are a significant carbon sink (IPCC, 2000), 

but the potential of these areas for further sequestration is not clear.

60 

Libyan Arab 

Jamahiriya 

Chad 

Central 




Angola 

Zambia 

Egypt 

Mozambique 


Figure 2.9 

Projected extent of cropland and urban areas in eastern Africa in 2050. From Thornton et al., 

2002. 

Bush encroachment 

Although grazing effects can be difficult to disentangle from the effects 

of climate, those that have attempted to do so show that livestock grazing 

can drive grassland systems into bushland (Archer, Scimel and Holland, 

1995). Heavy livestock grazing can convert grassland to bushland in eastern 

Key 


Non-cropland 

Lakes 



Rivers 

Capital cities


Africa , analogous to that observed in southern Africa (Ringrose et al., 1990). 

Sometimes this conversion forms a monospecific stand of persistent woody 

species, which greatly reduces biodiversity (de Queiroz, 1993). 

Rehabilitation of grasslands 

Rehabilitation of grasslands usually involves use of exclosures and restricted 

access to allow the vegetation to recover and natural species to re-establish 

from the seed bank in the soil or from spread of plants by vegetative means. 

Grime (1979) recognized a variety of mechanisms of regeneration, with 

different types of revegetative strategies based on disturbance, vegetative 

cover and management , and proposed a model of vegetative succession and 

vegetation dynamics . Vegetative expansion is associated with undisturbed 

habitats with few seedlings and relies on rhizomes and stolons of perennial 

grasses. Seasonal regeneration of gaps involves synchronous germination of 

seeds from abundant seeders. Regeneration from persistent seed banks and 

wind dispersed seeds is associated with spatially unpredictable disturbances. 

Woody species also have persistent seed and seedling banks but opportunities 

for recruitment are infrequent. Disturbances alter ecosystem processes and 

may alter the equilibrium balance of the system (Chapin, 2003). Disturbances 

are usually revegetated by species of the original community and return to the 

previous species composition within a few years (Belsky, 1986). Introduction 

of new species through colonization and recruitment following disturbances 

may result in system change, and plant traits may be important indicators to 

predict the consequences of global change (Chapin, 2003). 

Many previous attempts at rehabilitation have not been successful due to 

lack of consultation and involvement of local communities and their customs, 

and a perception that traditional systems need changes. Many technological 

interventions have been tested in the rangelands of southern Ethiopia but lack 

of development impact is linked to unrealistic expectations of development 

planners and poor appreciation of social values and production rationale of 

pastoralists (Coppock, 1994). Community participation in rehabilitation of 

degraded rangelands is an important step in promoting the success of current 

projects. A system in Samburu District in Kenya built on local knowledge and 

traditions to work in partnership with local people on local problems is having 

some success (Herlocker, 1999). 

Rehabilitation offers an opportunity to sequester carbon through forestation, 

grass and shrub establishment. This is particularly important because pastoral 

lands are so extensive and they sequester large amounts of carbon. Rangelands 

are only second to tropical forests in the amount of carbon they sequester, 

although most of this sequestration is unseen below ground in rangelands, in 

contrast to carbon above ground in rain forests (IPCC, 2000). Poor use of rangelands 

can cause up to a 50 percent loss in soil carbon, so the potential gains from 

rehabilitation are substantial (Cole et al., 1989; IPCC, 2000; Reid et al., 2003).

62 


Reseeding has been tried, with limited success, using thirty-two different 

species of grasses in Kenya (Bogdan and Pratt, 1967), although disturbance 

with subsequent colonization and regrowth was found to be successful for 

revegetation in the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania (Belsky, 1986). Options to 

improve success in Kenya were identified as selection of appropriate species 

for the ecosystem , good quality seeds, integration of reseeding with overall 

land management policy, adequate seedbed preparation, reasonable rain and 

a complete rest from grazing during the establishment period (Bogdan and 

Pratt, 1967). Chloris roxburghiana was difficult to establish in the south Kenya 

rangelands using seeds collected from natural stands (Mnene, Wandera and 

Lebbie, 2000). While there is the opportunity to introduce more productive 

exotic species into the system, these may often not be as well suited to the 

environment as the indigenous species and may not establish well. The study 

by Mnene indicated that ecotypes of the same species from different areas also 

showed poor establishment compared with seeds collected from populations 

in the same area. 

Seed supply to support reseeding is a major constraint in eastern Africa 

and most species have to be collected from the wild (Bogdan and Pratt, 1967), 

a situation that has changed little over the past 30 years. Most succession in 

pastoral areas is through natural means, such as wind dispersal, although some 

projects are collecting seeds from natural stands for revegetation purposes. 

A limited number of cultivars of Rhodes grass , setaria, coloured guinea grass 

(Panicum coloratum) and signal grass (Urochloa decumbens) are available in 

Kenya from the Kenya Seed Company. These are useful for pasture establishment 

but have limited use for reseeding rangelands, except for revegetation of 

the Hyparrhenia tall-grass region as described by Herlocker (1999) and other 

areas where these grasses are an important part of the natural ecosystem . These 

species can also be used for range improvement due to their high palatability 

and nutritive value, but establishment is often poor due to low rainfall and 

competition , as well as open grazing during the establishment phase (Bogdan 

and Pratt, 1967). 

PRIORITIES FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES IN 

PASTORAL LANDS 

Some history 

In the late 1970s, the World Bank withdrew 98 percent of its funding to 

pastoral research and development because there had been little progress 

in improving the intensity of production in livestock-dominated systems 

(de Haan, 1999). The pressure to intensify existed despite the fact that crop 

cultivation of ten failed in these systems and often was unsustainable over 

the long term (Niamir-Fuller, 1999). Intensification of production has had 

such success in higher potential land that policy-makers assumed it was 

appropriate for pastoral lands, particularly because most policy-makers have


received their training in cropping systems for wet areas, with no personal 

experience in extensive rangelands (Horowitz and Little, 1987). It might be that 

the “intensification paradigm” is inappropriate for pastoral lands and that the 

success and sustainability of production depends on extensification rather than 

intensification, maintaining mobility and flexibility for opportunistic production 

(e.g. Sandford, 1983; Scoones, 1995). 

In addition, recent re-evaluations have recognized that livestock production 

is not the sole value of pastoral lands; rather, the focus might be more appropriately 

placed on improving pastoral livelihoods and maintaining ecosystem 

health in these vast lands (de Haan, 1999; Niamir-Fuller, 1999). A consensus 

is emerging that pastoral lifestyles are more compatible with maintenance of 

rangeland integrity than are other types of land use. 

Rapidly changing systems with changing needs 

Pastoral systems in eastern Africa are rapidly evolving, driven by a combination 

of policy changes, drought , migration and human population pressure. 

Research and development efforts need to recognize such change and develop 

ways to understand and mitigate the effects of these changes. 

Focus generally on human welfare and maintaining environmental 

goods and services 

Eventually, if major constraints are removed, it may be possible for pastoralists 

to herd more productive livestock breeds in eastern Africa n pastoral ecosystems . 

Until that happens, the focus should be less on production increases per se 

and more on diversifying livelihoods and maintaining environmental goods 

and services in pastoral lands (de Haan, 1999). There is good potential for 

alternative sources of income within pastoral areas from plant products (resins, 

medicinal plants), pastoral ecotourism and wildlife tourism (de Haan, 1999). 

There is some suggestion that income from ecotourism will surpass income 

from beef production in these lands in the developed world over the next 

decade (de Haan, 1999). Analogous to the Clean Development Mechanism of 

the Kyoto Protocol, it eventually may be possible to pay pastoralists (through 

biodiversity credits, for example) for maintaining ecosystem goods and services 

that have global benefits. 

More emphasis on providing pastoral people with high quality 

information 

Recent reviews of pastoral development emphasize the probable failure of 

many technical interventions in pastoral ecosystems . Blench (2000) suggests 

that the best way forward is better provision of high quality information to 

pastoralists, by asking the question: “What will pastoralists do if they have 

access to more and better information?” Pastoralists, because of their mobility 

and loose connections to national economies, are likely to be some of the

64 


last to have access to information in any form, particularly high technology 

information. 

Restoring pastoral access to key resources , increasing mobility and 

flexibility, and ensuring security 

In many parts of eastern Africa , pastoralism is the only way to convert 

sunlight into food. In these systems , new policies and management practices 

can still learn from the wisdom of Stephen Sanford (1983): opportunistic 

management of widely varying forage resources will be essential to reducing 

pastoral vulnerability. This means that maintenance of mobility and flexibility 

in grazing management strategies will remain particularly important. Another 

issue in eastern Africa is security – pastoral livelihood will hardly improve 

in areas where there is armed conflict . Asset and income diversification and 

improved access to information and external resources will also help. Improved 

risk management will enable pastoralists to take action to reduce the chance of 

losing assets, income or other aspects of well -being (Little et al., 2001). 

Addressing gaps in our knowledge about how pastoral systems 

work in eastern Africa 

We conclude this chapter with a number of questions that remain either 

unanswered or partly answered, but that must be addressed fully in eastern 

Africa n rangelands. How many pastoralists are there in eastern Africa? How 

poor are pastoralists compared with people in crop-livestock systems ? What 

is the evidence that eastern African rangelands are degraded (Niamir-Fuller, 

1999)? Does the magnitude and variability of rainfall modify the effect of the 

driving forces of change in pastoral ecosystems ? How does extensification 

of pastoral systems in eastern Africa affect ecosystem goods and services? 

What are the ecological and economic costs and benefits of different land use 

practices and land use change in these systems? How do pastoral land use 

practices (adoption of cultivation , abandonment of nomadism, permanent 

settlement, landscape fragmentation) affect the distribution, diversity and 

viability of nutrients, vegetation , biodiversity and landscapes in pastoral 

ecosystems in eastern Africa? How do changes in land tenure and economic 

policy affect pastoral ecosystem structure and function? How do changes in 

pastoral ecosystems affect household incomes and nutrition ? What are the 

economic, social and ecological values of global ecosystem goods and services 

provided by pastoral ecosystems in eastern Africa (Homewood, 1993; Niamir- 

Fuller, 1999)? What are the most reliable and broadly comparative indicators 

of ecosystem change across eastern African pastoral systems (e.g. microbes, 

soil crusts)? What forces serve to enhance or maintain complexity in pastoral 

ecosystems and livelihoods, and what decreases complexity? How do we 

establish benchmarks for ecosystem and livelihood change in pastoral systems 

that are already heavily used?


Addressing gaps in our knowledge about how these systems can be 

improved 

Does the addition of livestock to wildlife -only systems in eastern Africa 

improve biodiversity and nutrient cycling? What social institutions best 

promote mobility and flexibility of land use among pastoralists and what 

policy alternatives can strengthen these institutions (de Haan, 1999)? What 

information is most useful to pastoralists and policy-makers, and in what form 

is it most easily accessible to each group ? What types of incentive encourage 

extensification rather than intensification of pastoral ecosystems ? How can 

pastoralists be compensated for protecting environmental goods and services 

of benefit to the globe? Will carbon credits work for pastoral lands? How can 

pastoralists take advantage of global conventions and funders (UN Convention 

to Combat Desertification (CCD); Global Environment Facility (GEF))? 

How can pastoralism be better integrated with crop cultivation in areas where 

such integration would be beneficial? How and when is co-conservation 

(integration of pastoral production and biodiversity conservation) most 

successful in eastern Africa? 

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Chapter 3 

Grasslands of South Africa 

Anthony R. Palmer and Andrew M. Ainslie 

SUMMARY 

South Africa is subtropical , with temperatures modified by altitude. The interior, 

where the bulk of grasslands are found, is semi -arid to arid , with rainfall 

decreasing westwards. The south and southwest have winter rainfall; the eastern 

Cape is bimodal; and Kwa-Zulu Natal has summer rainfall. Grassland is mainly 

in the central, high regions: sour -veldt occurs under high-rainfall on acid soils, 

and sweet -veldt on fertile soils in semi-arid zones . Savannah occurs in the north 

and east; arid savannah extends to the Kalahari. The Nama-karoo , a vast area 

of steppe in the centre and west, is mostly used for sheep and goats . There are 

three categories of land tenure : 70 percent is freehold and managed commercially; 

14 percent is communally managed without clear individual boundaries and managed 

for subsistence; 16 percent is reserves or freehold industrial and urban. South 

Africa is multi-ethnic with a majority indigenous population and a minority of 

descendants of colonists who own much of the commercial farm land. Natural 

pasture is the main feed source for grazing livestock. Production systems in communal 

areas, based on pastoralism and agropastoralism, are subsistence-based and 

labour intensive; cropland is allocated to households, grazing areas are shared by 

a community. Commercial areas are fenced ranches and further subdivided into 

paddocks; rotational grazing is normally practised. Stock rearing is very ancient; 

cattle predominate but sheep and goats are very important. In subsistence systems, 

traditional breeds predominate; in commercial farming, exotic and locally-created 

improved breeds prevail. Sheep are mainly commercial, and goats are for subsistence. 

Cattle predominate in the east, and sheep in the drier west and southeast. 

Goats are widely distributed. The region is home to large numbers of grazing and 

other wildlife , which are common on large-scale ranches and are increasing in 

importance as a managed resource. Low profits from domestic stock have led to 

an increase in game farming and ecotourism . Much of the better-watered grassland 

has been converted to crops ; in communal areas this gives a patchwork with 

thicket. Fire and browsing has reduced woody vegetation , but bush encroachment 

remains a problem. Sown pasture is not of major importance, except on dairy 

farms. Over-seeding of degraded range is of limited use. Strategies for maintaining 

pastoral production include rotation, resting, bush control and provision of 

winter pasture in cool areas. 

77

78 


INTRODUCTION 

The Republic of South Africa is situated at the southern tip of Africa. It is 

bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique; 

in the west by the Atlantic Ocean; and in the south and east by the Indian 

Ocean (Figure 3.1). The total land area is 1 223 201 km 2 (excluding Lesotho 

and Swaziland). The enclaves of Lesotho and Swaziland are sovereign states. 

South Africa’s population is estimated at 40.6 million (Stats SA, 1996), of which 

approximately 46 percent is rural and 54 percent is urban. Agriculture accounts 

for 3.2 percent of GDP and 7 percent (R 14.57 billion in 2000 1 ) of exports 

and supports, directly or indirectly, 15 percent of the population (National 

Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs, 2001). 

In its position at the southern end of the African continent, South Africa is 

the gateway to the subcontinent, providing and maintaining ports and road, rail 

and telecommunication links between southern Africa and the rest of the world. 

With a long history of trade and scientific exchange with Europe and North 

America, South Africa has developed opportunities for marketing its agricultural 

products within these economies. Many of these products (beef, mutton, fleece 

and hides) have been derived directly from grasslands. The national science programmes 

and those associated with resource management and agriculture have 

been linked through government and tertiary education initiatives to explore 

trends in resource condition and production. These initiatives have focused on 

three primary research areas: (1) describing the biodiversity of rangelands and 

their associated resources ; (2) developing an understanding of the impact of 

herbivory on the resource; and (3) developing methods for improving production. 

In addition, research programmes have endeavoured to understand the 

relationships between herbivory by domestic livestock and the sustained use of 

the resource for agricultural production. 

South Africa has a unique combination of natural resources , climatic environments 

and ethnic groups, making it an interesting and challenging country. 

Grasslands are a major component of the natural vegetation , with the biome 

comprising some 295 233 km 2 of the central regions of the country, and adjoining 

and extending into most of the major biomes (forest , savannah, thicket, 

Nama-karoo ) in the region. This interface between grasslands and other 

biomes contributes substantially to their floristic and faunal diversity and to 

the important role they play in the agricultural economy. The grasslands of 

South Africa are also the home to most of the human population, with the mining 

and other industrial complexes of Gauteng (formerly the Witwatersrand) 

being located on the high-veldt grasslands. This proximity to large human 

populations and their associated markets, as well the climatic environment, 

which favours commercial, rainfed agriculture, has had a large impact on the 

native grasslands. Millions of hectares have been ploughed and converted into 

1 ZA Rand 6.4475 = US$ 1 (mid-October 2004).

Grasslands of South Africa 79 

Figure 3.1 

The Republic of South Africa , showing its position in southern Africa. 

dryland cultivation for the production of maize, oilseed, millet and other commercial 

rainfed crops . Commercial ranching of cattle and sheep for the markets 

in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State has placed pressure on the grasslands, 

resulting in changes in species composition and production potential. 

However these trends are not ubiquitous, and millions of hectares of native 

grassland still occur. 

Grasslands are also the most important resource available to the graziers in 

developing regions of South Africa . The former homelands of Transkei, Ciskei 

and KwaZulu Natal, situated on the eastern seaboard, are predominantly grassland 

. The inhabitants of these regions are dependant upon this resource for the 

production of meat , milk , hides and fleeces, and for the provision of draught 

power, as well as other traditional uses of livestock. Although these products 

are not produced in conventional commercial systems , they contribute substantially 

to the economy and food security of these regions. In this chapter, 

we will introduce the role of grasslands in this economy based on communal 

land tenure systems. 

The grasslands (see Figure 3.2) adjoin a number of other economically 

important biomes (savannah, thicket and Nama-karoo ) and grassland patches 

are found within these biomes. It is important to include these biomes in this

80 

Figure 3.2 

The extent of grasslands in South Africa . 


chapter, as their ecology is strongly interlinked, and to consider the role that 

all grasslands and their associated biota play in the economy of South Africa . 

In this chapter, grasslands in South Africa will have a wider definition than at 

the biome level. 

The grassland resources of South Africa have been extensively reported, 

with four important publications appearing recently (Cowling, Richardson 

and Pierce, 1997; Dean and Milton 1999; Tainton, 1999, 2000). These provide 

exhaustive information on types of range land resources; their general 

ecology, including history, biodiversity , species composition and associated 

environmental conditions; dynamics ; productivity ; and land-use and management 

options available to their peoples. 

In addition, information applicable to the management of grasslands in 

southern Africa is provided in the approximately 980 research publications that 

have appeared since 1966 in the African Journal of Range and Forage Science 

and its predecessors. Other peer-reviewed scientific journals that provide 

exhaustive information on the natural resources of South Africa include the 

South African Journal of Botany, South African Journal of Science, Memoirs 

of the Botanical Survey of South Africa, South African Journal of Wildlife 

Research, and Bothalia. Researchers are strongly encouraged to publish in the


wider international literature and many important research articles appear in 

peer-reviewed journals published elsewhere. This chapter does not attempt to 

synthesize or review all this available information, but provides a brief summary 

of the current status of our understanding of southern African grassland 

ecosystems . 

PHYSICAL FEATURES 

The Great Escarpment and the Drakensberg mountains provide the physical 

barriers that largely determine the climate and vegetation of much of 

the livestock growing regions of South Africa . The combination of moderate 

to high rainfall and high elevation associated with these features means 

that the largest area of native grasslands occurs here. In geological time, 

several phases of uplifting, erosion and deposition have created complex 

landforms determined by the underlying geology. The country has five 

main physiographical regions at differing elevations (Figure 3.3). 

• The southwestern fold mountains, which influence the climate and vegetation 

patterns of the southern Cape. 

• The coastal plain, which extends from the Namibian border on the west, 

all along the coast to southern Mozambique on the east. This narrow plain 

between the Ocean and the Great Escarpment is the region with the most 

fertile soils, moderate to high rainfall , and where most intensive livestock production 

occurs. 

• The Great Escarpment, which forms the major barrier to moisture reaching the 

interior, together with the central high-veldt, contain most of the high elevation 

Figure 3.3 

Elevational map (in metres) for South Africa . 

SOURCE: Dent, Lynch and Schulze, 1987.

82 


Plate 3.1 

Kalahari: The arid savannah occurs in the northwestern portions of South Africa 

and southern Botswana, and is associated with the sands of the Kalahari system. 

The vegetation comprises a woody layer of mainly single-stemmed deciduous 

shrubs, and a ground layer of grasses and forbs. 

grasslands. The major urban, mining and agricultural activities take place 

in the central high-veldt, which lies at 1 600–1 700 m above sea level. 

• The great Karoo basin lies at 1 400–1 600 m and contains the steppe-type 

vegetation associated with fertile aridosols of a semi -arid region. 

• The Kalahari region, bordering on Namibia and Botswana, also represents 

a very important extensive livestock producing area. The region is the 

southern part of the continental-scale basin, which is covered by sands of 

varying depth (sometimes >200 m). Deep boring technology has enabled 

commercial graziers to become permanently established in the region and 

to optimize livestock production off arid grasslands. The vegetation is an 

arid savannah (Plate 3.1), with a carrying capacity of 30 to 40 ha per Livestock 

Unit (LSU). 

South Africa is thus characterized by a high interior plateau, surrounded 

on three sides by the Great Escarpment and the Drakensberg mountains, 

which provide the physical barriers that largely determine the climate and 

vegetation . The plateau is intruded by several mountain massifs, with the 

highlands of Lesotho exceeding 3 000 m in places. The northern and western 

sections of the plateau contain two large basins, namely the Kalahari and the 

Transvaal Bushveldt (Partridge, 1997). Adjacent to the Great Escarpment lies 

a coastal plinth that varies in width from 50 to 200 km. This plinth is incised 

by deep riverine gorges. 

A.R. PALMER


CLIMATE 

Rainfall 

With a mean annual rainfall of approximately 450 mm, South Africa is regarded 

as semi- arid . There is wide regional variation in annual rainfall (Figure 3.4), 

from 3 000 mm 

in the mountains of the south western Cape. However, only 28 percent of the 

country receives more than 600 mm (Table 3.1). 

The uncertainty of the rainfall is best expressed by the coefficient of variation 

in annual rainfall (Figure 3.5). The low rainfall regions have the highest 

coefficient of variation and drought is common. Annual rainfall distribution 

is skewed such that there are more below-average than above-average rainfall 

years, and the median is more meaningful than the mean. The high seasonal 

variations are accompanied by high spatial variability, and the annual potential 

evapotranspiration (PET) may exceed annual precipitation by ratios of up to 

20:1, hence drought conditions are a common phenomenon (Schulze, 1997). 

The declaration of drought status to a magisterial district has historically 

been used by the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs to intervene in 

Figure 3.4 

The median annual rainfall for South Africa . 

SOURCE: Dent, Lynch and Schulze, 1987. 

TABLE 3.1 

Annual rainfall distribution and climatic classification in South Africa 

Rainfall (mm) Classification Percentage of land surface 

84 


Figure 3.5 

The coefficient of variation in annual rainfall for South Africa . Derived from the 

long-term rainfall records (50 years or more data) from 1015 stations. 

exceptional circumstances to assist land users. Since 1994, this intervention has 

been discouraged; instead, graziers are encouraged to plan their production 

system within the long-term expectations of their farms . 

Seasonality of rainfall 

There are three major zones within the country, namely the winter rainfall 

region of the western, southwestern and southern Cape; the bimodal rainfall 

region of the Eastern Cape; and the strong summer seasonality of the central 

high-veldt and KwaZulu Natal. The regions with strong summer seasonality 

are strongly influenced by the inter-tropical convergence, which moves 

southwards during the southern hemisphere summer. The season of rainfall 

in the southwestern and southern coastal regions is influenced by the frontal 

systems developing in the southern Oceans. These frontal systems bring 

cool, moist air during the winter season (June–August) and promote the 

development of sclerophyllous and succulent floras. In general, the natural 

vegetation of these regions is less useful for livestock production. Because of 

the varying rainfall seasonality, growing periods vary throughout the country. 

In the north, east and along the coastal belt, summer seasonality encourages C4 

grass production and the main focus is on cattle and sheep production. In the 

semi -arid central and western regions, C3 grasses and shrubs predominate, and 

this favours sheep and goat production. 

Temperatures 

Temperatures in South Africa are strongly determined by elevation and distance 

from the sea. The high elevation (1 500–1 700 m) inland regions experience a 

warm summer (January) with mean daily maximum temperatures of 26–28°C


and cool winter (July) mean daily minima of 0–2°C), with frost during the 

coolest months (Schulze 1997). These conditions favour the development and 

maintenance of grassland . This region experiences occasional snow. The warm 

Mozambique current on the east coast plays a strong role in ameliorating 

temperatures along the coastal zone between East London and Mozambique. 

The northern parts of the coastal zone experience warm winter daily minima 

(8–10°C) and warm summer maxima (32°C) and the climate is strongly 

subtropical . The vast interior, represented by the Kalahari basin and the Namakaroo 

, experiences a more extreme climate, with low winter mean daily minima 

(0–2°C ) and high mean daily summer maxima (32–34°C). The southern and 

southwestern coastal zone experiences moderate winter mean daily minima 

(6–8°C) as a result of the circumpolar Westerlies that bring moist, cold air from 

the southern Oceans during June, July and August (winter). The temperatures 

on the west coast, from Cape Town to Port Nolloth, are influenced by the 

cold Benguela current. This arid region experiences July mean daily minima of 

6–8°C, but little or no frost, and is able to support a rich succulent flora. The 

cold ocean current favours the development of fog during the winter months, 

bringing cold, moist air onto the coastal plain. 

Soils 

The relatively young South Africa n geology gives rise to soils of high nutrient 

status. The Nama-karoo biome of the central regions comprise predominantly 

mudstones and sandstones of the Karoo Supergroup, which give rise to 

shallow (

86 


PEOPLE 

Hominids have occupied southern Africa for three million years (Volman, 

1984), and although the ancestral forms used fire (Thackeray et al., 1990), 

there are no artefacts that enable us to quantify the extent of their impact. 

They undoubtedly burnt large tracts of land in the interior, thereby promoting 

the development of grasslands, and early hominids must be regarded as a 

significant agent in the evolution of grasslands in South Africa . 

Contemporary South Africa is a multicultural nation, with many ethnic 

groups and colonial nations represented in its populations. It is this wide 

variation in the origins of its people that make understanding the management 

of its natural resources so challenging. The remaining San people of the 

southern Kalahari represent the oldest traditional users of natural vegetation for 

survival. San people are still able to subsist as hunter-gatherers in the most arid 

regions of the country, providing some evidence of how it is possible to sustain 

small human populations in this region. San exhibit a strong understanding 

of resource limitations and probably follow the principles embodied in the 

disequilibrium theory (Ellis and Swift, 1988) the closest of all southern African 

people. Until the end of the nineteenth century, San also survived in the 

mountainous regions of the Drakensberg and along the Great Escarpment. The 

evidence of their history is found in the numerous rock paintings and other 

artefacts that occur in caves along the Great Escarpment. They hunted on the 

grasslands of the mountainous interior. 

The Nguni people of the eastern seaboard are graziers with a long 

(>10 000 years) history of maintaining domestic livestock. These people comprise 

the Seswati, AmaZulu and AmaXhosa nations, and occupy the leasehold 

lands in the former homelands of Gazankulu, KwaZulu Natal, Transkei and 

Ciskei. The society is organized around a village, comprising dwelling units, 

cultivated lands and grazing lands . Their early cattle were of Bos indicus stock 

and this line is being developed and protected in recent years with the establishment 

of an Nguni studbook. Situated on the eastern escarpment and in the 

Drakensberg is the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, the home of the Basotho 

people. Lesotho falls entirely within the grassland biome and the Basotho people 

are cattle and sheep farmers, depending largely on the natural grassland for 

production. Almost all of Lesotho is communally managed and the challenges 

to managing the grasslands sustainably remain the same as those of communal 

rangeland in South Africa . 

Europeans of Dutch descent first arrived in South Africa in 1652, and settled 

initially at the supply station in Cape Town. These settlers were joined by 

French Huguenots, who brought with them a knowledge of viticulture and 

animal husbandry (mainly sheep ). Descendants of the early Dutch settlers 

began moving into the interior of the country with the abolition of slavery, 

and developed the extensive cattle and sheep farming enterprises that currently 

occupy land in the Kalahari, central Free State and the North West Province. It


was only in 1820 that settlers of British origin arrived and settled on the eastern 

seaboard. They developed mixed -farming operations in the Eastern Cape and 

Kwa-Zulu Natal, including cattle and wool-sheep enterprises. 

LIVESTOCK 

South Africa ’s national commercial cattle herd is estimated to number 13.8 

million, including not only various international dairy and beef-cattle breeds, 

but also indigenous breeds such as the Afrikaner (or Afrikander). Locally 

developed breeds include the Drakensberger and Bonsmara . These breeds 

are systematically and scientifically improved through breeding programmes, 

performance testing and the evaluation of functional efficiency. Almost 

590 000 t of beef was produced in 2000. Owing to relatively low carrying 

capacity on the natural pastures, extensive cattle ranching is practised in the 

lower rainfall regions. 

In addition to the cattle , in 1999 there were about 25.8 million sheep 

and 6.3 million goats in the country, in addition to smaller numbers of pigs, 

poultry and farmed ostriches. The numbers of cattle and small stock fluctuate 

in response to high and low rainfall years. The 1999 census data shows 

the distribution between the freehold and communal sectors (Table 3.2). Beef 

production is the most important livestock-related activity, followed by smallstock 

(sheep and goat ) production. The combined livestock sector contributes 

75 percent of total agricultural output (National Department of Agriculture , 

1999). Livestock numbers and production for the period 1995–2003 are shown 

in Table 3.3). 

TABLE 3.2 

National livestock census 1999. 

Tenure Cattle Sheep Goats 

Freehold 6 275 000 19 300 000 2 070 000 

Communal 6 825 000 9 300 000 4 230 000 

TOTAL 13 100 000 28 600 000 6 300 000 

SOURCE: National Department of Agriculture , 1999. 

TABLE 3.3 

Production (×1000 t) in the period 1995–2003 of beef and veal; chicken; mutton and lamb; goat ; 

game ; wool; and milk . 

Commodity 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 

Beef and Veal 508 508 503 496 513 622 532 576 590 

Chicken meat 600 649 692 665 706 817 813 820 820 

Mutton and lamb 110 98 91 91 112 118 104 100 104 

Goat meat 36 37 37 37 36 36 36 36 36 

Game meat 10 11 13 14 15 16 16 17 17 

Total meat 1 397 1 437 1 467 1 428 1 511 1 719 1 618 1 667 1 686 

Wool (greasy) 67 62 57 53 56 53 57 57 57 

Milk (total) 2 794 2 638 2 851 2 968 2 667 2 540 2 700 2 750 2 750 

SOURCE: FAO database 2004.

88 


The grasslands support a high proportion (70–80 percent) of the total sheep 

and wool produced. The main breeds of sheep are fine-wool Merino , the South 

Africa n mutton Merino, Dohne Merino, Dormer, Dorper (the last-named two 

are locally developed breeds) and the Karakul . The Nama-karoo , a steppe like 

vegetation of the central and western regions, supports both sheep and goat 

enterprises. The Karakul industry is limited to the dry northwestern regions of 

Northern Cape Province. 

WILDLIFE 

South Africa possesses a rich and diverse wildlife resource, with many 

unique and interesting mammals, birds , reptiles and amphibians, providing 

a wide range of products, including tourism opportunities, meat , hides, 

curios, recreation and trophy hunting. There are 338 large and small mammal 

species (Smithers, 1983) and 920 bird species (Maclean, 1993). Four families 

(Elephantidae, Equidae, Bovidae and Suidae) contribute most of the large 

mammal taxa and represent the largest biomass of primary consumers. During 

the last thirty years, the large mammal fauna has begun to make a significant 

contribution to the economy of rangeland through increasing ecotourism and 

the development of private game farms and nature reserves . About 10 percent 

of the country is designated as National Parks and formal conservation 

areas, but a considerable proportion of the wildlife exists outside formally 

proclaimed conservation areas. Many livestock farmers derive some or all 

of their income from hunting or ecotourism. In 1997, approximately 8 000 

private game ranches , covering some 15 million hectares, had been established 

(Grossman, Holden and Collinson, 1999). This figure has continued to 

increase rapidly since then, with many farms being enclosed by game-proof 

fencing . The issuing of a certificate of adequate enclosure by the various 

provincial nature conservation authorities permits the landowner to exercise 

rights over the wild herbivores that would otherwise only exist during the 

so-called “hunting season” in May–July each year. Individual landowners 

are now able to capture, transport, hunt and introduce any wild animal for 

which a permit has been provided and for which there is a certificate of 

adequate enclosure. Although this has had some positive consequences for the 

protection of certain rare species (e.g. mountain zebra, blesbok), where the last 

remaining populations were on private land, it has had some negative impacts. 

These include the large-scale introduction of common and freely available 

native species (e.g. impala, nyala, warthog) to regions where there is no record 

of their historical occurrence. The full consequences of these introductions 

on other species (e.g. nyala on kudu; impala on bushbuck) are not properly 

understood and further research is required. Conservation agencies have 

themselves been guilty of transgressions of this nature, re-introducing species 

such as warthog in the Eastern Cape Province, which have proliferated and are 

now regarded as a problem animal by graziers.


The natural flora, comprising some 24 000 taxa, is one of the richest floras 

in the world and creates many opportunities for developing the ecotourism 

industry. Regions of particular significance include Namaqualand, which 

attracts visitors to its unique floral displays during September of each year. 

The diverse Cape floral kingdom, with its estimated 8 000 taxa and associated 

avifauna, also provides the visitor with a glimpse of unique evolutionary forces 

driving speciation in the region. The southern Cape and its “garden route”, 

with a high structural diversity (Afromontane forests, coastal thicket, lowland 

fynbos and mountain fynbos), attracts many international visitors. 

LAND TENURE 

There are four broad categories of land use in South Africa that are relevant 

to agricultural production, representing various land tenure regimes. 

Approximately 70 percent of the country is “commercial” farmland under freehold 

tenure, 14 percent is state land that is communally managed, 10 percent is 

formally conserved by the State as National and other parks, and the remaining 

6 percent is freehold land used for mining, urban and industrial development . 

The communal areas are situated mainly in the former homelands of Transkei, 

Ciskei, Bophutatswana, Lebowa, Kwa-Zulu, Venda and Gazankulu in the 

north and east of the country, while the commercial areas occupy most of the 

western, central and southern regions. 

There are two widely disparate types of land tenure systems (Table 3.4). On 

the freehold farms there are clear boundaries, exclusive rights for the individual 

properties, and commercial farming objectives. These landowners are able to 

trade with their properties and use their title as collateral security against loans. 

In contrast, in the communal areas, there are often unclear boundaries, generally 

open access rights to grazing areas and farmers are subsistence oriented. 

TABLE 3.4 

A comparison between communal and freehold tenure systems in a similar area (approximately 

15 000 ha) of the Peddie district, Eastern Cape, South Africa . 

Tenure system Communal Commercial (Freehold) 

Economic orientation Multiple use but essentially 

subsistence 

Profit (commercial) 

Human population density 

(persons per km2 ) 

56 3–6 

Livestock Cattle 3 548 Cattle 2 028 

Sheep 5 120 Goats 3 000 

Goats 14 488 

Ability to maintain natural Poor Economics and strong peer pressure to achieve 

resources 

desired conservation state 

Livestock owners Approx 3 000 10–12 

Infrastructure Poor Road system, power network, fencing and water 

provision 

Access to formal markets Poor Good – commodity-based marketing 

Historical access to subsidies 

and loans 

Weak Good 

SOURCE: Palmer, Novellie and Lloyd, 1999.

90 


Here, land tenure issues considerably hamper the introduction and adoption 

of improved management practices. 

Freehold and commercial sector 

The commercial farming sector is well developed, capital-intensive and largely 

export oriented. Commercial-area livestock production accounts for 75 percent 

of national agricultural output and comes from 52 percent of the farming and 

grazing land (Table 3.5). The freehold area in the rural Western Cape, with its 

associated cropping economy, comprises 53 072 land parcels with an average 

size of 243 ha. In the Eastern Cape, where land parcels can be regarded as 

individual ranches or enterprises, there are 37 823 land parcels with an average 

size of 451 ha. There are approximately 50 000 large-scale commercial farmers, 

who are predominantly, but not exclusively, drawn from the white population. 

In 2000, they exported products worth about R 16 billion, or nearly 10 percent 

of South Africa ’s total exports. 

Cattle are predominant in the eastern parts of the country where the rangelands 

generally have a higher carrying capacity . Beef-cattle ranching is the 

largest contributor to commercial farming income and the major breeds are 

Brahman , Afrikaner and Simmentaler . Sheep are largely concentrated in the 

drier west, and also in the southeast. Goats are more widely distributed and 

the main breeds are the Boergoat and the Angora . Grazing livestock are raised 

under extensive ranching conditions, relying on natural pasture , occasionally 

supplemented by protein and mineral licks. Ostriches are farmed in the southern 

parts of the country, and also utilize natural vegetation , supplemented by 

fodders and concentrates. 

The commercial areas are divided into fenced ranches (farms ) and then 

further subdivided into a number of paddocks (camps). Rotational grazing is 

normally practised. Compared with the communal areas, stocking rates tend to 

be more conservative and are adjusted by the rancher to track production. 

Communal and subsistence sector 

The communal areas occupy about 13 percent of the total farming area of 

South Africa and hold approximately 52 percent of the total cattle population, 

72 percent of the goats and 17 percent of the sheep (see Table 3.2). They differ 

markedly from the freehold areas in their production systems , objectives and 

TABLE 3.5 

Land areas (million hectares) of the major land use types in South Africa . 

Total area Farm land 

Potential 

arable 

Arable land 

used 

Grazing 

land 

Nature 

conservation 

Forestry Other 

Developing 

agriculture 

17 14.4 2.5 N/A 11.9 0.78 0.25 1.5 

Commercial 

agriculture 

105 86.0 14.1 12.9 71.9 11.0 1.2 6.8 

NOTE: N/A = not available. 

SOURCE: Development Bank of Southern Africa, 1991.


property rights ; only the cropping areas are normally allocated to individual 

households, while the grazing areas tend to be shared by members of a 

community. The communal sector has a substantially higher human population 

per unit area than the freehold sector, and has suffered from lower levels of 

state intervention. Investments in infrastructure (access roads, fences , water 

provision , power supply, dipping facilities) have not kept pace with those in 

freehold areas, where regional authorities have orchestrated the maintenance 

of roads and fences. The production systems in the communal areas are based 

on pastoralism and agropastoralism, and the majority of households are 

subsistence-based and labour intensive, with limited use of technology and 

external inputs. The outputs and objectives of livestock ownership are more 

diverse than in commercial livestock production, and include draught power, 

milk , dung, meat , cash income and capital storage, as well as socio cultural 

factors. The combination of objectives tends to be met by a policy of herd 

maximization rather than turnover; hence even the large herd owners tend to 

sell only to meet cash needs, leading to higher stocking rates than in the freehold 

system. The mean land parcel size (612 ha) in the former homelands of Ciskei 

and Transkei is greater than that of the freehold areas of the Western (243 ha) or 

Eastern Cape (451 ha), reflecting the free-ranging nature of livestock. 

Communal area livestock production contributes 5–6 percent of formal 

agricultural output and is mainly confined to the eastern and northern part of 

the country. However, herd sizes vary considerably between and within regions, 

and livestock ownership is strongly skewed, with a small number of people 

owning large herds and the majority owning few animals or none at all. 

Stock numbers tend to be unevenly distributed across the landscape in 

communal areas. There is a tendency for high concentrations of people and 

livestock near to permanent water, while other areas remain potentially 

underutilized due to a lack of water. In the rugged terrain of Ciskei, Transkei 

and Kwa-Zulu Natal, livestock spend the longest part of the day on the interfluvial 

ridges. Animal numbers tend to be geared more to the quantity of 

reliable water than to the reliable quantity of forage, hence drought effects tend 

to be more severe in communal than in commercial areas. 

Mixed livestock ownership is more common in communal than freehold 

areas. Cattle are the generally preferred livestock species, but economic 

and ecological conditions often limit the possibilities for cattle ownership. 

Ownership of livestock is skewed, with 5 percent of residents owning 10 

or more cattle in rural villages in the former Ciskei (Ainslie et al., 1997), 

while 67 percent of households own no cattle. In the case of sheep , 7 percent 

of households own 10 or more, with 82 percent owning none. For goats , 

18 percent of households own 10 or more, while 43 percent own none. 

Cattle , sheep and goats are herded during the cropping season in cropping 

areas, and where there are predator or theft risks in other areas, but herding 

tends to be relaxed during the dry season , during which animals have access to

92 


crop residues . In the northern communal areas, many larger herdowners have 

“cattle posts” away from the village and crop lands and maintain most of their 

animals there, keeping only the milk and draught animals at the village during 

the wet season. Pigs and poultry in the communal areas are generally free 

ranging and scavenging, although some owners practise housing and feeding. 

The exclusion of fire from the savannah regions under communal 

management has encouraged bush encroachment . In the semi -arid regions 

of Mpumalanga, the Northern Province and the North West province, fire 

has generally been excluded. Cutting large trees for fuel or building material 

has resulted in coppice growth (sprouting) and has stimulated shrubbiness. 

Consequently, large areas of the medium-rainfall savannahs have become 

severely bush infested, to the detriment of the grazing potential for cattle 

and sheep . In the subhumid communal areas of Kwa-Zulu Natal and the 

Transkei, fire is used to stimulate grass production during the early summer , 

and this maintains a grassland state along the coastal region (Shackleton, 

1991). 

AUTHORITIES RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGEMENT 

The National Department of Agriculture within the Ministry of Agriculture 

and Land Affairs is the key institution dealing with forage resources . The 

National Department of Agriculture is divided into five directorates, one of 

which deals directly with rangeland and pasture resources. The Land and 

Resource Management Directorate is responsible for the implementation 

of the Conservation of Agricultural Resources, Act No. 43 of 1984. This 

act empowers the head of the Directorate to intervene when the grassland 

resources of the country are perceived to be threatened by herbivory, alien 

infestation or cultivation . In addition, each of the nine provinces has a division 

or directorate that provides research and management advice on rangeland 

and pasture resources. These sections provide support to extension services 

and planners, establish standards, develop capacity , and conduct research 

appropriate to the needs of that province. 

Market systems 

Marketing of grassland products is conducted through a commodity-based 

marketing system. Since 1994, the so-called Control Boards of the singlechannel 

marketing system have been disbanded, and a free market system 

prevails. Each commodity has had to develop its own competitive marketing 

framework. For example, wool is marketed through numerous brokers, 

including Cape Mohair & Wool and BKB. Brokers are able to buy direct 

from the producer and offer the product for sale at auction. Generally, auction 

prices are determined by the international wool price and local markets have 

little influence. Negative changes in the exchange rate (Rand against US$) 

advantages those farmers who produce export-quality wool. In 2000, the greasy


wool clip was 52 671 t and South Africa produced 25 percent of Africa’s wool 

crop. Approximately 80 percent of the South African wool crop is processed 

locally to “tops” level, making it suitable for export to the European market. 

Beef and mutton marketing has also recently been released from the controlled 

marketing environment of the previous regime. In 2000, South Africa’s mutton 

production amounted to 114 000 t, most of which was consumed locally. 

Landforms and agro-ecological zones 

The country has five main physiographic regions, as discussed earlier. 

Based on bioclimatic and growth form information, Rutherford and 

Westfall (1986) defined six biomes in South Africa . An improvement has been 

suggested by Low and Rebelo (1996), who further subdivided the savannah 

biome to include the category “Thicket ”, which occurs predominantly in the 

river valleys of the eastern and southeastern coastal region (Figure 3.6). 

BIOMES 

The areas of the various biomes are given in Table 3.6. 

Figure 3.6 

The biomes of South Africa . 

SOURCE: After Rutherford and Westfall, 1986; Low and Rebelo, 1996. 

TABLE 3.6 

Area occupied by each of the biomes in South Africa (excluding Lesotho and 

Swaziland). 

Biome Area (km2 ) As a percentage 

Grassland 295 233 24.27 

Savannah 419 009 34.44 

Nama-karoo 297 836 24.48 

Succulent Karoo 82 589 6.79 

Thicket 41 818 3.44 

Fynbos 78 570 6.46 

Forest 1 479 0.12 

Total 1 216 536 100

94 


Grassland 

The grassland biome is situated mainly in the central, high lying regions of 

South Africa (Figure 3.6) (O’Connor and Bredenkamp, 1997). The biome 

spans a precipitation gradient from ca. 400 to >1 200 mm/yr, a temperature 

gradient from frost-free to snow-bound in winter , ranges in altitude from sea 

level to >3 300 metres and occurs on a spectrum of soil types , from humic clays 

to poorly structured sands (O’Connor and Bredenkamp, 1997). Although the 

general structure is fairly uniform, there is a wide range in floristic composition, 

associated environmental variables, dynamics and management options. There 

is a strong dominance of hemicryptophytes of the Poaceae. Standing biomass 

is moisture dependant and decreases with the rainfall gradient. Herbivory from 

domestic and wild herbivores has a decisive impact on standing biomass and 

species composition. 

The biome was originally defined on climatic factors and is limited to summer 

and strong summer rainfall areas, with a summer aridity index between 

2.0 and 3.9 (Rutherford and Westfall, 1986). Frost is common, occurring for 

30–180 days/yr. The most common soil in the biome, accounting for 50 percent 

of the area, is the red-yellow-grey latosol plinthic catena. This is followed by 

black and red clays and solonetzic soils, freely drained latosols and black clays 

(Rutherford and Westfall, 1986). 

Acocks (1953, 1988) defined thirteen pure grassland types and six “false” 

or anthropogenically-induced grasslands, ranging from the so-called “sweet ” 

grasslands of the semi -arid regions of the Eastern Cape, to the “sour ” grasslands 

of the high-rainfall regions of the Drakensberg. There are now six recognizable 

grassland floristic regions (O’Connor and Bredenkamp, 1997), reflecting a 

topo-moisture gradient from the dry western region to the eastern mountains 

and escarpment (Table 3.7). Following the completion of a revised vegetation 

map of South Africa (National Botanical Institute, 2004), sixty-seven grassland 

units have been described on the basis of floristic and climatic uniqueness, 

including, for example, the Bedford Dry Grassland (Plate 3.2). 

TABLE 3.7 

Regions within the grassland biome . 

Region Name Dominant taxa Geology Soil type 

Altitude (m) and 

Precipitation (mm) 

Central inland plateau Themeda triandra , 

sandstone, shale deep red, yellow, 1 400–1 600 m 

Eragrostis curvula . 

eutrophic 

600–700 mm 

Dry western region Eragrostis lehmanniana , mudstone, shale shallow aridosols 1 200–1 400 m 

(see Plate 3.3) E. obtusa , Stipagrostis obtusa . 

450–600 mm 

Northern areas Trachypogon spicatus , 

quartzites, shale, shallow, lithosols 1 500–1 600 m 

Diheteropogon amplectans . andesitic lava 

650–750 mm 

Eastern inland plateau Themeda triandra , Aristida sandstones and deep sand loam 1 600–1 800 m 

junciformis , Eragrostis plana. shales 

700–950 mm 

Eastern mountains 

and escarpment 

Hyparrhenia hirta , 

Aristida diffusa . 

Eastern lowlands Hyparrhenia hirta , 

Sporobolus pyramidalis . 

SOURCE: O’Connor and Bredenkamp, 1997. 

Drakensberg 

complex 

shallow lithosols 1 650–3 480 m 

>1 000 mm 

dolerite shallow lithosols 1 200–1 400 m 

850 mm

A.R. PALMER 


Plate 3.2 

The Bedford Dry Grassland Unit. 

The concepts “sweet ” and “sour ” refer to the palatability of the grasses, 

dwarf shrubs and trees to domestic livestock. Although difficult to define 

in a strict scientific sense, these terms have retained their use throughout 

the farming community, being applied to both individual species and to 

components of the landscape . Sweet-veldt usually occurs on high nutrient 

status soils under arid and semi -arid conditions. These soils are generally 

derived from the shales, mudstones and sandstones of the Karoo Supergroup. 

Sour-veldt is associated with acid soils of quartzite and andesitic origin, and 

occurs in higher (>600 mm) precipitation and high elevation (>1 400 mm) 

areas. Ellery, Scholes and Scholes (1995) have suggested that the concept is 

driven by the C:N ratios of the grasses and that the sweet-veldt has a lower 

C:N ratio than sour-veldt. 

Savannah 

Vegetation dynamics in the African savannah are driven by a number of 

variables, including rainfall amount, rainfall uncertainty, frost, fire , herbivory, 

ambient CO2 levels and soil moisture. Depending on the seasonal environmental 

conditions and management history, a grassland at the boundary of the savannah 

biome can change from a monolithic physiognomy, to one dominated by shrubs 

and trees. O’Connor and Bredenkamp (1997) summarize five hypotheses to 

account for the possible exclusion of woody elements from grasslands. In this 

dynamic environment, where the grasslands abut the savannah, it is necessary 

to provide some information on the savannah biome.

96 


Plate 3.3 

Arid grasslands of southern Africa occur in southern Namibia and the 

northwestern portions of South Africa . Dominant genera include Stipagrostis , 

Eragrostis and Enneapogon . 

The savannah biome comprises the northern and eastern portions of 

South Africa , with the arid savannah extending into the southern Kalahari. 

The savannah biome is the region where large portions of the national beef 

production occur under extensive rangeland conditions. The flora comprises a 

woody layer (mainly single-stemmed, seasonally deciduous, trees and shrubs), 

with a ground layer of grasses and forbs. The standing biomass of shrubs 

and trees is 16–20 t/ha (Rutherford, 1982). The dominant grasses are C4 and 

form the important production component for domestic livestock. A strong 

summer seasonality in the rainfall encourages woody shrub production. There 

is strong evidence of woody shrub encroachment throughout this and other 

biomes (Hoffman and O’Connor, 1999). A number of explanations have been 

suggested for the increase in woody shrub biomass, including (1) a reduction 

in fire frequency (Trollope, 1980); (2) the removal of grass biomass by domestic 

herbivory, with the resultant success of woody shrubs (du Toit, 1967); and 

(3) the C3 shrubs having a competitive advantage over C4 grasses under elevated 

CO2 conditions (Bond and van Wilgen, 1996). Graziers attempt to control the 

woody encroachment using a number of approaches, including clear felling; 

burning followed by intensive browsing by goats ; and chemical control. The 

last-named seems to be the favoured approach, with an estimated R 10 million 

spent annually on herbicides. The biome is utilized by both commercial and 

communal graziers. In general, the woody encroachment problems are more 

severe in land under communal tenure , although multiple use ensures that 

wood is used for fuel, construction and traditional purposes. 

A.R. PALMER


Nama-karoo 

The Nama-karoo biome covers much of the central and western regions of the 

country. The biome is dominated by a steppe-type vegetation , comprising a 

mixture of shrubs, dwarf shrubs and annual and perennial grasses. The biome 

is associated with the moderate rainfall regions (250-450 mm per annum) and 

is suited to commercial sheep and goat production. The summer seasonality of 

the rainfall in the eastern parts of the biome means that there is often abundant 

grass production during the growing season. Graziers attempt to optimize 

production by sparing or resting grassy dwarf shrubland in the wet season. 

Herbivory by domestic livestock during the growing season has been shown 

to reduce grass cover and promote the growth of larger shrubs (species of 

Rhus , Acacia and Euclea ) and dwarf shrubs. In the winter months, the dwarf 

shrubs maintain their crude protein at around 8 percent, providing excellent 

forage. The nutrient-rich substrata provided by the mudstones, sandstones and 

dolerites mean that this production can be considered sustainable . There were 

earlier suggestions that large-scale structural transformations were taking place 

in this biome (Acocks, 1964), with the dwarf shrubs supposedly spreading into 

the adjoining grasslands of central Free State. This process has not continued in 

the manner envisaged and the relatively high rainfall of the 1990s has promoted 

grass production in the eastern portions of the biome. In the western portions 

of the biome, there is alarming evidence of woody encroachment , with two 

species in particular (Acacia mellifera and Rhigozum trichotomum ) increasing 

in density and cover in regions with a long history of domestic herbivory. 

Production of mutton and fibre continues to thrive in the Nama-karoo. During 

the recent past there has also been an increase in the area of land set aside for 

informal conservation , with many farmers capitalizing on the unique landscapes 

and indigenous fauna of the biome to develop ecotourism operations. 

Important indigenous herbivores, which contribute to red meat production, 

include springbok, blesbok, kudu, gemsbok and wildebeest. 

Thicket 

The thicket biome occurs in the drainage lines and ridges of the southeastern 

coastal region and inland to the Great Escarpment. The thicket comprises a 

dense cover of succulent shrubs, woody shrubs and small trees, with a height 

of 1.5–3.0 m. The woody shrubs are multistemmed, seasonally-deciduous, C3 

plants. In the xeric portions of the thicket biome (300–450 mm/yr precipitation ), 

there is a large component of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM )-type leaf 

succulents (e.g. Portulacaria afra ), stem succulents (Euphorbia spp.) and many 

species of small succulent shrubs (e.g. species of Aloe and Crassula ). Important 

grass species that contribute significantly to cattle production include Panicum 

maximum , P. deustum , Digitaria eriantha and Setaria sphacelata . Although 

the thicket biome does not contain extensive grasslands, clearing of thicket is 

carried out by both freehold and communal graziers to promote grasslands.

98 


These grasslands provide high quality, year-round grazing , as the shale-derived 

soils associated with thicket are rich in nutrients. 

Two important thicket types are recognized: succulent thicket and mesic 

thicket. Succulent thicket occurs under semi -arid conditions (300–450 mm/ 

yr) and is dominated by leaf- and stem-succulent shrubs (Portulacaria afra , 

Euphorbia bothae , E. ledienii , E. coerulescens , E. tetragona , E. triangularis , 

numerous Crassula spp. and Aloe spp. ). Mesic thicket contains fewer succulents 

and occurs under higher rainfall (>450 mm/yr) conditions. The cover by woody 

shrubs is usually continuous , but they seldom exceed 4 m in height. 

Short succulent thicket occurs in the low elevation (300–350 m) inland river 

valleys of the Great Fish, Bushmans, Sundays and Gamtoos rivers. Here the 

Ecca series mudstones provide a nutrient-rich substratum. The soils are shallow, 

comprising arid lithosols derived from the basement rock. The valley climate is 

hot and dry , with extremely high summer maximum temperatures (45°C) and 

low winter minimum temperatures. In the Great Fish river valley, the structure 

and composition of the “pristine” form of short succulent thicket is dominated 

by Portulacaria afra , Rhigozum obovatum and Euphorbia bothae , in small (3–4 m 

diameter) clumps. The vegetation in the clumps may contain emergant shrubs (e.g. 

Boscia oleoides ), but they are usually

A.R. PALMER 


reach 8–10 m in height, are eaten by domestic herbivores only when short. 

When the endangered black rhinoceros were recently re-introduced to this 

region, adult animals knocked the tall succulents down to eat the new leaves at 

the tops of the shrubs. 

The mesic thicket type contains far fewer leaf and stem succulents and 

is composed primarily of multistemmed woody shrubs such as Scutia myrtina 

, Olea europea var. africana , Rhus longispina , R. incisa and R. undulata . 

Succulent taxa include numerous species of the genera Aloe, Euphorbia , 

Gasteria and Crassula , although these growth forms do not represent a major 

component of the standing biomass. 

Succulent karoo 

The succulent karoo biome occurs in the winter rainfall regions of the southern 

and southwestern portions of South Africa . The flora of the biome comprises 

mainly shrubs (0.5–1.5 m) and dwarf shrubs (

100 


high floristic diversity, such as Richtersveldt and Namaqualand, receive a large 

portion of their precipitation in the form of coastal advective fog during the 

coolest months of the year. There are many species in two succulent families 

(Crassulaceae and Mesembryanthecaceae), numerous endemic taxa (e.g. several 

species of the genus Pachypodium) and distinctive growth forms (leaf and stem 

succulents). This diversity has made the biome ideal for the development of an 

ecotourism industry that promotes the unique floristic character of the region. 

The arid conditions mean that the region is most suited to extensive livestock 

production and the flora of the biome has been subjected to herbivory from 

domestic goats and ostriches. These herbivores form the main suite of animals 

responsible for much of the direct impact on the vegetation of the biome. In 

recent times there have been known changes in the species composition, with 

some landscapes currently dominated by species unpalatable (to domestic 

livestock), such as Pteronia incana and P. pallens. The productivity of the 

biome has been significantly affected by these changes and many graziers now 

depend on irrigated pastures to sustain livestock production. 

Fynbos 

The fynbos biome occurs in the winter rainfall regions of the southern and 

southwestern portions of South Africa , being associated with the moderate to 

high rainfall (450–1 000 mm) region. The vegetation of the biome is dominated 

by sclerophyllous shrubs and trees, with rich floristic diversity, but has little 

or no forage value. Much of the natural vegetation has been cleared to enable 

wheat, oats, rye, barley, canola and lupin production. The crop residues 

provide large areas of post-harvesting stubble for sheep production during 

the dry summer months. Within the biome, irrigated pastures are also major 

contributors to sheep production. 

Forest 

Forest occurs in patches along the southern coastal zone, in the cooler southern 

facing slopes of the Great Escarpment and in the high-rainfall regions of the 

Drakensberg. Forest is not significant in livestock production in South Africa . 

PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS 

The main forage resource for livestock in South Africa is rangeland grazing , 

with 68.6 percent of the area being used for livestock grazing and a further 

9.6 percent used by wild herbivores. In the higher-rainfall zones , crop residues 

are a very important feed supplement in both freehold and communal areas 

during the dry season , when range grazing is scarce. In freehold areas, many 

livestock farmers plant fodder species as dryland pasture . Irrigated fodder 

production is important in freehold areas, but varies from season to season, 

as cash crops are more favoured. In 1980, 468 000 ha were under irrigated 

cultivation with alfalfa, but this had declined to 214 000 ha in 1987. In times


of drought , South Africa imports maize from the international market. There 

are some zero-grazing dairy operations near large cities, and three large 

commercial feedlots are found on the high-veldt. 

Veldt grazing 

The principal agro-ecological units within South Africa are illustrated in the 

generalized image of the Acocks (1953) map of the Veldt Types of South Africa 

(Figure 3.7). Acocks (1953) provided a unique perspective on the classification 

and distribution of the agro-economic divisions of vegetation in South Africa. 

This map serves to illustrate the broad floristic diversity of the vegetation 

and continues to remain an important classification for graziers. There are 70 

Veldt Types, with a primary focus on those types most useful for livestock 

production. As this diversity is reflected in composition, structure, phenology 

and production, it is extremely difficult to provide broad generalizations 

concerning the management options for each veldt type , most of which have 

received some research attention, with the mesic grass -veldt – with its higher 

Figure 3.7 

Veldt types of South Africa , as described in Acocks, 1953.

102 


production potential and greater economic importance – being given the 

greatest attention. The research focus has been on supporting government 

intervention in three major areas. 

The first area receiving government research support is the estimation of 

sustainable production (carrying capacity ), which was deemed important, as 

government attempted to enforce restrictions on the numbers of livestock on 

freehold properties. Grazing trials (mainly on-station), attempted to determine 

sustainable production levels, using a number of ecological and animal 

performance indices. Ecological indices that were measured to assess livestock 

impact on the rangeland included plant species composition, plant vigour and 

biomass production. In general, on-station trials did not permit the application 

of extreme treatments that would be appropriate to test the ecosystem . 

Researchers were reluctant to be perceived to be degrading a state-owned 

resource and trials were frequently terminated within the time-frames of 

system run-down. Conclusions for each veldt type vary enormously, but we 

would like to elaborate on those delivered for the semi -arid grasslands of the 

Eastern Cape. 

It is well recognized that rainfall is the primary determinant of forage 

production and a number of production model s have been developed for 

predicting the aboveground primary production in natural rangeland in 

southern Africa. Coe, Cumming and Phillipson (1976) demonstrate a linear 

relationship between annual rainfall and primary production for conservation 

areas in southern Africa. These predictions are regarded as conservative 

by commercial graziers, many of whom suggest that production for livestock 

can be optimized by rotational grazing (Danckwerts and Teague, 1989). In an 

effort to assess the sustainable production of grasslands in the Eastern Cape 

Province, a grazing trial was established on a freehold ranch (the so-called 

Kroomie Trial ) to test the impact of animal type (cattle or sheep ), number 

(light, moderate or heavy stocking rate ) and duration (rotation versus continuous 

) on rangeland condition and animal production. Preliminary results 

suggest that continuous grazing under moderate stocking rate (that recommended 

by the National Department of Agriculture ) yields the best livestock 

mass gain. However, in the Kroomie trial, no significant changes in species 

composition are obvious and the duration of the trial (10 years) is insufficient 

to make conclusive assertions regarding system run-down. Even in situations 

like this, where the questions have been clearly defined and the treatments 

meticulously applied, no clear answers to “sustainable” production levels are 

available. Using SPUR2 (Wight and Skiles, 1987; Hanson et al 1994), Palmer, 

Ainslie and Hoffman (1999) simulated a 50-year beef operation under continuous 

grazing for a site receiving 500 mm/yr (similar in elevation and rainfall to 

the conditions at Kroomie). The “recommended stocking rate”, determined 

by the National Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs, was 6 ha/LSU. 

When running another simulation at 4 ha/LSU, with ambient CO2 at 330 ppm,


Livestock mass (kg) 

Figure 3.8 

Simulated carrying capacity for Grahamstown using SPUR2, with stocking rate 

set at that recommended by the Department of Agriculture (4 ha/LSU) under a 

continuous grazing system. 

Livestock mass (kg) 

Month 

100 200 300 400 500 600 

Month 

Figure 3.9 

Simulated carrying capacity for Grahamstown using SPUR2, with stocking rate set 

at 2 ha/LSU under a continuous grazing system. System shows signs of run-down 

after 300 months. 

the system remained sustainable (Figure 3.8). Only when the stocking rate was 

increased dramatically, doubled to 2 ha/LSU, did the system run down within 

the 50-year simulation period (Figure 3.9). These results suggest that the recommended 

stocking rates for grassland systems are well below those that are

104 


Figure 3.10 

Rangeland production in South Africa using the model of Le Houérou, Bingham 

and Skerbek (1988) and median annual rainfall (Dent, Lynch and Schulze, 1987). 

likely to lead to system run-down. In the communal areas of the Eastern Cape, 

livestock numbers at the district level reflect the fact that stocking rates are 

substantially higher than those applied by freehold graziers and recommended 

by the Department of Agriculture. This presents a problem for administrators, 

who are unable to reduce livestock numbers in areas where graziers are unresponsive 

to regulation. 

Production relationships can be simplified to straightforward expressions of 

kilograms of annual dry matter production of forage per millimetre of annual 

rainfall (Le Houérou, 1984). An aboveground biomass production model 

based on the concept of rain-use-efficiency has been developed (Palmer, 1998) 

and applied to rangeland. The resultant map for commercial production is 

shown as Figure 3.10. Production may be converted to carrying capacity for 

cattle by assuming a daily requirement of 11.25 kg DM/LSU and a use factor 

of 0.4 (Le Houérou, pers. comm.). The use factor may decline to 0.2 in mesic, 

“sour ” grasslands with high C:N ratios. 

The second focus of research to receive substantial government funding in 

support of intervention policies was assessment of grazing systems . During 

1950–1990 it was expedient for government to provide support for fencing , 

water points and stock management infrastructure. Field trials were designed to 

assess the advantages of rotational versus continuous grazing . Rotational grazing 

requires that the pasture allocated to a group or groups of animals be subdivided 

into one enclosure more than the number of groups (Booysen, 1967). 

According to Tainton, Aucamp and Danckwerts (1999), the primary objectives 

of rotational grazing are to:


• control the frequency at which plants are grazed by controlling the frequency 

with which each camp in the system is grazed; 

• control the intensity at which plants are grazed by controlling the number 

of animals that graze each camp and their period of occupation; and 

• reduce the extent to which veldt is selectively grazed by confining a relatively 

large number of animals to a small proportion of the veldt so as to 

offer them little opportunity to select. 

The published results of many grazing trials (Department of Agriculture 

[South Africa], 1951) suggest that while animal performance in continuous 

grazing systems was superior to that of various rotational grazing ones, 

continuous grazing was condemned. After the contribution of Booysen (1969), 

who maintained that retaining sufficient active green biomass was essential to 

optimize regrowth, further research continued into the advantages of variations 

in rotational grazing. The concepts of Booysen (1969) are encompassed in the 

term High Performance Grazing (HPG), with the alternative, intensive-use, 

approach being High Utilization Grazing (HUG) (Tainton, Aucamp and 

Danckwerts, 1999). The HPG approach is thought to perform better in the 

semi -arid grasslands and savannahs, whereas HUG is more appropriate in the 

fire -induced grasslands of the humid regions. The inappropriate application 

of HUG, encompassed by the protagonists of Holistic Resource Management 

(Savory, 1988), to the more fragile, semi-arid systems, has been controversial 

and is discouraged. 

The third area receiving research attention funded by the Department of 

Agriculture was veldt condition assessment. In this work, floristic composition 

was regarded as an indicator of the impact of management and stocking rates . 

Gradient studies, which explored changes in species composition along grazing 

gradients, were popular. Within this research area, it was difficult to attribute 

the floristic variation along gradients directly to herbivory. Differences in 

species composition were often a consequence of enrichment, trampling and 

associated changes in soil structure and chemistry. 

LEGUME AND FODDER INTRODUCTION 

A number of subtropical pasture legumes and fodders have been screened 

at sites with from 100–700 mm annual rainfall . Range reinforcement is 

done on a large scale in commercial dairy regions. Favoured grasses include 

Pennisetum clandestinum (Kikuyu grass ), Panicum maximum and Digitaria 

eriantha , while legumes such as silver leaf Desmodium are over-sown into 

natural vegetation . 

Foggage (Plate 3.5) is important in commercial beef and dairy production 

systems in South Africa . Graziers use a wide range of commercially available 

grasses and legumes. The performance of growing beef steers grazing 

foggaged dryland Kikuyu grass pastures and given limited access (3 hours 

daily) to leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala cv. Cunningham) was better than

106 

Plate 3.5 

Foggage Kikuyu for winter grazing . 


that of steers grazing only Kikuyu foggage during autumn and early winter 

(Zacharias, Clayton and Tainton, 1991). Animals grazing leucaena performed 

better and gained 24.8 kg per animal more, over 90 days, than those on 

Kikuyu alone. There is concern about the risk of leucaena becoming invasive 

in the humid coast and its use, and that of other potentially aggressive species 

(e.g. Lespedeza sericea ), has been discouraged until further evaluation has 

been carried out. 

Investigations to determine whether frosted Kikuyu provides better quality 

foggage than natural pasturage in the sour -veldt area during the winter 

months revealed that this grass had a crude protein content of 8–10 percent in 

winter. The performance of animals grazing such frosted Kikuyu was highly 

satisfactory (Rethman and Gouws, 1973). Sheep performance and patterns of 

herbage utilization were determined in two grazing trials involving different 

amounts and quality of Kikuyu foggage. In two grazing trials involving different 

quantity and quality of Kikuyu foggage, wether lambs maintained live 

mass in one, whereas dry ewes and wether lambs both lost 8–10 percent of 

their initial mass in the other. This suggests that Kikuyu foggage alone does 

not provide a viable source of fodder. Grazing capacity was proportional to 

the yield of foggage and some 50 percent of the total herbage was utilized. 

The estimates of quality indicated that a higher level of utilization would 

have resulted in poorer sheep performance (Barnes and Dempsey, 1993). 

S.G. REYNOLDS


DRYLAND FODDER 

Dryland fodder production is only possible in the higher-rainfall regions of the 

country. The principal form of dryland fodder is cereal crop residues , which 

make an important contribution to livestock diets in communal areas during 

the dry season . Some communal area farmers collect and store at least part of 

their residues to feed to selected animals, such as milch cows and draught oxen, 

but most is utilized in situ. 

Cultivation of rainfed crops in South Africa is widespread in both freehold 

and communal land use systems . The most significant commercial grain producing 

areas are the maize triangle of the central high-veldt, the wheat growing 

region of the southwestern Cape and the maize growing regions of central 

Kwa-Zulu Natal. Maize is widely preferred as the staple food in the communal 

areas, but millet and sorghum are more reliable crops apart from in the 

highest-rainfall zones . National cereal production (roughly 80 percent maize, 

16 percent wheat and 4 percent others, including millet and sorghum) fluctuates 

considerably from year to year according to rainfall. Production has varied 

from a low of 5 044 000 t in the drought year of 1991/92 to a record high of 

15 966 000 t in 1993/94 (Table 3.8). It is difficult to assess what proportion crop 

residues contribute to national production as no research has been published, 

but it is thought to be considerable in areas of commercial rainfed cultivation 

(>600 mm mean annual rainfall). 

In drier central and western zones , farmers commonly have small areas 

of drought -tolerant fodders (e.g. Agave americana , Opuntia spp. or Atriplex 

nummalaria ) as a drought reserve . 

IRRIGATED FODDER 

Irrigation has two main functions in the humid summer rainfall regions. In 

winter it is used for temperate pasture species such as ryegrass and in summer 

it is used to supplement rainfall. In winter, the temperate species are completely 

dependant upon irrigation for survival and it can only be justified in intensive 

production systems such as dairy or the production of fat lambs. 

TABLE 3.8 

Commercial field crop production for South Africa from 1992 to 2000 (×1000 t). 

Crop 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 

Maize 3 277 9 997 13 275 4 866 10 171 10 136 7 693 7 946 10 584 

Wheat 1 324 1 983 1 840 1 977 2 711 2 428 1 787 1 725 2 122 

Green corn 266 262 278 279 280 290 292 299 300 

Barley 265 230 275 300 176 182 215 90 142 

Groundnuts 132 150 174 117 215 157 108 163 169 

Sorghum 118 515 520 290 535 433 358 223 352 

Soybeans 62 68 67 58 80 120 200 174 148 

Oats 45 47 37 38 33 30 25 22 25 

Total crops 5 044 12 727 15 966 7 491 13 647 13 229 10 098 10 024 13 244 

SOURCE: FAO database.

108 


Plate 3.6 

Dairy cows on irrigated ryegrass pastures (Lolium multiflorum ) near Fort 

Nottingham, KwaZulu-Natal. 

Dryland pasture production may be improved by irrigation. Where 

irrigation is available, despite the relative advantages of using water for other 

more lucrative crops , some farmers may choose to grow irrigated pasture. 

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa ) is the main purpose-grown irrigated fodder, and 

is grown throughout the country. In 1980, 468 000 ha were under irrigated 

alfalfa, but this declined to 214 000 ha in 1987. This may show a preference 

amongst farmers with water rights to grow cash crops. New legislation 

(Water Act of 1998), which separates water rights from property rights and 

increases the cost of abstracting water from rivers, will reinforce this trend. 

In high-performance production systems (e.g. dairy – Plate 3.6), Kikuyu 

grass (Pennisetum clandestinum), cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata ), tall fescue 

(Festuca arundinacea ) and ryegrasses (Lolium multiflorum and L. perenne ) 

are cultivated. Some other legumes (Trifolium pratense and T. repens ) respond 

well to irrigation. Many other species and numerous cultivars are available 

commercially (Bartholomew, 2000). 

EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES FODDER 

In times of drought , South Africa has provided fodder at subsidized rates 

to farmers. According to the new drought policy (National Department 

of Agriculture , 1995), the fodder subsidies have been terminated in order 

to encourage farmers to build up their own forage reserves and to discourage 

them from retaining excessive stock numbers. Nonetheless, it is likely 

that some commercial farmers, and probably the government, will continue 

S.G. REYNOLDS


TABLE 3.9 

Plants used for fodder during exceptional circumstances . 

Botanical name Common name Uses 

Agave americana American aloe Drought fodder in arid and semi- arid regions 

Anthephora pubescens Wool grass Spring and summer grazing 

Atriplex mueleri Australian saltbush Drought fodder 

Atriplex nummalaria Old Man Saltbush Drought fodder 

Atriplex semibaccata Creeping saltbush Drought fodder 

Cenchrus ciliaris Blue buffalo grass Tufted perennial; spring, summer and autumn grazing 

Opuntia spp. Spineless cactus Drought fodder 

Opuntia ficus-indica Prickly pear Drought fodder 

Vigna unguiculata Cowpea Undersowing maize, millet or sorghum 

to import fodder in extreme drought conditions. In the arid and semi -arid 

regions, farmers are encouraged to plant suitable drought-tolerant fodder crops 

(Table 3.9). Since 1994, there have been no magisterial districts declared as 

drought stricken, and so these new policies have not been tested. 

CONSTRAINTS TO PASTURE AND FODDER PRODUCTION AND 

IMPROVEMENT 

Low and uncertain rainfall throughout most of the country are the main 

constraints to the productivity of natural pastures and to the establishment 

of exotic pasture crops . Concern about exotics becoming problematic limits 

the introduction and testing of hardy species considered suited to the 

environmental and utilization rigours of the communal areas (e.g. Leucaena 

spp. and Lespedeza sericea ). The availability and price of seeds for fodder or 

for pasture improvement are major constraints to communal area farmers. 

Considerable portions of the savannah vegetation on the freehold farms are 

severely bush infested, but the cost of thinning or clearing generally outweighs 

the benefits in terms of increased carrying capacity . Open access to grazing , 

at least within communities , in the communal areas necessitates broad 

collective agreement and cooperation in any pasture improvement venture 

– something most communities, socially fragmented as they are, seem unable 

to attain. Traditionally, communal area farmers do not retain exclusive use of 

their unfenced croplands for their own livestock after harvest, which blocks 

opportunities and incentives for undersowing or alley cropping. 

Commercial ranchers find it increasingly difficult to maintain production in 

the western and central regions, which receive low and uncertain rainfall and 

where there are increases in undesirable woody species. Low profit margins and 

higher production costs discourage many landowners from maintaining commercial 

herds. There has been a decline in sheep and wool production from the 

Nama-karoo region (Dean and MacDonald, 1994), which has been attributed to 

a decline in resource condition . There appears to be an increase in the number 

of uninhabited freehold farms in the arid and semi -arid regions, suggesting that 

farms are being abandoned or managed as larger units. Reflecting de-agrariani-

110 


zation trends throughout the developed world, South Africa n rangelands under 

freehold tenure are becoming depopulated. The children of freehold farmers do 

not regard farming as an exciting career option, and leave the farm for training 

in more lucrative career paths. When freehold land is converted from livestock 

ranching to game farming, the staff complement required to manage the farm 

is reduced and labour is encouraged to move to the smaller towns, with better 

education, health and municipal services. 

In contrast to freehold land, the population in communal areas has increased 

since the initiation of re-location policies by the previous regime. This trend 

has continued since the advent of the new democracy, with rural land being 

used for the construction of dwellings, roads, clinics, schools and stores. Many 

residents have access to a piece of cultivated dryland , either close to their 

dwelling or at an allocation some distance away, but within the administrative 

region of the village. This allocation is generally used for maize, millet or cash 

crops , and is seldom planted to pasture crops. Crop residues may be available 

to livestock at the end of the harvest. Access to irrigation is limited to a very 

few villagers, who are usually part of government schemes. 

EVOLUTION OF GRASSLANDS OVER THE LAST 40 YEARS 

There is clear evidence of changes in the structure and specific composition 

of grasslands in southern Africa in the recent past. In a comprehensive review 

of the impact of recent human occupation of the eastern seaboard, Hoffman 

(1997) reports that “crop farmers first entered southern Africa along the 

northeastern coastal margins”, where they practised slash-and-burn agriculture 

and small-stock farming. At first, only the vegetation around the coastal forest 

margins was cleared. These early farmers moved westwards, clearing cropland 

in woodland and forest, creating a mosaic of open grassland and thicket patches. 

The expansion of grassland brought about a shift in herd composition and there 

was an increase in cattle -based economy. In the communal rangelands of Kwa- 

Zulu Natal, Transkei and Ciskei, grasslands are maintained by the continued 

removal of shrubs and trees for firewood, annual burning (Plate 3.7) and the 

use of goats to control woody encroachment . However, the encroachment 

of woody plants into grassland remains a constant threat elsewhere. During 

a project to re-photograph, from the same viewpoint, historical photographs 

taken in natural rangeland, M.T. Hoffman of the University of Cape Town 

(pers. comm.) has shown that woody encroachment is a feature of almost every 

photograph that has been re-taken. Published examples of this are available 

in Hoffman (1997) and Hoffman and O’Connor (1999). Urbanization and 

cultivation has played an important role in transforming grasslands. Rural 

villages and abandoned cultivated land have replaced natural grassland in 

the former homelands of Transkei, Ciskei, Qwa-Qwa, Venda, Lebowa, 

Bophutatswana and Kwa-Zulu. In rural villages, free-ranging livestock use 

the entire landscape without restriction, concentrating nutrients around the

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 3.7 

Grass regrowth after the annual burn in Kwa-Zulu Natal. 

homesteads and kraal where they are held overnight. The areas near homesteads 

have a lower standing biomass, but are extremely photosynthetically active 

and provide short, nutritious grazing during the growing season. However 

photosynthetic activity in other components of the landscape and in abandoned 

cultivated land is low, suggesting suboptimal production of natural rangeland 

(Palmer et al., 2001). 

RESEARCH 

Range and botanical sciences in South Africa have a very active research 

community, with funding and leadership in a number of ministries. The 

primary research agency for rangeland is the Agricultural Research Council 

(ARC), which supports two institutes dealing with understanding the processes 

(Range and Forage Institute – ARC-RFI) and condition assessment (Institute 

for Soil Climate and Water – ARC-ISCW) of rangeland. These institutes 

receive most of their core funding (approximately R 45 million in 2001) 

from the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. They also 

receive direct, project-orientated funding from the National Department of 

Agriculture and Land Affairs. Research direction is driven largely by the 

needs of directorates within the Department, which at present has five primary 

programmes: (1) Monitoring; (2) Problem organisms; (3) Rangeland resources ; 

(4) Geographical Information Systems (GIS ); and (5) Decision Support Systems 

(DSS). In the monitoring programme, research efforts of ARC-RFI and 

ARC-ISCW are directed towards resource evaluation using remote sensing 

and GIS modelling techniques. There is a strong emphasis on using satellite

112 


imagery to explore the extent of and trends in soil erosion, bush encroachment 

and rangeland degradation . The directorate has supported the calibration of 

NOAA AVHRR data for use in assessing trends since the launch of these 

satellites in 1980, and is now funding research into using high resolution infrared 

instruments (digital cameras and other high resolution sensors) to assess 

range and landscape degradation at the farm and village scale. The problem 

organism division continues to show interest in brown locusts, quelea control , 

woody weed encroachment (especially alien taxa such as Prosopis spp. ) and 

alien weed control. The list of alien weeds is extensive , with some 197 taxa 

being listed as declared weeds and invader plants (Henderson, 2001) and a 

further 60 taxa being considered as proposed weeds (Henderson, 2001) and a 

threat to range and water resources. The rangeland resources division funds 

projects that assess the impact of different grazing management approaches 

(e.g. continuous versus rotational grazing ) on rangeland. This is being carried 

out in a network of replicated grazing trials throughout the country. 

The Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) is the professional organization 

representing the discipline. GSSA maintains a full-time secretariat for 

its members, organizes annual congresses at localities around the subcontinent 

and publishes a peer-reviewed journal (African Journal of Range and Forage 

Science). The journal has been published since 1966, and about a thousand peerreviewed 

articles have appeared. 

Botanical research relating to rangeland is conducted by the National 

Botanical Institute (NBI) of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and 

Tourism . NBI has focused on exploring the natural patterns and processes 

driving vegetation status in the arid and semi -arid regions of the Nama-karoo 

and succulent karoo biomes . 

MANAGEMENT OF GRASSLANDS 

In response to a decline in profit margins and negative sentiments associated 

with domestic livestock production, there has been a marked increase in game 

farming and ecotourism on commercial ranching areas. This is manifested in 

the large numbers of game-proof fences erected on farm boundaries and the 

removal of internal fences and stock watering points . This change has an impact 

on the management of rangeland, as livestock can no longer be manipulated 

and it is more difficult to apply rotational grazing . In commercial farming 

operations, fire is used on many high-elevation rangelands to provide grazing 

during the early growing season. Fire is used primarily by commercial ranchers 

to remove low quality material remaining after winter and to encourage a flush 

of short green grass in spring (see Plate 3.7). 

Development of techniques for the rehabilitation of grasslands 

The processes of degradation in arid and semi -arid rangelands are poorly 

understood and only recently have some researchers provided a conceptual


framework for exploring rehabilitation within the context of an understanding 

of landscape function. Ludwig et al. (1997) suggest that the landscape comprises 

a series of inter-connected patches, with resource control being a key feature 

in the maintenance of the integrity of the landscape. Nutrients and moisture 

move from one patch to another, mainly though water flow patterns. The 

obstructions or patches in the landscape prevent nutrients from being lost, with 

run-on areas acting as sites of nutrient and moisture accumulation. Run-on 

areas are connected to one another by runoff zones or fetches. In a degrading 

landscape, it is suggested that these runoff areas increase in size and the run-on 

areas can no longer capture and accumulate nutrients, and so nutrients are lost 

to rivers and transported away from the landscape. In order to quantify these 

processes and relate them to South Africa n landscapes, landscape function 

analysis (LFA) (Ludwig et al., 1997) was applied to two contrasting land use 

types (Palmer et al., 2001). The results showed that landscape with a long 

history of communal management has surface accumulations of C and N, 

which may not have been processed efficiently. Although Palmer et al. (2001) 

did not investigate nutrient loss, there were significant differences between landscape-scale 

organizations, with communal landscape having a lower landscape 

functionality index than the freehold grassland . There was greater patchiness 

in the communal landscape, with longer fetches than the landscape with a long 

history of commercial management. In accordance with Ludwig et al. (1997), 

it is recommended that rehabilitation of degraded rangelands in South Africa 

should strive to reduce the extent of runoff zones and increase the resource 

control exercised by patches. 

Spatially explicit diversity indices (moving standard deviation index) have 

been applied to near-infrared (NIR) imagery (Landsat TM and SPOT) (Tanser 

and Palmer, 1999) recorded over land with different management histories and 

condition classes. Degraded grasslands, located in areas with a long history of 

communal management, had higher spatial diversity of selected growth indices 

than healthy grassland . Grasslands, savannahs and thicket with a high standing 

biomass and a long history of conservative land management, showed low 

spatial diversity indices. Rehabilitation techniques should attempt to reduce 

landscape photosynthetic heterogeneity. 

Over-seeding with commercially available seeds has long been regarded as a 

solution to rehabilitation of degraded rangeland. In the thicket biome , re-vegetation 

of former cultivated lands has been successful when lime-coated seed 

(a mixture of seven local species, including Panicum maximum , Cenchrus ciliaris 

and Eragrostis curvula ) was broadcast over the cultivated land and a long 

(three-year) rest applied. However, there has been limited success reported 

elsewhere, where commercial seeds generally require irrigation after planting 

and any early effect is usually discounted within a few years. 

Using the principles embodied in the LFA theory, Van Rooyen (2000) has 

shown that it is possible to rehabilitate degraded biospheres in the southern

114 


Kalahari using brush packing with Rhigozum trichotomum. In this highly 

mobile sand-dune environment, brush packing results in sand stabilization and 

enables seedling establishment. 

Sustainable management of the environment and maintenance of 

biodiversity 

South Africa has ratified the United Nations Conventions that strive to 

maintain bio diversity and improve sustainable management of rangelands, 

specifically the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United 

Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). These conventions 

are administered by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism , which 

supports the assessment of the state of resources . The most recent product of 

this programme has been an assessment of degradation and desertification at 

a national scale (Hoffman and Ashwell, 2001), which defines the nature and 

extent of rangeland transformation. 


There is formal certification of pasture and fodder seed in South Africa . South 

African seed merchants produce approximately 200 t of seed per annum for 

sale locally and for export. With the long-term goal of preserving germplasm 

(in most cases, as seed) of the entire South African flora, the ARC-Plant 

Genetic Resources Division in Pretoria focuses at present on preservation of 

seeds of plant species of economic importance. A wide variety of South African 

pasture grasses are included in the current accessions, such as species of the 

genera Anthephora, Brachiaria , Cenchrus , Cynodon , Panicum , Pennisetum , 

Setaria and Stipagrostis . 

RECOMMENDATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED CONCERNING 

SUSTAINABLE GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT 

Many of the wild herbivores in South Africa (e.g. blesbok, bontebok, black 

wildebeest, blue wildebeest, springbok, Burchell’s zebra and red hartebeest) 

create enriched patches which provide highly nutritious fodder throughout 

the year (Palmer, Novellie and Lloyd, 1999). These patches form a relatively 

small portion of the landscape (Lutge, Hardy and Hatch, 1996) and 

researchers (Booysen, 1969) recognized that the remainder of the rangeland 

was not used. It was suggested that in order to prevent this “area-selective 

grazing ” in livestock production systems , ranchers should fence numerous 

paddocks and rotate the domestic animals in a system that maximized the 

use of the aboveground primary production. This principle was built into the 

legislation to permit government intervention in the primarily white -owned 

ranches . This intervention, which provided subsidies to farmers for fencing, 

dam construction and the erection of water points , encouraged ranchers to 

develop their farms . In the process, the government provided the rancher


with the tools to efficiently remove large quantities of aboveground standing 

biomass. This approach may have been useful in the grasslands where research 

had been carried out to show that grass species composition could be changed 

by applying rotational grazing . However, this has had some very serious 

consequences in the thicket biome , where succulent shrubs such as Portulacaria 

afra have been completely removed from the landscape and do not regenerate 

after severe defoliation (Stuart-Hill and Aucamp, 1993). In the savannah biome, 

there is clear evidence of continuing woody encroachment by a wide range of 

shrub species, including Acacia karroo, A. mellifera , Dichrostachys cinerea , 

Rhus undulata and Rhigozum trichotomum. Researchers suggest that this is 

largely due to the removal of competitive grass species by herbivory, although 

alternative hypotheses are suggested. 

Maintenance of production and productivity 

Following on the thinking of J.C. Smuts, who spear-headed rangeland 

conservation initiatives in South Africa , Davies (1968) suggested that a holistic 

approach is needed whereby plant, soil and animal influences are studied 

as controllable parts of the environment. Savory (1988) further embellished 

on this approach, coining the term Holistic Resource Management , which 

embodied principles that were contrary to the conventional thinking amongst 

range scientists (Clayton and Hurt, 1998). Savory (1988) encouraged ranchers 

to employ non-selective grazing by maintaining large, mixed species – herds 

that would intensively use a restricted area until the standing biomass had 

been severely reduced, thereby eliminating competition among species. This 

area would then receive a long rest, whereupon herbivores would return. 

Numerous commercial graziers in South Africa have been encouraged to 

follow this thinking, with no formal scientific debate being entertained on the 

success of the approach. Vorster (1999) provides a convincing argument for 

discouraging ranchers from pursuing this approach without careful assessment 

of the rangeland resource. 

Strategies for maintaining and optimizing aboveground grass production 

include rotational grazing and resting; control of woody encroachment ; provision 

of winter pastures in the cool, mesic regions where forage quality declines 

in winter; and supplementary feeding on cultivated lands. In beef production 

systems , livestock are finished in feedlots where maize provides the major feed 

element. In these systems , production costs are determined by the international 

maize price. 

Priorities for the development of programmes and research 

The National Department of Agriculture , in cooperation with ARC-RFI, 

ARC-ISCW and CSIRO-Environmentek, is the key institution dealing with 

forage resources . The Directorate of Land and Resource Management in the 

National Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs is responsible for the

116 


implementation of the Conservation of Agricultural Resources, Act No. 43 

of 1984. This act empowers the Directorate to intervene when the agricultural 

resources of the country are threatened by soil erosion, alien infestation 

or woody encroachment . Prior to 1994, this act was used to subsidize the 

provision of fencing ; the erection of new water provision points ; the purchase 

and transport of supplementary fodder during exceptional circumstances ; 

the construction of soil erosion works; the clearing of all weeds (alien and 

indigenous); and to support rangeland research. Since 1994, intervention from 

the Directorate has concentrated on supporting research in the focus areas 

mentioned above and to intervene at community level though the Landcare 

programme. In addition, each of the nine Provinces has a section that deals with 

rangeland and pasture research. These sections conduct research appropriate 

to the needs of that Province. South Africa ’s National Agricultural Policy 

states that the main objective is improvement of research in natural resource 

management (National Department of Agriculture, 1995). On a project 

basis, pasture science-related programmes deal with the characterization of 

rangeland, production modelling , rangeland reclamation, agroforestry and 

rangeland management systems . Examples of individual projects related to 

rangeland and pasture science can be found on the ARC Web site. 

The National Department of Education maintains eleven agricultural colleges, 

and carries out topic-oriented, formal training courses. All courses are 

certified by one of the tertiary training institutions. 

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Davies, W. 1968. Pasture problems in South Africa . Proceedings of the 

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Dean, W.R.J. & Milton, S.J. (eds). 1999. The karoo. Ecological patterns and 

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Rangelands. CSIRO, Canberra, Australia. 158 p. 

Lutge, B.U., Hardy, M.B. & Hatch, G.P. 1996. Plant and sward response to 

patch grazing in the Highland Sourveld. African Journal of Range and Forage 

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. pp. 208–223, in: Dean & Milton, 1999. q.v. 

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in rangelands of the Peddie District, Eastern Cape, using Landscape Function 

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Pierce, 1997, q.v. 

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of the eastern Cape. African Journal of Range and Forage Science, 10: 1–10. 

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Trollope, W.S.W. 1980. Controlling bush encroachment with fire in the savanna 

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A.F. CIBILS 

Chapter 4 

Grasslands of Patagonia 

Andrés F. Cibils and Pablo R. Borrelli 

SUMMARY 

Patagonia lies between 39° and 55°S, partly in Chile but mainly in Argentina ; 

its extra-Andean portion is treeless semi -arid grass and shrub steppes that have 

been grazed by domestic livestock for a little over a century. The climate is arid 

to semi-arid, and cool to cold , with mean temperatures decreasing from 15.9°C in 

the north to 5.4°C in the south. Extra-Andean Patagonia is an area of semi-arid 

grass and shrub steppes; vegetation is characterized by xerophytes. Guanacos are 

the only large native ungulate herbivore and the region has evolved under light 

grazing pressure . Most vegetation has been seriously modified by sheep , particularly 

in the past 40–50 years, with palatable grasses being replaced by unpalatable 

woody plants. Private property is the main land tenure form. Human habitation 

probably began about 10 000 years BP, but European settlement began at the end 

of the nineteenth century, with commercial sheep farming. Aboriginal peoples 

were hunter-gatherers; private property limited their opportunity for migratory 

hunting. The success of early settlers encouraged more immigrants, who occupied 

progressively drier areas, until 1940. Sheep numbers peaked in 1952, at over 

21 million head, and have since fallen to 8.5 million head. Cattle , kept at higher 

elevations near the Andes, are the next largest stock; herds have increased over the 

past 50 years. Horses and goats have decreased less dramatically than sheep. Sheep 

121

122 


farming is almost a monoculture in the steppes. There are three kinds of farm : 

Large Commercial, with flocks of more than 6 000; Small and Medium farms in 

the drier areas, with 1 000 to 6 000 head; and Subsistence, with fewer than 1 000 

sheep. Paddocks are grazed continuously, except for the high elevation (summer 

) ranges. Vast areas, with few paddocks, restrict the potential for controlling 

grazing. Guidelines for pasture management began in the 1980s, but much work 

has been done since on soil-plant-animal relations. Since areas are vast, Decision 

Support Systems (DSS) are a new frontier for range management. Development 

of agrotourism on sheep farms is incipient, mostly in the Andes. 

INTRODUCTION 

The vast area of southern Argentina and Chile between latitudes 39° and 55°S 

is referred to as Patagonia (Figure 4.1). Almost all of Patagonia’s grazing lands 

are on the cool semi -arid steppes of the extra-Andean territory of southern 

Argentina (approximately 750 000 km 2 ), extending into Chile around the 

Straits of Magellan (Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala, 1998b; Villamil, 1997) – see 

Figure 4.2. 

This chapter refers mainly to extra-Andean Argentinian Patagonia , an area 

of treeless semi -arid grass and shrub steppes that has been grazed by domestic 

ungulates for over a century. 

Patagonia is mostly made up of sedimentary landscapes that blend with 

volcanic deposits from the Mesozoic and Tertiary eras, unfolding as a series 

of plateaus that lose elevation eastward from the Andes (Soriano, 1983). The 

Patagonian mesa landscape is interrupted by a series of rivers that flow from 

the Andes to the Atlantic, such as the Colorado, Negro, Chubut, Chico, Santa 

Cruz and Coyle. Irrigated floodplains in some valleys have allowed the development 

of agricultural oases (Table 4.1). 

TABLE 4.1 

Biozones of Patagonia grouped according to phytogeographical province. 

Phytogeographical province Biozone code (1) Dominant physiognomic type Area (km 2 ) 

Patagonia Kg 11 Semi-deserts 1 95 400 

Kf 11 Semi-deserts 2 68 800 

Jg 11 Patagonian shrub steppes 134 800 

Jf 11 Shrub-grass steppes 99 900 

Jd 12 Grass- shrub steppes 43 600 

Id 12 Grass steppes 48 600 

Monte Hg 11 Scrub lands 48 300 

Jh 11 Monte shrub steppes 2 134 500 

Ig 4 Monte shrub steppes 1 54 400 

Subantarctic Ha 12 Ecotone forest- steppes and mesic grasslands 52 400 

Ea 2 Closed deciduous forests 69 100 

Agro-ecosystems Gd 12 Irrigated valleys 22 600 

NOTES: (1) Biozone codes are those of Paruelo, Jobággy and Sala, 1998. 

SOURCE: Paruelo, Jobággy and Sala, 1998. Reproduced by permission of authors and editors of Ecología Austral.

Grasslands of Patagonia 123 

Figure 4.1 

Extent of grasslands in Latin America. 

Description of Patagonia ’s climate is hampered by the low density and 

very uneven distribution of weather stations (40 000 km 2 /station) (Paruelo et 

al., 1998). Climate is influenced mostly by Pacific Ocean air masses forced 

inland by prevailing westerlies, across ocean currents that are warmer than 

the land masses and move towards the equator (MacArthur, 1972). The Andes

124 

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�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

�� 

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Figure 4.2 

A map of the provinces of Argentinian Patagonia (shaded area) and 

neighbouring provinces (Digital Cartography by Ing. Ag. Liliana González). 

stand between the moist air and the Patagonian steppes, creating an extensive 

rain-shadow that controls climatic patterns (Paruelo et al., 1998). There is a 

very steep gradient of mean annual precipitation (MAP), decreasing towards 

the east, from 4 000 mm at the Andes eastern foothills (at about 42°S) down 

to 150 mm in the central plateau 180 km east of the mountains (Soriano, 

1983). Inter-annual variation in precipitation increases exponentially with 

decreasing rainfall, reaching coefficients of variation greater than 45 percent 

at the drier end of the gradient (Jobággy, Paruelo and León, 1995). The east 

coast is influenced by moist air from the Atlantic, with somewhat higher 

annual precipitation (200 to 220 mm) evenly distributed, as opposed to the 

winter rainfall of most of Patagonia (Paruelo et al., 1998; Soriano, 1983). 

The ratio of mean annual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration 

(MAP/PET ratio) of the steppes fluctuates between 0.45 and 0.11, with 

marked deficits in spring and summer (Paruelo et al., 1998). Water is the most 

important factor regulating primary production. Some of the variation can 

be associated with El Niño-La Niña cycles (Paruelo et al., 1998), but Cibils 

and Coughenour (2001) reported a longer-term cycle for MAP in southern 

Patagonia: a significant decrease in precipitation from 1930 to 1960 and a 

reversal of this trend (significant increase) over the subsequent thirty years 

in Río Gallegos.


Mean annual temperatures range from 15.9°C in the north (Cippoletti) to 

5.4°C in the far south of Tierra del Fuego (Ushuaia) (Soriano, 1983). Mean 

temperatures of the coldest month (July) are above the frost mark, although 

absolute minimum temperatures can be below -20°C (Paruelo et al., 1998). 

Cibils and Coughenour (2001) reported a significant increase in mean annual 

temperatures over the last 60 years of the twentieth century for Río Gallegos, a 

town with one of the longest weather records, on the steppes surrounding the 

Straits of Magellan. This trend is consistent with predictions of climate change 

from Global Circulation Models simulating enhanced atmospheric CO2 concentration 

(Hulme and Sheard, 1999), but conclusions from weather station 

data analysis are still preliminary. 

Strong, persistent westerly winds are an outstanding characteristic of 

Patagonia ’s climate. Because there is relatively little land in the Southern 

Hemisphere, westerlies between 40°S and 50°S gain impressive momentum, 

with annual intensities of between 15 and 22 km/h and frequent gusts of over 

100 km/h, mostly in spring and summer (MacArthur, 1972; Paruelo et al., 1998; 

Soriano, 1983). Strong winds increase evaporation and can have a considerable 

influence on sheep performance through chill (Borrelli, unpublished data; 

Soriano, 1983). 

Over half of Patagonia ’s soils are Aridisols (desert soils), with Entisols (soils 

with little development ) and Mollisols (dark coloured, base-rich steppe soils), 

respectively, as the second and third most important types (del Valle, 1998). 

Over 70 percent of topsoil is coarse-textured, ranging from sand to sandyloam 

(del Valle, 1998). Soil textures can explain a large portion of the variation 

in dominant plant life form (grasses vs shrubs) across the region (Noy-Meir, 

1973; Sala, Lauenroth and Golluscio, 1997). Small-scale spatial heterogeneity of 

soils tends to increase with aridity (Ares et al., 1990); important differences in 

leaching and salinity occur over short distances, possibly causing soils within a 

taxonomic group to function differently (del Valle, 1998, and references therein). 

Over 90 percent of Patagonian soils are degraded to some degree, mostly 

because of improper land use; severe desertification affects 19 to 30 percent 

of the region (del Valle, 1998). Some of the most dramatic erosion processes 

occur in the form of sand macro-accumulations that, in the early 1970s, covered 

approximately 85 000 km 2 (Soriano, 1983). Both aerial photography and 

satellite imagery indicate that many of these accumulations are about 100 years 

old, suggesting that the rate of wind-driven erosion has been accelerated by the 

introduction of domestic livestock (Soriano, 1983). 

Archaeological records from caves suggest that human occupation began 

around 11 000 BP (Borrero and McEwan, 1997). Native peoples were huntergatherers, 

although there are indications of limited agricultural activity in the 

north (Villamil, 1997). Bifacial stone weapons suggest that people of south 

Patagonia hunted guanaco (Lama guanicoe). The Mapuche tribe occupied the 

northern reaches, the Tehuelches the southern mainland, and the Selknam,

126 

Sheep numbers 

(millions) 

20 

15 

10 

5 

0 

Figure 4.3 

Sheep population by province in Argentinian Patagonia . 

SOURCE: SAGPyA, 2001. 

Plate 4.1 

Merino flock in Patagonia. 


1895 1914 1930 1947 1958 1969 1978 1988 1995 2000 

Year 

Neuquen Rio Negro Chubut Santa Cruz T.del Fuego 

Haush and Yámana tribes occupied Tierra del Fuego and surrounding islands 

(McEwan, Borrero and Prieto, 1997, and references therein). European contact 

with natives began early in the sixteenth century; it is thought that conquerors 

named the natives after Patagón, a fantastical character of the Spanish chivalric 

tale Primaleón (Duviols, 1997: 129-130). European settlement only began at 

the end of the nineteenth century, mostly from Spain and the British Isles, or 

companies that established sheep farms (Barbería, 1995). 

V.A. DEREGIBUS & M.F. GARBULSKY


There are currently over 12 000 sheep farms (family or company owned) 

in Patagonia , with flocks ranging from less than 1 000 to over 90 000 head 

(Méndez Casariego, 2000). According to the latest on-farm population census 

(1988) there were 75 000 people on sheep farms and irrigated valley farms. From 

the 1970s to present, the rural population increased in Río Negro (+44%) and 

Tierra del Fuego (+132%), remained fairly stable in Neuquén, and decreased 

in Chubut (-33%) and Santa Cruz (-44%) (Méndez Casariego, 2000). Over the 

same period, the on-farm population increased in Neuquén (+51%) and Río 

Negro (+5%) and decreased in Chubut (-28%), Santa Cruz (-41%) and Tierra 

del Fuego (-26%) (Méndez Casariego, 2000). 

Patagonia ’s grasslands have only been grazed by sheep for just over a century. 

Sheep numbers peaked in 1952, at over 21 million, and since then numbers 

have been slowly shrinking, to about 8.5 million in 1999 (Méndez Casariego, 

2000) (Figure 4.3). Ranchers raise unherded Merino (Plate 4.1) or Corriedale 

flocks in continuously-grazed large pastures, usually for wool (Soriano, 1983). 

Wool production is fairly insensitive to forage scarcity associated with high 

stocking-rates or drought , so several authors have blamed present day land 

degradation on the wool-oriented operations (Borrelli et al., 1997; Golluscio, 

Deregibus and Paruelo, 1998; Covacevich, Concha and Carter, 2000). Cattle 

have increased steadily over the last 50 years (Méndez Casariego, 2000) and 

although present numbers (836 000) are more than double those of 1952, this 

does not compensate for the decrease in sheep (Méndez Casariego, 2000). 

The numbers of horses and goats have decreased considerably, but not as 

dramatically as sheep. The most recent figures (1999) indicate that there are 

180 000 horses and 827 000 goats – roughly half of the previous peak populations 

(Méndez Casariego, 2000). Goat farming is mainly in the north, such as 

Neuquén province, where numbers have remained fairly constant in spite of 

the general negative tendency (Méndez Casariego, 2000). 

Guanacos are the only large native ungulate (Soriano, 1983) and although 

the region has generally been considered to have evolved under light grazing 

pressure (Milchunas, Sala and Lauenroth, 1988), pre-European numbers of 

guanacos may have been higher than previously thought (Lauenroth, 1998); 

recent counts show populations are fairly stable at approximately 500 000 

(Amaya et al., 2001). The native vertebrate fauna is poor (Soriano, 1983). The 

lesser rhea (Pterocnemia pennata pennata) and the upland goose (Cloephaga 

picta) are the most conspicuous birds . The Patagonian hare (Dolichotis patagonum) 

and the small armadillo (Zaedyus pichyi), together with the lesser 

rheas , are important zoogeographical indicators (Soriano, 1983). There are 

significant numbers of predators , such as red foxes (Dusicyon culpaeus), 

grey foxes (Ducisyon griseus), pumas (Felis concolor) and skunks (Conepatus 

humboldtii) (Soriano, 1983). Red foxes and pumas are responsible for most 

predation, and lamb losses due to red fox predation can be as high as 75 to 

80 percent (Manero, 2001).

128 

28 

6 8 

58 

Title deed Legal occupants 

Hire contracts Unfenced public land 


Figure 4.4 

Land tenure regimes in 

Argentinian Patagonia 

(SOURCE: Adapted from Peralta, 1999) 

POLITICAL SYSTEM 

Argentinian Patagonia has five provinces: Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, 

Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego (Figure 4.2). Parts of other provinces, such 

as Buenos Aires, La Pampa and Mendoza, are in the Patagonian environment. 

As a Federal Republic, each province of Argentina has an elected government. 

A Governor, the executive, is elected every four years. Each province has 

a Constitution, Legislative Power and an independent Judicial Power. 

Argentinian Patagonian provinces are relatively new because most of them 

were national territories until after the Second World War; national territories 

depended entirely on the central government in Buenos Aires. Irruption of 

dictatorships in Argentina between 1966 and 1983 prevented the exercise of 

democracy, so Patagonian provinces are young democratic states, in which 

political forces and institutions are beginning to organize and evolve. 

LAND TENURE 

Private property is the most important land tenure form, as shown in 

Figure 4.4 (Peralta, 1999). Permanent title deeds predominate, but legal 

occupation is also significant. Unfenced public lands comprise a small 

percentage of farms , and are locally important in Neuquén. Land tenure 

variation is related to the colonization process, which is summarized 

below. 

Aboriginal distribution 

There were many ethnic groups prior to colonization. Mapuches lived 

in the northwest, Tehuelches lived on most of the continental part of the 

steppe, and Onas lived on the steppes of Tierra del Fuego. All of these were 

“terrestrial cultures” (Borrero, 1997). Tehuelches and Onas were migratory 

hunters. There were also “canoe cultures”on the coasts of the Beagle Channel


in Tierra del Fuego, which were reduced, absorbed or exterminated by 

Europeans (Martinic, 1997). Tehuelches were severely reduced and absorbed 

by European colonization. Fences and the concept of private property 

limited the opportunity for migratory hunting. As Martinic (1997) pointed 

out, “cultural exchange was unidirectional, from the colonists to the Indians, 

which affected the latter’s hunting and fishing tools and customs, relationship 

with natural resources , social behaviour, health and very survival as people”. 

Survivors mostly became farm employees and in a few generations had lost 

most of their language and culture. There are a few reservations suitable for 

raising sheep and horses where Tehuelche descendants subsist. 

The Mapuches were better able to maintain their culture and survive 

under conditions imposed by colonizing groups, and their descendants live in 

Neuquén, western Río Negro and northwest Chubut. More than 3 000 family 

groups live on public pastures raising goats and sheep (Casas, 1999). Some 

families have fenced or demarcated individual grazing lands , which they run 

as legal occupants. Many others graze on common lands, where transhumance 

is still practiced, from low winter ranges (invernadas) to high summer ranges 

(veranadas) (Casas, 1999). 

Welsh colonization 

In 1866 a colony of Welsh immigrants established themselves in the lower 

valley of the Río Chubut, close to the Atlantic coast (Mainwaring, 1983); the 

settlers had enormous difficulty in surviving. They made little progress until 

1885, when several horsemen rode west and settled as sheep farmers in the 

Andes foothills. The colony did not prosper until settlers managed to develop 

irrigation and learn basic farming skills (Mainwaring, 1983). 

First settlers 

The first sheep farmers arrived in 1885 (Barbería, 1995). The government in 

Buenos Aires granted land concessions to settlers. After a visit of Governor 

Moyano to the Falkland Islands, colonization started on the most suitable 

land for sheep, i.e. grass steppes close to the Andes foothills and in southern 

Santa Cruz and northern Tierra del Fuego (Lafuente, 1981). By 1908, families 

and large companies occupied the most productive land. Settlers were mainly 

Spanish, Scottish, English, German and French. By the end of land concessions, 

settlers had obtained private title to their lands (Lafuente, 1981; Barbería, 1995) 

Last settlers 

The success of the first settlers encouraged new waves of immigrants, who 

occupied prtogressively drier areas until 1940, by when Patagonia was fully 

colonized (Barbería, 1995). In 1908, national legislation prevented liberal 

distribution of remaining public range (Lafuente, 1981). In an attempt to 

restrict the amount of land purchased by an individual, Patagonia was divided

130 


into equal-sized blocks that were assigned to settlers without considering 

carrying capacity (Barbería, 1985), so most settlers received a limited amount 

of relatively unproductive land, which thereafter was subject to high grazing 

pressure . Most farms are now privately owned, under legal occupation or with 

permanent title (Casas, 1999). 

Management authorities 

The responsibility of provincial government to ensure sustainable management 

of natural resources is recognized in Provincial Constitutions, which 

were mostly amended in the 1990s and clearly define this role, but legislation 

is either weak or not enforced. By the end of the 1980s, “desertification” 

was well established as a subject of discussion, but sustainable use policies 

have still not been achieved. There is lack of institutional development for 

natural resources administration at provincial and national levels (Consorcio 

DHV, 1999). The federal Department of Sustainable Development and 

Environmental Policy, which is responsible for national policies on sustainable 

management , carries out planning, coordination and training. A National 

Plan for Desertification Control was formulated in 1998, but has not been 

implemented due to funding constraints. 

MARKET SYSTEMS 

Wool market systems 

Patagonian wool is mainly exported; domestic consumption is less than 

10 percent of greasy wool produced. Wool is mainly exported as tops 

and scoured wool. China , Italy, Germany and France have been the main 

customers (Argentine Wool Federation, 2001). Scouring and combing is done 

by multinational companies and some local industries in Trelew (Chubut), the 

main wool textile centre of Argentina . Sheep farms in northern and central 

Patagonia produce fine Merino wool, while farms in the south produce fine 

crossbred Corriedale -type wool (Argentine Wool Federation, 2001). Direct 

sales from farmers to wool processors and exporters predominate, but there 

are a few wool concentration and auction sale mechanisms (Peralta, 1999). 

In the 1980s, many wool cooperatives were created, but most collapsed due 

to financial problems and lack of managerial skills. Subsistence farmers with 

small quantities usually barter for basic goods with middlemen (Peralta, 

1999). 

In 1994, the government launched PROLANA , a joint wool quality 

programme with provincial governments, to improve shearing, handling, 

grading and packing, prevent contamination and improve wool appearance. 

By 2000, 37 percent of Patagonia ’s wool was processed under PROLANA 

procedures (SAGPyA, 2001). This Programme increased market transparency 

significantly by expanding farmer awareness regarding the characteristics and 

value of wool.


Meat marketing 

Grassland -based systems produce about 10 500 tonne/year of high quality 

lamb and mutton (SAGPyA, 2001), which is natural , free from diseases and 

contaminants, with low fat content and a mild flavour, but the local markets 

are not sensitive to meat quality. Most lamb is exported to Europe (SAGPyA, 

2001). Wool-oriented Merino farms have a low reproductive efficiency (less 

than 60 percent lambing) and produce few lambs. The meat production areas are 

southern Santa Cruz and northern Tierra del Fuego, where forage production 

is higher and Corriedale operations are oriented to lamb production (Borrelli 

et al., 1997; Méndez Casariego, 2000). 

Farmers sell to local abattoirs, which supply supermarkets and retail 

butchers. Overseas markets were historically the most important meat buyers 

(Lafuente, 1981). The progressive reduction in the number of animals for 

slaughter caused the collapse of large (mostly foreign) companies that had 

operated in the region from the beginning of the twentieth century. Most lamb 

was marketed locally during the 1990s (SAGPyA, 2001). Recently, a farmerowned 

company began processing and exporting lamb from Santa Cruz. Many 

farmers in this project have organic certification that allows them to enter 

premium market niches. 

DOMINANT NATURAL VEGETATION 

Extra-Andean Patagonia is covered by treeless shrub and grass steppes that give 

way to dwarf-shrub semi -deserts in the drier areas of the central plateaus (Roig, 

1998). Vegetation is characterized by the dominance of xerophytes, which 

have evolved remarkable adaptations to cope with severe water deficit (León 

et al., 1998). Shrubs, for example, have either very small sclerophyllous leaves 

with abundant glandular hairs, or leaves with thick cuticles, and often dwarf 

cushion growth habits. Grasses commonly have leaves with a thick cuticle, 

convoluted laminae and bunch growth habits, with fairly large accumulations 

of dead biomass (León et al., 1998). Blended in the steppe landscapes are small 

areas associated with rivers or permanent water sources, with more mesic 

plant communities comprising mostly grasses, sedges and rushes, referred to as 

riparian meadows (Golluscio, Deregibus and Paruelo, 1998; Roig, 1998), and, 

although they account for a very small proportion of the total area, they play a 

key role in livestock production and, in many instances, suffer most from the 

effects of bad land management (Golluscio, Deregibus and Paruelo, 1998). 

Two phytogeographic provinces occupy all of arid and semi -arid Patagonia : 

the Patagonian phytogeographic province, and the Monte phytogeographic 

province (Cabrera, 1971). The latter occupies most of the arid west of Argentina ; 

its southern tip enters Patagonia, occupying approximately the northern third 

of the region. The remaining two thirds of extra-Andean Patagonia correspond 

to the Patagonian phytogeographic province (Table 4.1) (Cabrera, 1971). 

Most classifications of natural vegetation types of have used either structural

132 

Figure 4.5 

Biozones of Patagonia , from Paruelo, Jobággy and Sala (1998). 

(Reproduced with permission of the authors and the editors of Ecología Austral) 


(physiognomic) characteristics of dominant plant life-forms (Cabrera, 1971; 

Soriano, 1983; León et al., 1998; Roig, 1998) or phytosociological approaches 

as the main grouping criteria (Collantes, Anchorena and Cingolani, 1999; 

Golluscio, León and Perelman, 1982; Boelcke, Moore and Roig, 1985). 

Recently, Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala (1998b) classified the vegetation of the 

region on the basis of functional characteristics, using productivity -related 

indices derived from NOAA satellite imagery analysis (Figure 4.5 and 

Table 4.1). An advantage of this approach is that it provides a functional upto-date 

classification of vegetation, reflecting the current state of rangelands,

V.A. DEREGIBUS & M.F. GARBULSKY 


Plate 4.2 

A typical Patagonian shrub steppe. 

rather than the potential expected vegetation types typical of most structural 

classification maps. This section follows the grouping of biomes proposed by 

Paruelo et al. (1998), but endeavours to produce a synthesis of both structural 

and functional aspects of the vegetation of each biome . 

Patagonian shrub steppes 

This vegetation type (Unit Jg 11 in Figure 4.5) accounts for close to 20 percent 

of the semi -arid area (Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala, 1998b) (Plate 4.2). Overall, 

the MAP of this area is below 200 mm; vegetation cover varies between 30 

and 50 percent and annual above ground net primary productivity (ANPP ) 

estimated from NDVI -I values (the annual integral of the Normalized 

Difference Vegetation Index ) is 490 kg/ha/yr (León et al., 1998; Paruelo, 

Jobbágy and Sala, 1998b). The physiognomy of this unit is that of a bi-layered 

shrubland: an upper layer of shrubs circa 100 cm high, and a lower layer made 

up of shrubs with crown heights that rarely exceed 15–20 cm (León et al., 1998). 

The most conspicuous shrubs are Chuquiraga avellanedae , Lycium ameghinoi , 

L. chilense , Verbena ligustrina , Prosopis denudans and Colliguaya integerrima 

(León et al., 1998; Roig, 1998). Grasses of the genera Stipa , Festuca and Poa , such 

as Stipa neaei , S. speciosa , Festuca argentina and Poa ligularis , occur as a sparse 

understorey (León et al., 1998). Shrub steppes occur in transition areas between 

the grass steppes and the semi-deserts (Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala, 1998b).

134 


Semi-deserts and shrub steppes 

Semi-deserts and shrub steppes (Units Kg 11 and Kf 11 in Figure 4.5) exhibit 

similar latitudinal extents; together, both variants of semi -desert cover 22 percent 

of the region, with plant communities of low diversity, including, on average, 

19 plant species (Golluscio, León and Perelman, 1982). The MAP of much of 

the area is less than 150 mm. Patagonian semi-deserts are less productive than 

shrub steppes; ANPP calculated from NDVI -I values by Paruelo, Jobbágy and 

Sala (1998b) are 450 and 390 kg/ha/yr for units Kg 11 and Kf 11, respectively 

(Table 4.1). From a species composition standpoint, Kf 11 is the most typical 

and less degraded semi-desert type , in spite of being less productive (Soriano, 

1983). Dwarf shrubs with cushion habits are typical of this vegetation type in the 

Kg 11 and Kf 11 units. Nassauvia glomerulosa , N. ulicina and Chuquiraga aurea 

are dominant, accompanied by others such as Chuquiraga kingii , Brachyclados 

caespitosus and Perezia lanigera (León et al., 1998). Grasses such as Stipa 

humilis , S. ibarii , S. ameghinoi and shrubs such as Chuquiraga avellanedae , 

Schinus polygamus and Lycium chilense are secondary species in semi-desert 

plant communities . Some co-dominant species occur, but only in the Kg 11 

semi-deserts: dwarf shrubs such as Azorella caespitosa , Mullinum microphyllum 

and Frankenia sp. , grasses such as Poa dusenii , P. ligularis and, less frequently, 

Stipa neaei , and shrubs such as Junellia tridens , which occur in clumps on paleodepressions 

and natural drainage networks (León et al., 1998; Roig, 1998). 

Shrub-grass and grass-shrub steppes 

Shrub-grass and grass-shrub steppes span almost the entire latitudinal extent 

of Patagonia and cover approximately 20 percent of the arid area (Units Jf 11 

and Jd 12 in Figure 4.5). According to Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala (1998b), both 

types have similar ANPP levels (650 kg/ha/yr), although NDVI values peak 

somewhat later in the growing season in grass-shrub steppes . Vegetation cover 

of the shrub-grass steppes is 47 percent, with plant communities that contain 

about 26 vascular plant species (Golluscio, León and Perelman, 1982). Adesmia 

campestris , Mullinum spinosum , Senecio filaginoides , Berberis heterophylla , 

Colleguaya integerrima , Trevoa patagonica and Schinus polygamus are the 

most conspicuous shrubs (León et al., 1998). The most important grasses are 

Stipa speciosa , S. humilis , Poa ligularis , P. lanuginosa , Festuca argentina and 

F. pallescens , and occur with sedges of the genus Carex (León et al., 1998). 

Grass -shrub steppes are a transition between the shrub steppes and grass 

steppes on the one hand and the grass-steppes and the Nothophagus subantarctic 

forest ecotone on the other (Figure 4.5) (Roig, 1998). Paruelo, Jobbágy and 

Sala (1998b) combine the latter (Chiliotrichum diffusum grass-shrub steppes) 

and the steppe-forest ecotones in southern Santa Cruz and northern Tierra 

del Fuego into a single biozone (unit Ha 12). Physiognomically, these are 

different domains; they may exhibit similar functional attributes and should 

be significantly more productive than the grass-shrub steppes at the opposite


end of the moisture gradient. Dominant species of the grass-shrub steppes 

are the same as those mentioned above, except for the shrubs Junellia tridens , 

Nardophyllum obtusifolium , Berberis buxifolia and Chiliotrichum diffusum, 

and the grasses Stipa ibarii , Poa dusenii , Festuca pallescens, F. gracillima and 

F. pyrogea (León et al., 1998; Roig, 1998). 

Grass steppes 

Grass steppes (Unit Id 12 in Figure 4.5) also span the latitudinal extent of 

mainland Patagonia as a belt along the Andean foothills, that widens in the 

south, reaching the Atlantic Ocean, and giving way to the Magellanic steppes 

that occupy all of the area surrounding the Straits of Magellan, on the mainland 

and the northern tip of Tierra del Fuego (Figure 4.5) (Paruelo, Jobbágy and 

Sala, 1998; Cibils and Coughenour, 2001). This vegetation unit occurs in areas 

where MAP exceeds 250 mm. Average ANPP is about 900 kg/ha/yr according 

to NDVI -I-derived estimates reported by Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala (1998). 

There are about 34 and 40 plant species in the sub-Andean and Magellanic 

steppes, respectively (Golluscio, León and Perelman, 1982; Boelcke, Moore 

and Roig, 1985). Vegetation cover is about 65 percent on sub-Andean grass 

steppes, where Festuca pallescens accounts for up to 70 percent of plant cover 

and occurs along with F. magellanica , F. pyrogea , Deschampsia elegantula , 

D. flexuosa , Phleum commutatum , Elymus patagonicus and Rytidosperma 

virescens (León et al., 1998). Magellanic steppes exhibit two main variants: 

dry steppes on the eastern portion of the mainland, and mesic grasslands in 

the west and southeast of the mainland and the northern region of Tierra del 

Fuego, where MAP exceeds 350 mm. Vegetation cover ranges from 60 to over 

80 percent; the dominant plant on both variants of the Magellanic steppe is 

Festuca gracillima , a 25-cm-tall tussock-forming bunchgrass that is the most 

conspicuous life form of this ecosystem (Boelcke, Moore and Roig., 1985; 

Collantes, Anchorena and Cingolani, 1999). Other grass and grass-like species 

are associated with the tussocks, such as Poa dusenii , P. poecila , Rytidosperma 

virescens, Bromus setifolius , Deschampsia flexuosa, Agropyron magellanicum , 

Festuca magellanica, Agrostis tenuis , Carex andina , C. argentina , among 

others (Boelcke, Moore and Roig, 1985). Empetrum rubrum -dominated 

communities occur as heathland blended in the grass steppes on south-facing 

slopes of moraine hills on moister Magellanic steppes (Collantes, Anchorena 

and Cingolani, 1999). 

Monte shrubland s and Monte ecotone 

A third of semi -arid Patagonia is taken up by Monte vegetation units (Units 

Jh 11, Ig 4 and Hg 11 in Figure 4.5) (Plate 4.3), exhibiting ANPP levels 

ranging from 650 to 730 kg/ha/yr (Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala, 1998b). Hg 11 

scrubland is the most productive and is an ecotone between the Monte and 

Espinal phytogeographic provinces (Cabrera, 1971; Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala,

136 

Plate 4.3 

A shrub steppe in the Monte. 


1998b). Rainfall rarely exceeds 200 mm and tends to be evenly distributed 

throughout the year (León et al., 1998; Paruelo, Jobbágy and Sala, 1998b). The 

most conspicuous plant of these biomes is Larrea divaricata , which occurs 

with L. cuneifolia and L. nitida and other shrubs such as Prosopis alpataco 

and P. flexuosa and species of Lycium , Chuquiraga , Ephedra and Atriplex . 

Grasses such as Stipa tenuis , S. speciosa , S. neaei , Poa ligularis and P. lanuginosa 

make up the herbaceous stratum (León et al., 1998). For a description of units 

corresponding to subantarctic forests and forest ecotones, see Veblen, Hill and 

Read (1996) and references therein. 


Sheep farming is almost a monoculture in the arid and semi -arid steppes 

(see Plates 4.4 and 4.5). Intensive agricultural activities such as fruit and 

horticultural crops are important in a few irrigated valleys, but are almost 

absent on sheep farms (Borrelli et al., 1997). Cattle production has become 

important on mountain ranges near the Andes, where sheep farming is 

more difficult due to the presence of forests, steep landscapes and losses to 

predators . There has been an important substitution of sheep for cattle in the 

Monte region. Agrotourism activities on sheep farms are developing, mostly 

in the Andes, where there are scenic lakes, mountains and glaciers (Borrelli et 

al., 1997; Méndez Casariego, 2000). 

V.A. DEREGIBUS & M.F. GARBULSKY

PABLO BORELLI 

PABLO BORELLI 


Plate 4.4 

Sheep being driven up to summer range paddocks in the Magellan Steppe . 

Plate 4.5 

Gauchos herding a Corriedale flock on bunchgrass rangelands in southwestern 

Patagonia . 

Sheep farming is extensive ; each farm has, on average, three to four 5 000-ha 

fenced paddocks. No supplementary feeding is used. On-farm hay or silage 

production is insignificant and off-farm feeds are too expensive. Animals graze 

freely in large areas and are never housed, in spite of periodic severe winters. 

There is significant mortality during big snow falls (Sturzenbaum and Borrelli,

138 


2001). Sheep are gathered three or four times each year. Drinking water comes 

from springs and lagoons, rivers, artificial ponds and windmill-pumped 

groundwater. 

Patagonia is free of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE disease) and 

Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) (Robles and Olaechea, 2001). Environmental 

conditions constrain the development of internal parasites and anthelmintics 

are often not necessary (Iglesias, Tapia and Alegre, 1992); no antibiotics or 

hormonal treatments are used. Patagonian farms supply wool and meat that can 

naturally reach the highest standards of quality in terms of food safety and lack 

of contaminants. Despite this, sheep stocks have declined continuously since the 

1980s (Figure 4.4) and, under current conditions, sheep farming is unsustainable , 

whether in economic, ecological or social terms (Noy-Meir, 1995; Borrelli and 

Oliva, 1999; Pickup and Stafford-Smith, 1993). Factors contributing to this are 

low wool prices, small farm size, poor adoption of available technology, desertification, 

high winter losses, predator losses, high farmer indebtedness and lack of 

sustainable development policies (Borrelli et al., 1997; Consorcio DHV, 1999). 

Sheep farming systems 

Conditions and attributes of sheep farming in Patagonia are quite heterogeneous, 

in spite of the general characteristics summarized above. The main sources of 

variation are: 

• rain and temperature gradients, which form twelve biomes that differ in rangeland 

vegetation , primary and secondary productivity and potential for rangeland 

improvement (as discussed in the natural vegetation section, above); and 

• farm size, as the sustainable number of sheep that can be kept on a farm 

depends on the area for grazing and its carrying capacity . Because sheep products 

are the only source of income, flock size determines farm income. 

Three kinds of farms can be recognized (Table 4.2): (1) Large commercial 

farms, with more than 6 000 head and which are usually derived from the first 

TABLE 4.2. 

Farm distribution by size in Argentinian Patagonia . 

Province Criterion Subsistence farms Small to medium units Big companies 

Chubut 

Neuquén 

Río Negro 

Santa Cruz 

Tierra del Fuego 

Total Argentinian 

Patagonia 

SOURCE: Data from Casas, 1999. 

By no. of farms: 52% 43% 5% 

By no. of sheep: 8% 61% 31% 




By no. of sheep 20% 64% 16% 



By no. of farms: – 37% 63% 

By no. of sheep: – 10% 90% 


By no. of sheep: 8% 54% 38%


settlements and on the best pastures. (2) Small and medium commercial farms, 

in the drier areas, with flocks of 1 000 to 6 000; these have serious financial 

problems due to present wool prices. (3) Subsistence farms, with less than 1 000 

sheep , mainly in northwestern Patagonia , which belong mostly to aboriginal 

families and graze on unfenced public lands. 

More than half of sheep farmers in Patagonia are very poor and together 

own less than 10 percent of total sheep (Casas, 1999; Table 4.2). Most of the 

other half is limited by farm size, so at present net farm income does not 

satisfy their economic expectations. A few companies run sheep farms that 

can be considered economically viable. Company farms own approximately 

40 percent of the sheep. There is a marked increasing north-south farm size 

gradient, beginning in the northwest (Neuquén), where subsistence farms 

are commonest, to Tierra del Fuego, where large company-owned farms are 

more frequent than in any other province (Table 4.2). The combination of 

biozone and farm size (which is related to the kind of farm operation) gives a 

wide range of pastoral systems , differing in terms of objectives, productivity 

and sustainability . 

GRAZING MANAGEMENT 

Farmers make grazing management decisions based on subjective criteria and 

previous experience (Golluscio et al., 1999). Paddocks are grazed continuously 

(year-round), except on high altitude ranges grazed in summer (Borrelli 

and Oliva, 1999). Vast areas, with few paddocks, restrict the possibilities 

of controlling grazing, especially when paddocks include grazing sites with 

contrasting forage availability (e.g. meadows and arid steppes) (Golluscio et 

al., 1999). 

Determining stocking rates is the most important decision in developing 

a grazing plan (Heady and Child, 1994). The National Institute for 

Agricultural Technology (INTA), Argentina , with the aid of GTZ (Deutsche 

Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit), developed range evaluation 

methods, based on satellite imagery and field measurements, which provide 

objective information for the formulation of sound grazing plans. Improved 

management is based on adaptive management that consists of a planningexecution-monitoring 

-evaluation cycle (Borrelli and Oliva, 1999). 

Traditional management caused continuous overgrazing in most of the 

region, which in turn led to general degradation (Oliva, Rial and Borrelli, 

1995; Consorcio DHV, 1999). Del Valle (1998) estimated that 65 percent of 

Patagonia was seriously degraded, 17 percent was moderately degraded and 

only 9 percent was lightly affected. In no area was grazing impact negligible. 

The DHV report estimated that 75 percent of Patagonian meadows were 

severely degraded (Consorcio DHV, 1999). A few small-scale farmers have 

adopted the recommended practices, with good results in terms of both animal 

production and rangeland conservation (Borrelli and Oliva, 1999).

140 


SHEEP MANAGEMENT 

Severe winters and the importance of spring forage growth relative to other 

seasons led to a farming pattern of autumn mating and spring lambing. 

Shearing was traditionally done between November and January, but with 

increasing pre-lambing shearing (due to gains in lamb and ewe survival and 

wool quality), dates have shifted to September-October. Tally Hi and Bowen 

shearing promoted by PROLANA (SAGPyA, 2001) are now widespread. 

Sheep are eye-shorn two or three times annually, and lamb tails are generally 

docked during marking. Male lambs are castrated and marked shortly before 

being shipped to the abattoir. Scabies (sarcoptic mange) is the commonest 

sheep disease (Robles and Olaechea, 2001) but its impact is limited to a few 

areas and so the use of veterinary products to treat it is almost unnecessary. 

SHEEP BREEDS AND GENETIC IMPROVEMENT 

There are two dominant sheep breeds: Merino and Corriedale . Each is used 

in production systems with different relative emphases on wool or lamb 

production. 

Fine-wool production systems 

Merino flocks predominate in the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut 

and northern Santa Cruz, comprising almost 75 percent of all sheep in Patagonia ; 

their distribution closely matches the distribution of drier environments, 

where meat production is limited by nutritional constraints and farming is 

oriented to fine wool production (mean fibre diameter: 20.5 microns). On 

these farms , wool sales can represent up to 80 percent of total farm income 

(Méndez Casariego, 2000). Patagonian Merinos were selected from old 

Argentine Merino strains, improved by the introduction of Australian Merino, 

mainly in the past three decades. The Argentine Merino Breeder Association 

(AMBA) has implemented a genetic improvement programme, including 

progeny testing of rams, with INTA’s technical support There are about 50 

Merino studs with pedigree records and several open nucleus flocks, which are 

inspected by AMBA (Mueller, 2001). 

Lamb and fine-crossbred-wool production systems 

Grass steppe rangelands of southern Santa Cruz and northern Tierra del 

Fuego have higher forage production and are therefore more suitable for 

meat production. In this area, Corriedales introduced in the mid-twentieth 

century have been very successful. Local stud breeders provide superior 

rams to commercial farmers. A progeny testing service for top sire evaluation 

is being conducted under INTA-GTZ direction and funding. Many meat 

breeds (Texel , Southdown and Hampshire Down ) are being introduced to 

improve lamb traits such as growth rate , low carcass fat and improved carcass 

conformation (Mueller, 2001).


TABLE 4.3. 

Vegetation shifts under grazing in Patagonia . 

Biozone 

Semideserts 

Shrub-grass 

steppes 

Grass- shrubs 

teppes 

Grass 

steppes 

Shrub 

steppes 

Vegetation transitions under grazing ( 1) 

From To 

Nassauvia glomerulosa (forage 

dwarf shrub) 

+ Poa dusenii (palatable grass) 

Mullinum spinosum (forage shrub) 

+ P. ligularis (palatable grass) 

Festuca pallescens (palatable grass) 

+ M. spinosum (forage shrub) 

N. ulicina 

(unpalatable dwarf shrub) 

Senecio sp. (unpalatable shrub) 

+ Stipa humilis (unpalatable grass) 

Senecio filaginoides (unpalatable shrub) 


+ Stipa spp. (low palatability grasses) 

F. pallescens (palatable grass) F. pallescens (palatable grass) 


+ Senecio sp. (unpalatable shrub) 

F. pallescens (palatable grass) Acaena sp. (low palatability dwarf 

shrub) 

F. gracillima (low palatability grass) Nassauvia sp. (unpalatable dwarf shrub) 

+ Stipa spp. (unpalatable grasses) 

Schinus sp. (palatable shrub) 

+ Prospidastrum sp. (palatable 

shrub) 

+ Stipa tenuis (palatable grass) 

Chuquiraga avellanedae (low 

palatability shrub) 

+ Stipa tenuis (palatable grass) 

Grindelia chiloensis (unpalatable low 

shrub) 

Chuquiraga avellanedae (low 

palatability shrub) 

Reference 

Bertiller, 1993a 

EVOLUTION OF PATAGONIAN GRASSLANDS OVER THE LAST 

40 YEARS 

Patagonian vegetation is generally described as having few adaptations to cope 

with grazing by domestic ungulates, since the entire region is thought to have 

evolved under conditions of light grazing by native ungulates (Milchunas, Sala 

and Lauenroth, 1988). Although this notion has recently been challenged by 

Lauenroth (1998), there is general consensus that vegetation throughout most 

of Patagonia has been modified significantly by sheep over the last century, 

particularly in the last 40–50 years (Golluscio, Deregibus and Paruelo, 1998; 

Paruelo et al., 1993). 

Deterioration of grazed vegetation has usually been demonstrated by 

replacement of palatable grasses by unpalatable woody plants (Bertiller, 

1993a). The severity of plant life-form replacements varies among biozones , 

depending on abiotic constraints within each ecosystem (Sala, Lauenroth 

and Golluscio, 1997; Perelman, León and Bussacca, 1997). The process of 

plant species replacement has been described for most of Patagonia ’s biozones 

following the conceptual model of “states-and-transitions” proposed 

by Westoby, Walker and Noy Meir (1989) for non-equilibrium rangeland 

ecosystems (Table 4.3). According to this model, plant communities shift 

between alternative steady states rather than progressing in a linear manner 

toward a predictable climax . Shifts in vegetation composition (transitions) 

are produced by particular combinations of biotic and abiotic stressors. In 

Bonvissuto et al., 

1993; Fernández and 

Paruelo, 1993 

Paruelo and 

Golluscio, 1993 

Bertiller and Defossé, 

1993 

Bertiller and Defossé, 

1993 

Oliva and Borrelli, 

1993 

Nakamatsu et al., 

1993 

Rostagno, 1993 

NOTES: (1) The order in which species appear is associated with their status in the plant community. 

SOURCE: The table is a synthesis of state-and-transition catalogues developed for different biozones of Patagonia and 

compiled in Paruelo et al., 1993.

142 


Patagonia, transitions in the plant community are frequently close-to-irreversible 

and involve not only a reduction in forage biomass for livestock 

but also a decrease in water-use efficiency that leads to an overall decline in 

ANPP (Aguiar et al., 1996). In some instances, degradation involves permanent 

physical changes in soils, resulting in shifts in the soil texture of superficial 

layers (Oliva, Bartolomei and Humano, 2000). 

Although alternative steady states of vegetation in Patagonia have been 

described with a reasonable level of detail, the factors that trigger transitions 

from one state to another have not been tested under controlled experimental 

conditions (Bertiller, 1993b). Overestimation of carrying capacity , uneven 

distribution of sheep in large pastures and year-long continuous grazing have 

been suggested as possible factors responsible for vegetation degradation over 

the last 50 years (Golluscio, Deregibus and Paruelo, 1998). 

An analysis of peak sheep numbers in the province of Santa Cruz shows 

that pioneering sheep farmers did overestimate the carrying capacity of 

the system. This is especially true of operations on the semi -deserts of 

the central plateau (Unit Kg 11 in Figure 4.5), where stocking rates were 

consistently 60 percent above the estimated carrying capacity (Oliva et al., 

1996) and the current sheep population has fallen well below the expected 

carrying capacity of the system (Cibils, 2001). Most of the variability in 

sheep numbers between 1931 and 1960 on the drier grass steppes north of 

the Straits of Magellan can be explained by the variation in MAP (r2 = 0.97, 

p = 0.02; Cibils and Coughenour, 2001), a variable that has been shown to 

relate linearly to ANPP (Sala et al., 1988; Paruelo and Sala, 1995). After 

1970, this relation disappears, giving way to a second period in which 

sheep numbers decrease despite an apparent phase of overall increase in 

MAP (Cibils and Coughenour, 2001). Interestingly, 1960–1970 was the 

driest decade in the century; there could have been a breaking point in the 

system sometime around or after this decade as a consequence of excessive 

stocking combined with prolonged droughts that caused a significant shift 

in the relation between rainfall (or ANPP) and sheep numbers (Cibils and 

Coughenour, 2001). 

The spatial distribution of sheep grazing in very large pastures is very 

uneven and primarily related to the distribution of watering points (Lange, 

1985). Sheep densities at a given point within a pasture can vary from 8 to 

0.02 times the mean density assigned to the whole pasture (Lange, 1985). 

Although there have been few efforts to measure grazing distribution in 

Patagonian-type pastures, there is circumstantial evidence that confirms the 

occurrence of the grazing patterns described by Lange (1985). Heterogeneous 

grazing distributions generate local areas of degradation that can trigger 

severe erosion, particularly when highly-affected areas are sensitive sites, 

such as riparian meadows (Borrelli and Oliva, 1999; Golluscio, Deregibus 

and Paruelo, 1998).

V.A. DEREGIBUS & M.F. GARBULSKY 


Because sheep are selective grazers, continuous year-long grazing tends to 

intensify the pattern of uneven utilization. Grazing systems have been tested 

at several sites in the grass -steppe biome as a possible means of attenuating 

the undesired effects of sheep selectivity. The results of these trials, in terms 

of both animal production and range condition trend, were mostly comparable 

to the continuous moderately grazed system (Borrelli, 1999; Anchorena 

et al., 2000, but see also Paruelo, Golluscio and Deregibus, 1992). In most 

cases, the application of flexible moderate stocking rates (even in year-long 

grazing schemes) may be the most reasonable way to manage Patagonia ’s 

steppes for long-term sustainability . 

ONGOING RESEARCH, MANAGEMENT , RESTORATION AND 

BIODIVERSITY MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES 

Research activities 

A review of abstracts of both poster and oral presentations of current research 

in the arid and semi -arid ecosystems and published in the proceedings of recent 

meetings of the Argentine Ecological Association (April 2001 meeting) and 

the Argentine Association for Animal Science (October 2000 meeting) was 

undertaken to assess research trends. Approximately 30 percent of research 

in Patagonia is in the Monte region, close to 40 percent on the shrub and 

shrub-grass steppes and about 20 percent on the Patagonian grass steppe. 

The remaining 10 percent is regional-scale, greenhouse or riparian meadow 

(Plate 4.6) research. A common feature of the results reviewed is the relative 

Plate 4.6 

Winter view of a riparian meadow or mallin.

144 


scarcity of manipulation experiments; most results are derived primarily from 

observation-type studies. The most frequent issue is the influence of grazing 

by domestic herbivores on a number of vegetation and soil variables (over 

30 percent of studies reviewed). Next come studies on the influence of water 

or nitrogen on ecosystems (13 and 10 percent of reviewed studies, respectively) 

and, thirdly, research on the impact of fire on ecosystems (10 percent of 

current studies). Research and surveys on wildlife account for 9 percent of 

abstracts, and studies of ecosystem processes such as primary productivity and 

decomposition are 9 and 5 percent of all studies, respectively. Satellite image 

analysis or simulation modelling are only used in about 4 percent of ongoing 

research activities. 

Grazing (mostly by sheep ) is currently being studied in relation to its effect 

on: vegetation structure in the shrub-dominated ecosystems of Patagonia at 

either patch or landscape scale (Ares, Bertiller and Bisigato, 2001b; Cecchi, 

Distel and Kröpfl, 2001; Ciccorossi and Sala, 2001; Ghersa et al., 2001; 

Ripol et al., 2001); overall community plant diversity or population genetic 

diversity of endangered plant species at local spatial scales (Aguiar, Premoli 

and Cipriotti, 2001; Cesa and Paruelo, 2001; Cibils et al., 2000); riparian 

meadow productivity (Collantes, Stoffella and Pomar, 2001; Golluscio et al., 

2000; Utrilla et al., 2000); the demography of native dominant tussock grasses 

(Weber et al., 2000; Oliva, Collantes and Humano, 2001); interspecific relations 

between shrubs (Cipriotti and Aguiar, 2001); shrub crown shapes (Siffredi 

and Bustos, 2001); soil nitrogen mineralization rates in relation to changes 

in vegetation composition (Anchorena et al., 2001); shrub recruitment in 

relation to soil compaction (Stofella and Anchorena, 2001); and microphytic 

crusts in the Monte shrub steppes (Silva et al., 2001). Finally, grazing is also 

currently being researched in relation to herbivore diets and lambing rates at 

regional scales (Hall and Paruelo, 2001; Pelliza et al., 2001). Water is the single 

most important factor regulating processes such as primary and secondary 

productivity in Patagonian ecosystems. Nitrogen dynamics is closely tied 

to moisture availability. Although there has been much research in the past 

decades addressing the use of water by different life forms (Sala, Lauenroth and 

Golluscio, 1997, and references therein), only recently have studies begun to 

address issues related to the joint effects of water and nitrogen. One of the few 

ongoing manipulative field experiments is being conducted in this area, studying 

the effects of drought on productivity and N mineralization, using rain shelters 

in the shrub steppe ecosystem (Sala, Yahdjian and Flombaum, 2001). Current 

studies on the influence of water (alone) include: effects of water deficit on the 

germination of an endangered grass species (Flombaum et al., 2001); simulation 

of competition for water and light in Festuca tussocks growing in a grass-forest 

ecotone (Fernández, Gyengue and Schlichter, 2001); effects of stem flow on soil 

water content beneath shrubs (Kröpfl et al., 2001); and Poa ligularis response to 

defoliation and water stress in a greenhouse experiment (Sáenz and Deregibus,


2001). Currently, nitrogen dynamics are being studied in relation to: the effect 

of litter nitrogen content of different plant life forms on soil N fractions in 

the grass-steppe ecosystems (Sain, Bertiller and Carrera, 2001) and the Monte 

shrub steppes (Carrera et al., 2001); effects of levels of soil nitrogen fractions 

on the segregation of male and female Poa ligularis individuals (Bertiller, Sain 

and Carrera, 2001); soil nitrogen mineralization rates in relation to grazing 

(Anchorena et al., 2001); decomposition rates of litter with different nitrogen 

content (Semmartin et al., 2001); and nitrogen use efficiency (together with 

water use efficiency) of 26 species of plants from Patagonian ecosystems 

(Golluscio, Oesterheld and Soriano, 2001). 

Current studies on the effects of fire on Patagonian ecosystems mostly 

include monitoring of vegetation following natural wildfire outbreaks. Such 

studies include: descriptions of post-burn secondary succession patterns 

(Ghermandi, Guthmann and Bran, 2001; González et al., 2001; Rafaelle and 

Veblen, 2001); study of biotic and abiotic (including weather) conditions that 

promote wildfire outbreaks (Defossé et al., 2001; De Torres Curth, Ghermandi 

and Pfister, 2001); and effects of wildfires on survival of adult tussocks or seeds 

in soil seed-banks (Gittins, Bran and Ghermandi, 2001; González, Ghermandi 

and Becker, 2001). Almost all fire-related studies have been conducted either in 

the shrub-steppe ecosystems or the steppe-forest ecotones . 

Current studies on wildlife in Patagonia include: surveys of animal numbers 

such as guanaco population numbers in relation to sheep density and forage 

availability (Baldi, Albon and Elston, 2001); calculations of Rhea densities 

using improved field methods (Funes et al., 2001); census of migratory bird 

species in southern Patagonia (Manero et al., 2001); predator -prey relations 

studying fox and European hare populations and diets of a number of predators 

of the shrub steppe ecosystems (Donadío et al., 2001; Novaro et al., 2001); 

habitat use by Rheas (Bellis et al., 2001); and deer reproductive ecology in relation 

to droughts (Flueck, 2001). 

ANPP of Patagonian ecosystems is currently being studied in relation to 

range condition (Bonvissuto, González Carteau and Moraga, 2001), grazing 

system (Collantes, Stoffella and Pomar, 2001), competition among plant lifeforms 

(Schlichter, Fernández and Gyenge, 2001), or forage production (Bustos 

and Marcolín, 2001). Satellite image analysis using NDVI at regional scales 

continues to be used as a tool to estimate ANPP (Fabricante et al., 2001). 

Decomposition is being studied at regional scales either along rainfall gradients 

(Austin and Sala, 2001), or in relation to a species’ successional status within 

the plant community and its litter N content (Semmartin et al., 2001). At local 

scales, decomposition of forbs is being studied in relation to increased ultraviolet-B 

radiation, derived from the thinning in the ozone layer at high latitudes in 

the southern hemisphere (Pancotto et al., 2001). 

A number of ongoing research projects include the study of aspects of 

the biology of a few shrub species, namely: shrub secondary compounds

146 


(Cavagnaro et al., 2001; Wassner and Ravetta, 2001); within-genus shrub 

genetic diversity (Bottini et al., 2001); the effects of pruning or cloning treatments 

(Arena, Peri and Vater, 2001; Peri, Arena and Vater, 2001); segregation 

of shrub species in relation to rainfall gradients (Marcolin and Bustos, 2001); 

allocation patterns or morphological attributes in sympatric shrub species 

(Stronatti et al., 2001; Vilela, Agüero and Ravetta, 2001); and factors influencing 

insect herbivory in shrubs (D’Ambrogio and Fernández, 2001; Villacide 

and Farina, 2001). 

A few researchers are studying seed biology or germination dynamics in 

relation to presence of microphytic crusts (Villasuso et al., 2001), litter accumulation 

(Rotundo and Aguiar, 2001), plant life-form (Vargas and Bertiller, 

2001), or grazing (Oliva, Collantes and Humano, 2001). Finally, there are a 

small number of studies addressing miscellaneous issues ranging from secondary 

succession patterns on cultivated rangelands to endophyte fungi in a series 

of grasses from Patagonia (Cibils, Peinetti and Oliva, 2001; Vila Aiub et al., 

2001). 

Management activities 

The need for management tools to regulate grazing and slow down rates 

of vegetation deterioration has led to the development of a number of 

vegetation-based pasture assessment routines over the past decade. Most of 

these (developed primarily by INTA) are being used in almost all provinces of 

Argentinian Patagonia , either by government agencies or private consultants 

(Borrelli and Oliva, 1999; Nakamatsu, Escobar and Elissalde, 2001; Bonvissuto, 

2001; Siffredi et al., 2002). 

The rangeland assessment methods used in the provinces of Río Negro 

and Chubut (generally areas of shrub-steppe vegetation ) basically involve: the 

measurement of vegetation cover (forage species cover, in particular); and estimation 

of ANPP using annual precipitation data (see appendix in Golluscio, 

Deregibus and Paruelo, 1998). The routine used in Santa Cruz (generally 

applied to grass -steppes and semi -deserts ) involves: the measurement of forage 

biomass (short-grasses, sedges and forbs); and grass key species stubble 

heights (Borrelli and Oliva, 1999). The output of all methods is an estimate of 

sheep carrying capacity . Whereas the biomass-based method involves yearly 

monitoring , the vegetation-cover-based methods do not. In all cases, however, 

assessment routines are fairly labour-intensive and therefore, in some instances, 

their use becomes economically unviable. A number of efforts aim at reducing 

labour costs by using up-to-date technological tools to facilitate a more widespread 

adoption of range assessment routines. 

Scientists at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (IFEVA-UBA) are using 

Landsat TM image analysis to derive primary productivity estimates from 

NDVI values to calculate carrying capacity at individual pasture scales (Paruelo 

et al., 2001). Another approach that is currently being investigated by INTA


scientists is the use of either empirical or mechanistic simulation models to predict 

year-to-year fluctuations in forage availability and adjust animal numbers 

accordingly. The empirical approach involves the use of seasonal rainfall data 

to make stocking rate adjustment decisions following within-year patterns of 

drought or moisture surpluses (Rimoldi and Buono, 2001). The mechanistic 

approach includes the parameterization of existing mechanistic spatiallyexplicit 

models that allow landscape -scale simulation of primary productivity 

and grazing at a number of different time scales of interest. This approach 

involves the use of satellite image analysis to calibrate productivity estimates 

(Ellis and Coughenour, 1996). 

In recent years there has been increasing demand for long-term range 

monitoring tools at scales ranging from individual pastures to landscapes and 

ecosystems . Current range assessment routines cannot (in most cases) provide 

useful long-term monitoring information. Furthermore, land uses other than 

grazing , such as oil extraction or other mining, require the development of 

tools tailored to the type of environmental disturbance they produce. Landsat 

TM satellite image analysis has been used over the last decade to make an 

inventory of the state of Patagonian rangelands (degrees of desertification) 

in several key areas of the region (del Valle et al., 1995). As the availability of 

satellite images increases, much of the installed capabilities in research institutes 

throughout the region will be used as a basis for multi-temporal monitoring 

of rangelands at regional scales. At smaller spatial scales, Ares et al. (2001a,b) 

are developing methods of monitoring changes in vegetation structure under 

grazing at landscape scales in the Monte shrub steppes using aerial photographs 

and spatially-explicit simulation modelling . 

RESTORATION ACTIVITIES 

Restoration activities have traditionally been restricted to the stabilization of 

sand accumulations in severely eroded areas, using special cultivation techniques 

and generally involving the seeding of rhizomatous grasses of the genus Elymus 

(Castro, Salomone and Reichart, 1983). Almost all of these activities have been 

conducted successfully, by both INTA and the Board of Agriculture (Consejo 

Argario Provincial) of the Province of Santa Cruz. Although this and other 

variants of grazing -related restoration activities continue (Magaldi et al., 2001; 

Becker, Bustos and Marcolín, 2001; Rostagno, 2001), current efforts in this field 

have mostly shifted toward the reclamation of disturbances associated with the 

mining and oil industries (Baetti et al., 2001; Ciano et al., 2001). 

Currently, restoration activities involve: the developing or adaptation of 

technologies to promote in situ biodegradation of oil (especially in situations 

where oil spills affect valuable riparian meadow habitats) (Luque et al., 2000; 

Nakamatsu et al., 2001b); conducting conservationist tillage in areas of topsoil 

decapitation (Ciano et al., 2000); and selection of native ruderal species for 

revegetation of highly degraded environments (Ciano et al., 1998). Shrubs of

148 


the genera Atriplex , Grindelia and Tamarix are being used in many current 

restoration projects, with establishment rates of almost 70 percent (Ciano et 

al., 2001). 

Most land reclamation activities are currently in a region with some of the 

oldest oil fields of southern Patagonia (northern Santa Cruz and southern 

Chubut), and lie mostly within the shrub-grass steppes and semi -desert biozones 

. Recently, there has been a rapid growth in the demand for further land 

reclamation technology by a number of large mining projects in the southern 

semi-desert biozone (Province of Santa Cruz), a need that is currently being 

met by local Universities. Mine reclamation will possibly be one of the fastest 

growing applications of restoration in certain areas of Patagonia during the 

decades to come. 

BIODIVERSITY MAINTENANCE 

There are 1 378 recorded vascular plant species in arid and semi -arid Patagonia 

(Correa, 1971), almost all of which are angiosperms and close to 30 percent of 

which are endemic species. Of all species recorded in the Flora of Patagonia, 

there are about 340 exotic plants that are restricted to areas surrounding 

houses, pens and roads, but they are, in all cases, unable to become part of the 

native steppe plant communities (Soriano, Nogués Loza and Burkart, 1995). 

Due to its relatively high level of endemism, Patagonia has been recently 

included as a “Centre of Plant Diversity ” (CPD Site A46) in a worldwide 

diversity conservation project under the auspices of the Museum of Natural 

History of the Smithsonian Institution (USA ), IUCN and WWF (Smithsonian 

Institution, 1997). 

Sheep grazing has been shown to reduce vascular plant diversity in several 

Patagonian ecosystems , both by promoting local extinction of preferred forage 

plants and by altering the relative abundance of species in the grazed plant 

communities (Schlichter et al., 1978; Perelman, León and Bussacca, 1997; Oliva 

et al., 1998; Cibils et al., 2000; Cesa and Paruelo, 2001). Soriano, Nogués Loza 

and Burkart (1995) assembled a list of 76 endangered species in Patagonia , 

of which a quarter are grasses, on the basis of the plant species replacement 

patterns under grazing described by several authors in Paruelo et al. (1993). 

Although the severity of extinction risk is not equal for all species listed by 

Soriano, Nogués Loza and Burkart (1995), this list would clearly be a good 

starting point to guide conservation efforts. Current efforts to prevent overgrazing 

may contribute to slowing down the rate of loss of endemic species, 

although these programmes do not address the biodiversity issue explicitly. 

Unfortunately there are few nature reserves in arid and semi -arid Patagonia, 

although many of the National Parks along the Patagonian Andes include 

areas of steppe-forest ecotone (Villamil, 1997). There are currently only two 

reserves well within arid and semi-arid Patagonia, which account for less than 

0.1 percent of the region, namely Laguna Blanca National Park (about 110 km 2


in the province of Neuquen, created in 1940), and Bosques Petrificados Natural 

Monument (100 km 2 in the province of Santa Cruz) (Villamil, 1997). 


Although experimental sowing of native species has been successful in southern 

Patagonia , forage productivity of native plant species under cultivation was 

lower than that of introduced grasses and legumes (Mascó, 1995). Reseeding 

trials on degraded land were conducted in the sixties by an INTA-FAO 

Project (Molina Sanchez, 1968). Reseeding was biologically successful at many 

sites, but productivity under low moisture regimes was considered limiting 

for commercial application (Mascó and Montes, 1995), mostly because sheep 

production was the only activity considered in the economic analyses. 

These results constrained local seed production to limited areas, namely: 

harvesting small stands of Elymus sabulosus and E. arenarius in western Santa 

Cruz and south-central Chubut to obtain seed for sand dune fixation; setting 

up two active gene banks in the region, which not only stored seed collections 

from natural stands, but also multiplied some material in experimental plots 

(Montes et al., 1996); and developing oil spill reclamation technology by scientists 

at INTA’s Research Station in Trelew (Chubut), which included the setting 

up of a nursery to multiply native shrub germplasm such as Atriplex lampa to 

provide plantations at disturbed sites. There is currently no public or private 

funding for seed production of native species nor for rehabilitation of desertified 

areas with native plant species. 

RECOMMENDATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED 

Most of the grazing management and ecology research in Patagonia has been 

conducted by INTA and institutions such as CONICET and the University of 

Buenos Aires. Beginning in the 1980s, pasture condition guides were proposed 

for evaluating different vegetation types . Initially, grazing treatments were recommended 

based on range management literature. The lack of understanding 

of soil-plant-animal relations thwarted further progress. Soil and vegetation 

responses to different grazing treatments were unknown. The nutritional and 

behavioural aspects of the grazing process were ignored. Realizing this, two longterm 

grazing trials were designed and conducted by INTA, one in SW Chubut 

(Siffredi et al., 1995) and one in southern Santa Cruz (Oliva et al., 1998). 

Many rangeland evaluation techniques and recommended grazing strategies 

were thereafter based on the findings of INTA grazing trials. Short-grass biomass 

and key species height were used to assess carrying capacity and grazing 

intensity, respectively, in grass-dominated rangelands of Southern Patagonia 

(Borrelli and Oliva, 1999; Cibils, 1993). Pastoral Value (Daget and Poisonnet, 

1971), a method based on step-point cover data, was proposed for shrubland 

steppes in northern Patagonia (Elizalde, Escobar and Nakamatsu, 1991; Ayesa 

and Becker, 1991)

150 


In 1989, INTA and GTZ launched a joint project to control and prevent 

desertification in Patagonia , which was implemented during the 1990s. This 

project increased societal awareness regarding desertification problems, and 

3 percent of all sheep farmers in the region adopted the techniques recommended. 

Since the early 1990s, interaction between farmers and range scientists 

has increased and has resulted in the application of grazing plans at an individual 

farm scale. This was possibly the birth of range management as a practical discipline 

in Patagonia. After more than two decades of research activities and one 

decade of practical experience, we have both recommendations and many new 

questions. 

Adaptive management – the Santa Cruz example 

The designing of a grazing plan with little research background and a lot 

of variation coming from weather, soils, vegetation and previous grazing 

management is highly problematic. Stuart-Hill (1989), working in South 

Africa , stated that it is almost impossible to define “proper” management in a 

one-step plan. He proposed adaptive management as the only way to deal with 

urgent decisions and limited knowledge rangelands. Our experience confirms 

his hypothesis: proper management is a process rather than a single decision. 

In Santa Cruz, for instance, many farms began to apply adaptive 

management in the 1990s (Borrelli and Oliva, 1999) (Figure 4.6). Range 

evaluation methods were used to support stocking rate adjustments and 

other grazing allocation decisions. Annual monitoring of weather, vegetation 

and animal production variables at the level of individual paddocks provided 

feedback information that allowed the implementation of opportunistic 

grazing plans and corrections for possible errors in the initial stocking 

proposal. Farmer objectives and perceptions were very important in the 

planning process. Opportunistic grazing plans in southern Santa Cruz 

proved to be effective in terms of optimizing sheep production. Variable 

stocking rates were used to take advantage of favourable years and also to 

reduce the impact of periodic droughts , although it is not clear whether 

variable stocking rates were more beneficial to vegetation than moderate 

fixed stocking rates. Unfortunately, the vegetation attributes used as criteria 

for stocking rate adjustments (short-grass biomass and key species height) 

were inadequate for long-term monitoring. 

The information collected on many sheep farms in southern Patagonia was 

used by INTA Santa Cruz to create a regional database. This proved to be a 

useful and simple tool to analyse the internal variation of carrying capacity 

estimations within each natural environment and grazing site. Many inferences 

made from small paddock grazing studies were confirmed at the commercial 

scale. This information on animal and vegetation responses to grazing 

management was important to calibrate stocking rate recommendations 

across range types in Santa Cruz (Kofalt and Borrelli, unpublished data).


Current knowledge 

• Research 

• GIS 

technology 

• Grazing 

management 

Database 

• Modelling 

Evaluation and 

diagnosis 

• Soil and 

vegetation 

• Animal 

production 

• Economic 

traits 

Monitoring 

• Soil and 

vegetation 

• Animal 

production 

• Economic 

traits 

Farmer 

objectives 

Externalities 

Climate, 

Market 

Policies 

Planning 

• Grazing 

management 

• Flock structure 

• Pre- lambing 

shearing 

• Reproductive, 

genetic and sanitary 

management 

• Predator control 

• Fence and water 

facilities 

Application 

• Management 

changes 

Figure 4.6 

Adaptive management for sustainable sheep production. 

(Based on Borrelli and Oliva, 1999) 

Environmental, 

financial and 

social constraints 

The value of simple or flexible stocking strategies 

Grazing management practices in Patagonia can be classified in terms of complexity 

(Table 4.4). The shift from a subjective, low-knowledge-level input, 

continuous stocking scheme (level 0), to an objectively-based, moderate and 

flexible continuous stocking strategy (level 1) promotes the greatest progress 

in grazing management (Borrelli and Oliva, 1999). Further increases in management 

complexity or sophistication can be expected to have less impact, 

at least in the drier and homogeneous environments of Patagonia. Level 1 

recommended procedures have proved highly efficient in eliminating general-

152 

TABLE 4.4 

Complexity levels of grazing management in Patagonia . 


Level Description Limitations Application 

0 Traditional management 

Continuous grazing with subjectively estimated, 

fixed stocking rates 

1 Continuous flexible stocking 

Range evaluation provides objective information 

for animal allocation . Range monitoring allows for 

yearly adjustments, to deal with climatic variation. 

Opportunistic rest of paddocks in rainy years 

Fencing of meadows and separate management 

2 Deferred rotation systems 

Schematic rotation with low animal concentration 

(less than 50% of the farm is rested at any time) 

3 Specialized grazing systems 

Schematic rotation with high animal concentration. 

(High intensity-low frequency, low intensity-low 

frequency and short duration grazing ) 

SOURCE: Golluscio et al., 1999, who adapted from a 1993 unpublished report. 

Overgrazing in 50% of cases. 

Land degradation. Low 

lambing rates, with high 

mortality. 

Moderate continuous grazing 

could promote undesirable 

transitions in some 

environments. 

Deferred rotation did not 

produce the results expected. 

Moderate managerial skills 

are required. 

High requirement for fencing 

and managerial skills. 

Limited information about 

the benefits of the practice. 

97% of the farms 

of Argentinian 

Patagonia 

2 grazing studies and 

more than 200 farms 

with grazing plans 

2 grazing studies 

5 farms 

3 farms 

ized continuous overgrazing (Borrelli and Oliva, 1999), identified as the most 

important cause of range degradation elsewhere (Heady and Child, 1994). 

Simple Level-2 rotational grazing systems (Table 4.4) were tested in southern 

Patagonia , but the advantage of changing from Level 1 was not evident 

(Borrelli, 1999). Only opportunistic rest of some paddocks and fencing of 

meadows proved to be worthwhile “sophistication” in grazing management . 

Intensive grazing of fenced meadows showed impressive results in terms of 

sheep production in NW Patagonia (Giraudo et al., 1996). 

More specialized grazing systems (Level 3-type ) are regarded as promising 

by researchers of the University of Buenos Aires on a large farm in NW 

Chubut, Argentina (Paruelo, Golluscio and Deregibus, 1992). The generalized 

adoption of these systems is limited by: scarce information regarding responses 

in other environments; the limited availability of paddocks for complex 

rotations; and the lack of managerial skills of most farmers. In the last decades 

there has been a debate in the range management literature about grazing 

systems (Kothmann, 1984) and the value of the optimal stocking rate concept 

(e.g. Ash and Stafford-Smith, 1996; Stafford-Smith, 1996). As an example, 

continuous moderate grazing has been shown as beneficial for combating 

undesirable shrub invasions (Westoby, Walker and Noy Meir, 1989). Many 

authors have considered that defoliation frequency was more important than 

defoliation intensity for proper grazing management , and proposed specialized 

grazing systems (Kothmann, 1984). Stafford-Smith (1996) pointed out that 

both temporal and spatial heterogeneity limit the possibility of controlling 

grazing intensity in continuous grazing treatments. However, for Patagonian


conditions, these debates are stimulating but somewhat theoretical. Simple and 

flexible grazing strategies proved to be useful to optimize sheep production 

and to prevent rangeland deterioration for most situations. Severe restrictions 

limit the practical application of more complex grazing strategies. 

Conflict between short- and long-term production 

Many economic activities exhibit conflicts between short-term and long-term 

profitability when environmental impact is considered. Maximum short-term 

profits are attained by methods that may be harmful to natural resources , especially 

if hidden environmental costs are, as usual, not included in economic 

calculations. In this case, less profitable procedures in the short-term might be 

chosen for environmental protection, or environmental costs should be included 

in the economic analysis. 

This seems not to be the case for Patagonian sheep farming systems . While 

overgrazed farms are likely to produce not only more but also finer wool, 

nutritional restrictions will decrease lambing rates and survival of adult sheep, 

promoting decreases in overall meat sales. If overgrazing occurs in the most arid 

biomes , reproduction and survival is depressed beyond the equilibrium point 

of the flock and sheep population numbers decline (Golluscio et al., 1999). 

A properly managed sheep farm sells 24 to 44 percent of the herd annually 

(depending on the natural environment), whereas sales from overgrazed farms 

range from zero to 15 percent (Borrelli et al., 1997). Consequently, sound management 

pays off in the short term, even using conventional economic analysis. 

This becomes more evident for mixed lamb and fine-crossbred-wool production 

systems , but is also valid for fine-wool production systems. 

The role of Decision Support Systems 

The availability of computers broadens the possibilities for environmental 

assessment and management by range technicians. The joint INTA-GTZ 

project, mentioned above, introduced satellite imagery processing facilities and 

skills in Patagonia . The use of Landsat TM images was adopted as a cost- and 

time-efficient service to help make accurate inventories for rangeland surveys. 

In some areas, carrying capacity could be estimated directly from Landsat 

TM Images (Oliva et al., 1996). In others, image processing provided accurate 

range site maps and useful information to guide field sampling. Geographical 

Information System (GIS ) technology was used in 1994 to combine satellite 

information with other data sources, such as soil maps, climatic data, property 

boundaries and other significant variables. For vast and isolated regions such 

as Patagonia, where farms cover big areas that are often hard to access with 

vehicles and where there are few trained people to conduct range evaluations, 

this technology multiplies human power and reduces operation costs. 

Decision Support Systems (DSS ) are clearly a new dimension for range 

management . Adaptive management information at the individual farm level

154 


could be loaded into a GIS database. Modelling would provide integration of 

different sources of information, to assist range managers and scientists to predict 

probable outcomes of specific problems at farm and regional scales, such 

as: flock allocation , mixed grazing , native flora and fauna conservation , spatial 

heterogeneity of grazing, long-term vegetation changes, economic evaluation 

of grazing strategies, and many other parameters (Bosch et al., 1996). Feedback 

information from associated farmers would be used to improve the power 

of predictive models . The development of DSS should increase the accuracy 

and soundness of grazing management strategies and also allow for further 

reduction in the labour and time costs associated with range evaluation and 

management. 

Priorities for development programmes and research 

Development programme priorities for Argentinian Patagonia over the next 

five years, as set out by INTA (Carlos Paz, pers. comm.) involve developing 

or adapting technology for: sustainable sheep farming systems (including the 

development of eco-certification protocols); management and reclamation of 

degraded grazing land , in particular areas that have been severely disturbed by 

mining or oil extraction; regional GIS to develop DSS; genetic improvement of 

ultra-fine Merino sheep and Angora goats (including the use of biotechnology); 

and improvement of wildlife use (guanacos and rheas ). 

Sustainable sheep farming priorities include both the development of ultrafine 

Merino wool production systems , especially in the provinces of Chubut, 

Río Negro and Neuquén, and the improvement of meat production systems on 

sheep farms of the grass -steppe biozone , either along the Andes foothills or on 

the Magellanic steppes in southern Santa Cruz and northern Tierra del Fuego. 

The latter include the development of quality protocols. Rangeland management 

and reclamation priorities include the development of routines for longterm 

monitoring of pasture vegetation , the improvement of technology to 

reclaim old mining and oil field areas, areas severely overgrazed by sheep (with 

particular emphasis on riparian meadow ecosystems ), and the development of 

GIS to run DSS at both regional and single-farm scales (INTA-CRPS, 2001b; 

INTA-CRPN, 2001). Besides these main lines of development, agrotourism 

programmes will also continue to be developed, especially in areas with outstanding 

scenic values and adequate infrastructure support. 

Research priorities are obviously related (but not limited) to development 

priorities for the region mentioned above. The main priorities as stated by 

the Secretaría para la Tecnología, la Ciencia y la Innovación Productiva 

(National Science and Technology Department) (one of the few local science 

and technology funding agencies) for the next five years are (SETCIP, 2000): 

impact of climate change at regional scales; study of ozone-layer dynamics 

and the consequences of increased ultraviolet radiation levels; catchment 

conservation and management for improved soil and water quality; evaluation


and preservation of biodiversity ; improvement of ecological risk assessment, 

including the development of monitoring systems ; studies regarding appropriate 

use by tourism of natural reserve areas; improvement of sustainable sheep and 

goat production, including the development of quality protocols; production 

of organic foods; and study of rural and urban labour conditions. 

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The South American Campos ecosystem 171 

Chapter 5 

The South American Campos ecosystem 

Olegario Royo Pallarés (Argentina ), Elbio J. Berretta (Uruguay ) 

and Gerzy E. Maraschin (Brazil ) 

SUMMARY 

The Campos , grassland with few trees or shrubs except near streams, lies between 

24°S and 35°S; it includes parts of Brazil , Paraguay and Argentina , and all of 

Uruguay . Grassland -based livestock production is very important, based on the 

natural grassland that covers most of the area. Stock rearing is on large, delimited 

holdings and is commercial. Both tussock-grass and short-grass grasslands occur. 

There is a dominance of summer -growing C4 grasses, with C3 grasses associated 

with the winter cycle. Cattle and horses were introduced in the seventeenth century 

and sheep in the nineteenth. Production is based on spring –summer growing 

grassland, with little use of sown pastures. Beef cattle predominate; sheep 

are mainly for wool, but some lamb is produced. Limited winter production 

and poor herbage quality are major limiting factors in livestock production. Soil 

phosphorus is generally low and this deficiency affects stock. Campos pastures 

are highly responsive to fertilizers, which can modify the specific composition of 

natural grassland; application of phosphate increases legume cover and the phosphorus 

content of forage. Fattening off grass can take up to four years; intensive 

fattening of younger stock uses some sown pasture . Sheep may be grazed with 

breeding herds of cattle. Exotic temperate legumes can be grown and may be 

over-sown into native swards after land preparation; once established, legumes 

encourage the development of winter grasses. This paper shows that it is possible 

to improve forage consumption from natural grasslands, implying an annual 

increase of 784 000 tonne of liveweight, without cost, in Rio Grande do Sul alone, 

through a strategy of high forage offer to the grazing animal, which also optimizes 

forage accumulation rates in the pasture. 

INTRODUCTION 

The South American Campos is an ecological region lying between 24°S 

and 35°S, which includes parts of southern Brazil , southern Paraguay and 

northeastern Argentina , and the whole of Uruguay (see Figure 5.1), covering 

an area of approximately 500 000 km 2 . The term Campos refers to grasslands 

or pastures with a vegetation cover comprising mainly grasses and herbs; 

scattered small shrubs and trees are occasionally found, generally by the banks 

of streams.

172 

Figure 5.1 

The Campos region of South America. 


The grasslands of the Campos have enormous potential for cattle , sheep 

and horse production for meat , and for various wildlife products. This potential 

derives from the good environmental conditions, particularly the climate, 

which allows the growth of a great floristic diversity of edible plants that produce 

a huge bulk of forage throughout the year. 

The climate is subtropical to temperate , with very marked seasonal fluctuations; 

it is subhumid, because potential evapotranspiration in summer is greater 

than precipitation , which leads to moisture deficiencies in the soil. Although 

rainfall is distributed throughout the year, it is characterized by great variations 

between years; this irregularity is the main source of problems in forage production. 

The highest precipitation is usually in summer and autumn . 

Livestock production is one of the most important agricultural activities 

of the region, based on the natural grasslands that cover 95 percent of the 

area. Hence the great importance of this economic resource: its utilization in 

terms of maximum productivity while avoiding deterioration is an issue that


concerns farmers, researchers and others with an interest in natural resource 

conservation . 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION 

Climate 

The Campos has a subtropical climate, very warm in summer but with frosts 

in winter . It is humid, often with moisture surplus in autumn and spring , but 

moderate deficits in summer (Escobar et al., 1996) Average annual temperature 

in Corrientes Province varies from 19.5°C in the south of the province to 

22.0°C in the north. The average of the coldest month varies from 13.5°C to 

16.0°C. Meteorological frosts are registered in the whole region, with low 

frequency, from one to six frosts per year, mainly in June and July, with records 

of first and last frosts from May to September. 

Average annual precipitation ranges between 1 200 and 1 600 mm, increasing 

from east to west. There is an unexplained increasing trend in mean 

annual precipitation; in the last 30 years autumn rainfall increased by more than 

100 mm, while spring rainfall tended to decrease. Monthly rainfall distribution 

is variable: April, March and February have averages above 170 mm/month. A 

second rainfall peak occurs in October–November, with 130–140 mm/month, 

and lower values are recorded in winter . The moisture balance shows periods 

of excess (precipitation higher than evapotranspiration) in autumn and spring 

(March–April and September–October) and deficits in summer (December– 

January). Annual average relative humidity for all locations ranges between 70 

and 75 percent, the lower values in summer and the higher in winter. 

Livestock production 

Cattle stock is about 4.2 million head in Corrientes Province (Argentina ) and 

10.1 million in Uruguay , with little variation in recent years. Sheep stocks 

have been declining consistently, and in 1996 there were 1.2 million head in 

Corrientes and 13 million in Uruguay. Low wool prices, reduction in domestic 

consumption of mutton and farmers discouraged by sheep rustling are the 

main causes. 

Wildlife 

The Campos Ecosystem, with abundant open tussock ranges and gallery forests 

along watercourses, provides a suitable environment for the development of a 

varied and abundant fauna. The great diversity of water bodies, flooded areas, 

small and big lagoons allowed the development of important populations 

of carpinchos or capybaras (Hydrochoerus hidrochaeris) in almost all the 

territory. Hunting of this animal for its valuable pelt is controlled by provincial 

authorities, and populations remain relatively stable. Deer are found in aquatic 

environments. Marsh deer (Odocoileus blastocerus) was an endangered species 

and now is controlled in protected areas in Brazil . In Uruguay , Ozotocerus

174 


bezoarticus is the typical deer. Other abundant species are yacares (Caiman 

spp.) and river wolves (giant otters, Pteronura brasiliensis). On the grassland 

part of the Campos there are armadillos (Dasypus spp.), viscachas (Lagostomus 

maximus), hares, foxes, partridges, rheas and ducks, which are rarely harmed 

by humans. 

Floristic composition 

Within the Campos there are various econiches, defined more by inherent 

botanical composition than by effect of use. The dominant vegetation in 

Corrientes is herbaceous, with few or no trees and shrubs, except for the 

Ñandubay forest . Hence the name Campos or Campos limpios . Perennial 

summer grasses dominate, with sedges next in importance, and are found in 

every grassland of the region. There are numerous legumes, but at very low 

frequencies. More than 300 species from 39 botanical families have been listed 

in the herbaceous strata (J.G. Fernández, pers. comm.), which reflects the great 

floristic diversity and botanical richness of these grasslands. Perennial grasses 

contribute 70–80 percent of the total dry matter (DM) yield; Cyperaceae 

follow, with 7 percent on higher ground and up to 20 percent in the marshy, 

low-lying wetlands (malezales ). Legume contribution is always low, ranging 

from 3 to 8 percent of total DM yield on higher ground, and is practically nil 

in the lowlands of the malezales. 

In the Rocky Outcrops (afloramiantos rocosos) zone, natural grasslands 

have been regularly studied since the mid-1980s. In a grazing trial on 70 ha, 

178 species were noted. The three most important grasses were Andropogon 

lateralis , Paspalum notatum and Sporobolus indicus . Other important grasses 

were Paspalum almum , P. plicatulum , Coelorachis selloana and Schizachyrium 

paniculatum . Other species seldom contributed more than 10 percent of total 

biomass. Desmodium incanum was the only legume that regularly contributed to 

summer forage. The most abundant Cyperaceae was Rhynchospora praecincta . 

A greater range of species contributes to the total biomass of short-grass 

grasslands, although three grasses – Paspalum notatum , Sporobolus indicus and 

Axonopus argentinus – are the most frequent. An important feature of this grassland 

is that winter grasses can contribute from 3 to 20 percent of winter forage, 

depending on grazing management . The commonest winter species are Stipa 

setigera , Piptochaetium stipoides , P. montevidense and Trifolium polymorphum . 

Climax vegetation 

Cattle and horses were the first domestic herbivores, introduced by Spanish 

settlers at the beginning of the seventeenth century; sheep arrived in the midnineteenth 

century. The introduction of domestic livestock to the natural 

grassland ecosystem has changed the vegetation type , as grazing is the main 

factor that keeps the grasslands in a herbaceous pseudoclimax phase (Vieira 

da Silva, 1979). Exotic plants, mainly from Europe, were introduced along


with livestock, increasing the disturbance. There is little information about 

the characteristics of the grasslands previous to the introduction of domestic 

herbivores. According to Gallinal et al. (1938) “We do not know descriptions 

or precise indicators of existing vegetation prior to livestock introduction nor 

from the native immigration over areas that now are Campos ”. Some imprecise 

references to vegetation were made at the beginning of nineteenth century 

by travellers such as the foreigners Azara, Darwin and Saint Hilaire, and by 

criollos such as Father Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga. From their descriptions it 

can be deduced that there were no forest zones , except for the banks of rivers, 

and that the landscape was characteristically a prairie with some small trees, 

shrubs and sub-shrubs. 

In an exclosure made in 1984 at the INIA Experimental Unit of Glencoe, 

Uruguay , (32°01�32�S and 57°00�39�W), where grazing was excluded on 

land that had been grazed for centuries, tall bunchgrass-like plants began to 

increase and short-grasses showed reduced cover. There was also an increase of 

sub-shrubs and shrubs such as Eupatorium buniifolium , Baccharis articulata , 

B. spicata and B. trimera , while B. coridifolia decreased, as it is a species that 

thrives when grasses are weakened by grazing. B. dracunculifolia , a shrub of 

three metres, which has branches that are easily broken by domestic herbivores, 

was found after six years of exclosure. The population of B. articulata 

remained stable for five years; thereafter all the plants died almost simultaneously, 

but after a similar period, the population re-established and died again, 

and now there are new plants developing. Original plants of Eupatorium 

buniifolium remain, and there are other, younger plants. The size of the grass 

bunches increased and the number of individual plant decreased, as shown by 

Stipa neesiana , Paspalum dilatatum , Coelorachis selloana and Schizachyrium 

microstachyum . There is a great development of grasses that were of very low 

frequency and rarely flowered under grazing, such as Paspalum indecorum , 

Schizachyrium imberbe and Digitaria saltensis . Native legumes, although of 

low frequency, also increased in vigour. The continued exclusion of grazing 

leads to increased litter accumulation, which changes the moisture retention 

capacity of the soil markedly. This effect, coupled with taller grasses, modifies 

the microclimate. The interruption of a factor that has driven vegetation to a 

new equilibrium point returns it to an earlier stage, but not exactly to the same 

starting point (Laycock, 1991). The situation after two decades of exclosure 

might be similar to that prior to domestic livestock introduction. 

GRASSLAND TYPES AND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN ARGENTINA 

The structure of the main grassland types of the Mesopotamia Region of 

Argentina was described by Van der Sluijs (1971). A paper on Grassland types 

in the Centre-South of Corrientes was published by INTA Mercedes (INTA- 

EEA, 1977). Two different canopy structures are found, determined by the 

growth form and habit of the dominant species.

176 


On the one hand there are the tussock prairies , called generically pajonales 

(straw ), with Andropogon lateralis being the commonest species, and there 

are grasslands dominated by Sorghastrum agrostoides , others by Paspalum 

quadrifarium and others by P. intermedium . These are typical of the ecological 

regions of Albardón del Paraná Sandy Hills (lomadas arenosas); with lateritic 

hills and malezales on higher sites. 

On the other hand there are short-grass grasslands, where dominant species 

rarely exceed 30–40 cm in height. Here the commonest grasses are Paspalum 

notatum , Axonopus argentinus and Sporobolus indicus . Long-term overgrazing 

causes grassland deterioration , which leads to a lower canopy, reduced floristic 

diversity and reduced vegetative growth. In this situation, flechilla becomes the 

dominant grass (Aristida venustula ), so these grasslands are named flechillares . 

Deteriorated short-grass grasslands dominate the centre-south of the province, 

in the Rocky Outcrops regions and Ñandubay forest . Intermediate situations 

are found between the two grassland types , where pajonales and short-grass are 

mixed . These are mosaic grasslands, characteristic of the floramientos region. 

Growth and forage production 

Annual production from various grassland types and daily growth rates per 

hectare were evaluated for a 19-year period on Mercedes Experimental Station. 

A regrowth cutting methodology was employed, with mobile temporary 

enclosures (Brown, 1954; Frame, 1981). The main results were: 

• Pajonales Mean annual production was 5 077 kg DM/ha. Average monthly 

growth (Figure 5.2) showed regrowth in every month, including winter , 

when growth was 5 kg DM/ha/day. The average monthly growth rate was 

at a maximum in February, March and December. Growth rate distribution 

Figure 5.2 

Average daily growth 

rates of a Pajonal 

grassland (19-year 

average). 

25 

20 

15 

10 

5 

0 

kg DM/ha/day 

J F M A M J J A S O N D 

Months


kg DM/ha/year 

9 000 

8 000 

7 000 

6 000 

5 000 

4 000 

3 000 

2 000 

1 000 

0 

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 

Years 

Figure 5.3 

Yearly growth rate of a short-grass grassland over a 19-year period. 

through the year correlated positively with monthly variations in temperature, 

showing an autumn peak higher than the spring one. Variability between 

years is high, particularly in summer , which is related to rainfall variation and 

high temperatures. Grassland production of the main grassland types of the 

northwest of the province was studied by Gándara and co-workers (1989, 

1990a, b). These authors evaluated three pajonal-dominated sites: malezales , 

Corrientes and Chavarria, and mean aboveground production for four 

clipping frequencies was 5 260, 4 850 and 4 120 kg DM/ha/year for the three 

sites, respectively. 

• Short-grass Average production of a short-grass grassland was 5 803 kg DM/ 

ha/year, with great variation between years and an increasing trend over time 

(Figure 5.3). Maximum growth rate was attained at the end of the summer 

or early autumn (February–March), when growth rates were estimated at 

25 kg DM/ha/day. July was the month with least growth; it was estimated at 

5.5 kg DM/ha/day. Yearly forage production showed an increasing trend over 

time, but this could be related to an increasing trend in annual precipitation 

over the same period. Such an increase could lead to a progressive increase in 

carrying capacity . Nevertheless, the most remarkable conclusion from the data 

is the great inter-annual variability. 

• Flechillares Average production of the flechillares was 2 774 kg DM/ha/year. 

The highest growth rate was in February and March, followed by December; 

the lowest in June–July. This grassland has a seasonal distribution similar to 

the original short-grasses but has a proportionally better growth distribution 

between winter and spring . The carrying capacity of such grassland is low, and 

it becomes critical in years when rainfall is below average.

178 


Production systems 

Livestock production is based on the use of spring –summer growing 

grassland , with little use of sown pastures or other supplementary sources 

of feed. The main production system is a mix of breeding and fattening, with 

increasing preference for breeding. Specialized fattening systems are irrelevant. 

Predominant breeds are Zebu-based, followed by European breeds, Indian 

breeds and criollas. The main systems are characterized by low production 

efficiency. The average extraction rate for sale is only 18.9 percent, while the 

national average in Argentina reaches 23 percent. 

Sheep rearing is mainly for wool, and to a lesser extent for lamb. A cattle 

-sheep production system is applied by 3 400 farmers in the centre-south of 

the province. Predominant breeds are Corriedale , Romney Marsh and Ideal. 

Lambing rates in Corrientes average 60 to 65 percent, with a mean greasy fleece 

weight of 3.18 kg/head. Provincial sheep stocks have declined in recent decades, 

following the same trend as the national stock. The sheep stock in 1993 

was 1.39 million head, with a greasy wool production of 4 427 000 kg. 

Productivity levels are low when compared with potential productivity in 

this environment. The reasons for this have been analysed by Royo Pallarés 

(1985), who indicated a series of environmental , social, economic and technical 

factors as the causes of low productivity in an economic inflation scenario. 

Gándara and Arias (1999) noted recently that resource mismanagement, limited 

adoption of improved technology, lack of service structures, poor cattle 

markets and small farm size were factors determining low productivity. 

Productivity of the best farms 

Many authors have reported productivity increases when some basic 

management technologies have been applied (Arias, 1997; Benitez Meabe, 

1997; Royo Pallarés, 1985, 1999). In the north of Corrientes, average 

productivity at subregional level is 30 kg/ha/year, while at the Experimental 

Unit, where basic management practices were applied, 67.7 kg/ha/year were 

obtained (Table 5.1). 

GRASSLAND TYPES AND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN URUGUAY 

Grassland is defined as a vegetation cover formed by grasses, with associated 

herbs and dwarf shrubs, where trees are rare (Berretta and Nascimento, 

1991). The most numerous botanical family is the Gramineae, both summer 

(C4 ) and temperate (C3 ) types ; this association is an unusual characteristic 

of these grasslands. The most important Tribes are: Paniceae, including the 

genera with most species, Paspalum , Panicum , Axonopus , Setaria , Digitaria , 

etc.; Andropogoneae, with Andropogon , Bothriochloa , Schizachyrium , etc.; 

Eragrostea, with the genera Eragrostis , Distichlis , etc.; and Chlorideae, with 

Chloris , Eleusine , Bouteloua , etc. Winter-grass tribes, where most of the 

cultivated forages belong, are: Poeae, with the genera Bromus , Poa , Melica , Briza ,


TABLE 5.1 

Average productivity in northwest Corrientes in comparison with an experimental unit. 

Production indexes NW Corrientes Experimental Breeding Unit 

Marketing rate (%) 45 69.2 

Weaning weight (kg) 150 197 

Weaning weight per cow (kg) 67 136 

Cows/total stock 0.43 0.65 

Liveweight production (kg/ha/year) 30 67.7 

Carrying capacity (Animal Units/ha) –– 0.56 – 0.73 (1) 

NOTES: (1) September–March. 

SOURCE: After Arias, 1997. 

TABLE 5.2 

Daily Growth Rates (DGR) and their standard deviation (kg DM/ha/day), and Seasonal Distribution 

(SD) (%) of yearly forage production from grasslands on the main soil types . 

Soil type 

Summer Autumn 

Season 

Winter Spring 

SBR 

DGR 

SD 

10.1 ± 4.9 

31.4 

6.8 ± 2.9 

21.2 

4.9 ± 2.5 

15.7 

9.9 ± 3.9 

31.7 

Basalt 

SB 

DGR 

SD 

13.6 ± 5.9 

32.1 

8.8 ± 3.9 

21.0 

6.1 ± 2.4 

14.9 

13.0 ± 4.3 

32.0 

D 

DGR 

SD 

17.2 ± 7.8 

33.3 

10.9 ± 4.2 

21.5 

7.3 ±3.1 

15.1 

14.8 ±4.4 

30.1 

Eastern Sierras 

DGR 

SD 

15.3 

38.0 

9.2 

23.4 

3.8 

9.7 

11.5 

28.9 

Crystalline Soils (granitic) D 

DGR 

SD 

13.1 ± 7.3 

28.6 

8.6 ± 3.3 

19.3 

6.5 ± 3.2 

14.5 

17.0 ± 6.8 

37.6 

Sandy Soils 

Upper hill DGR 

Low hill 

SD 

DGR 

SD 

27.7 ± 5.6 

48.5 

27.3 ± 8.4 

44.5 

7.3 ± 4.2 

13.1 

7.5 ± 4.4 

13.6 

4.1 ± 2.3 

7.3 

3.7 ± 1.5 

6.1 

17.6 ± 3.3 

31.1 

22.2 ± 4.1 

36.8 

North East Soils 

DGR 

SD 

5.1 

18.3 

6.9 

25.0 

4.7 

17.1 

11.0 

39.6 

NOTES: SBR = Shallow Brown-Reddish. SB = Shallow Black. D = Deep. 

Lolium , Dactylis , Festuca , etc.; Stipeae, with Stipa and Piptochaetium – the bulk 

of the native species; and Agrostideae, with the genera Calamagrostis , Agrostis , 

etc., with only a few species (Rosengurtt, Arrillaga de Maffei and Izaguirre de 

Artucio, 1970). In general terms, the presence of winter species is associated 

with soil type , topography, altitude, fertility and grazing management . Plants 

from other families grow with the grasses, such as Compositae, Leguminoseae, 

Cyperaceae, Umbelliferae, Rubiaceae, Plantaginaceae and Oxalidaceae. Native 

herbaceous legumes are represented by many genera – Trifolium , Adesmia , 

Desmodium , Desmanthus , Galactia, Zornia , Mimosa, Tephrosia, Stylosanthes – 

but their net frequency is low, always below 3 percent in all types of grassland , 

except in very special habitats (Berretta, 2001). The natural grasslands are used 

for extensive livestock production, with little improvement , and correspond 

with the main soil types (see Table 5.2). Vegetation characteristics of each 

grassland type are defined firstly by the soil type, its physical and chemical 

properties, and to a lesser extent by topography and aspect.

180 


Some species are present in all grassland types , although with variable frequencies; 

others are present in some grasslands; others are characteristic and 

indicators of certain habitats. Within each grassland type there are vegetation 

gradients associated with topography (upper slope, middle and valley) that 

with soil depth differences and moisture conditions produce a range of associations. 

In swampy, flooded places there are Cyperus spp., Heleocharis spp., 

Canna glauca, Leersia hexandra , Luziola peruviana, Paspalum hydrophylum , 

Pontederia cordata, Sagittaria montevidensis and Thalia spp. 

Perennials from the various families predominate in all grasslands. Annuals 

are infrequent, but may become more prominent at some seasons of the year 

or due to management practices, such as grazing methods, fertilization , or the 

introduction of exotics or legumes. 

In grassland communities , a relationship can be established between the 

percentage contribution of each species to total biomass and its degree of 

contribution to soil cover. Theoretical studies (Poissonet and Poissonet, 1969; 

Daget and Poissonet, 1971) indicate that this relationship is commonly close to 

20:80 – a Gini-Lorenz relationship. Vegetation surveys carried out in different 

grasslands and through several seasons showed relationships varying between 

30:70 and 20:80 (Coronel and Martínez, 1983; Olmos and Godron, 1990). 

Despite the number of species found, which is generally high, only about ten 

species make a major contribution to forage production. Identification of these 

species is of particular interest when monitoring community evolution and 

planning cattle management . 

Identification of growth habit types (Rosengurtt, 1979) can help in making 

grazing management decisions. Most summer and winter grasses are of a caespitose 

vegetative type . Stoloniferous grasses are all summer cycle, except for 

one. Rhizomatous species belong to various families (Gramineae, Cyperaceae, 

Compositae, Leguminosae, Umbelliferae, etc.) and there are both winter- and 

summer-cycle rosette plants, primarily Compositae and Umbelliferae. Growth 

habit types are used as a substitute where there is a lack of precise data on the 

nutritive value of forages and enabling the ranking of hundreds of species in 

a useful way for consideration in present and future vegetation management 

(Rosengurtt, 1946, 1979; Rosengurtt, Arrillaga de Maffei and Izaguirre de 

Artucio, 1970). 

Table 5.2 shows detailed Daily Growth Rates and their standard deviation, 

and seasonal distribution of grass production in different types of grasslands. 

On some soils, forage growth reflects soil depth or topographic position, leading 

to different botanical composition s. 

On basalt soils, three vegetation types can be distinguished, directly related 

to soil depth. On shallow brown-reddish soils, vegetation cover is about 

70 percent, while rocks and stones cover 10 percent and the rest is bare soil and 

litter. These values have some seasonal variations and show marked changes 

during droughts . Daily Growth Rates, expressed as kg DM/ha/day, is variable


according to season and between years. Most annual forage grows in summer 

, but this season is the most variable due to high risk of drought on this 

soil. The commonest species are Schizachyrium spicatum , Chloris grandiflora , 

Eragrostis neesii , Eustachys bahiensis , Microchloa indica , Bouteloua megapotamica 

, Aristida venustula , Dichondra microcalyx , Oxalis spp. (macachines ) 

and Selaginella sp. On the same soil type , but where the upper horizon 

reaches 15–20 cm in depth, other species are found, such as the summer grasses 

Paspalum notatum and Bothriochloa laguroides , and winter cycle grasses Stipa 

setigera (= S. neesiana ) and Piptochaetium stipoides . The presence of more productive 

species changes the seasonal distribution of growth, so highest productivity 

is in spring and autumn , although total annual production is similar. 

Vegetation cover is 80 percent on shallow black soils – the rest is litter 

and bare soil – and varies between seasons and years. The most frequent 

species are Schizachyrium spicatum , Chloris grandiflora , Eustachys bahiensis 

, Bouteloua megapotamica , Aristida murina , A. uruguayensis , Dichondra 

microcalyx , Oxalis spp. , Nostoc sp. and Selaginella sp. Less frequent are Stipa 

setigera , Piptochaetium stipoides , Bothriochloa laguroides , Paspalum notatum , 

P. plicatulum , Coelorhachis selloana and Adesmia bicolor . When the upper 

horizon is deeper, the usually less frequent species become more frequent. 

Total annual forage production on deeper soils is slightly greater, but seasonal 

distribution is different, with 70 percent of total forage being produced 

in spring and autumn . 

Deep fertile soils have a vegetation cover close to 90 percent, and the rest 

is litter. The main species on these soils are Paspalum notatum , P. plicatulum , 

P. dilatatum , Coelorachis selloana , Andropogon ternatus , Bothriochloa 

laguroides , Axonopus affinis , Aristida uruguayensis , Schizachyrium spicatum , 

S. setigera , Cyperaceae, Piptochaetium stipoides , Poa lanigera , Trifolium polymorphum 

and Adesmia bicolor (Berretta, 1998). 

On all three soil types , the deeper the upper horizon, the greater the spring 

growth, by up to 40 percent. This may be related to higher frequency of winter 

species which flower in spring and again in autumn when they regrow, and 

when growth can be as high as 28 percent of the total. 

On sandy soils, botanical composition changes are mainly associated 

with topographic position. Table 5.2 shows daily growth rate and seasonal 

distribution of forage production from upper and lower parts of a hillside, in the 

same topographic sequence. Annual forage yields from upper and lower areas 

averaged 5 144 kg DM/ha and 5 503 kg DM/ha, respectively, over eight years 

(Bemhaja, 2001). In such grassland , growth peaks in spring and summer , with 

80 percent of total production. This is related in part to edaphic factors (depth, 

texture, moisture retention capacity ), but more to the dominance of summer 

species, such as Paspalum notatum , Axonopus compressus , A. argentinus , 

Sporobolus indicus , Coelorachis selloana , Panicum milioides , P. sabulorum , 

P. nicorae (which is a characteristic species of such soils) and Eragrostis

182 

Plate 5.1 

Landscape in the Sierras zone. 


purpurascens . The commonest winter grass is Piptochaetium montevidense . 

Dwarf herbs, such as Soliva pterosperma , Eryngium nudicaule , Chevreulia 

sarmentosa , and Dichondra microcalyx , are relatively frequent. Native legumes 

are infrequent, with Desmodium incanum the most representative. Baccharis 

coridifolia and Vernonia nudiflora are the main weeds in invaded fields (campo 

sucio). 

Managed burning is common on these soils, as a tool to reduce dead material 

and to promote green spring regrowth and hence improve forage quality. 

Summer grasses are rough, clearly overshadow the sward and are little or not 

liked by livestock, except in very special circumstances; dead leaves and stems 

accumulate in winter , becoming even less palatable. The main such grasses are 

Erianthus angustifolius , Paspalum quadrifarium , Andropogon lateralis and 

Schizachyrium microstachyum , associated with some dwarf shrub and shrub 

weeds that thrive in this conditions and give place to campos sucios and pajonales 

(straw fields ). 

Natural grasslands on Brunosols are species rich. It is possible to find 50 

to 60 species in a 12 m 2 plot. Some 30 percent of the species present represent 

70 percent of total vegetation cover. Grasses are the most abundant, and 70 percent 

of them are summer growing. Depending on local management practices, 

natural grasslands may be covered by small shrubs or native trees. Legume 

presence under grazing conditions is sparse. 

Forage production averages 3 626 kg DM/ha/year in the lomadas zone and 

about 1 500 kg DM/ha/year in the Sierras zone (Plate 5.1). Most of the plants 

(80–85 percent) are summer -cycle perennials. In spite of rich biodiversity , the 

ELBIO BERRETTA




Plate 5.2a 

Typical grassland scenes on the Campos of Uruguay – Campos on shallow basaltic 

soil. 

Plate 5.2b 

Typical Grassland Scenes on the Campos of Uruguay – Campos on granitic soils. 

number of species that contribute to forage production is low; the Paspalum 

notatum –Axonopus compressus s association is notably the main contributor. 

Forage digestibility is usually low (48–62 percent) (Ayala et al., 2001). Typical 

grassland scenes on the Campos of Uruguay are shown in Plates 5.2a–f.

184 


Plate 5.2c 

Typical grassland scenes on the Campos of Uruguay – Campos on eastern hillocks. 

Plate 5.2d 

Typical grassland scenes on the Campos of Uruguay – Campos on sandy soils. 

VEGETATION LIMITATIONS FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTION 

The main limitation of the humid subtropical grasslands is their poor herbage 

quality. Although this is well known, and has been the subject of many 

papers (Royo Pallarés, 1985; Deregibus, 1988), little progress has been made 

in overcoming it. C4 -dominated grasslands, with high temperatures and good 

rainfall produce high growth rates , which leads to a dilution of nutrients and 


ELBIO BERRETTA




Plate 5.2e 

Typical grassland scenes on the Campos of Uruguay – Winter sunset over the 

Campos on granitic soils in southern Uruguay. 

Plate 5.2f 

Typical Grassland Scenes on the Campos of Uruguay – Campos in Central Uruguay 

with cows grazing on basaltic soils. 

a marked decrease in digestibility , which rarely exceeds 60 percent; forage 

crude protein levels barely reach basic cattle requirements. This situation is 

aggravated in winter by frost. Most of the year there is a “green desert ” – a 

great bulk of low quality forage, in a difficult-to-graze pasture structure. The 

animals graze in a “sea of forage”, but have low intake. Fire is used in most 

cases to stimulate regrowth and improve grassland quality

186 


Salt deficiency was noted as a problem at the end of the nineteenth century 

in the Campos . Phosphorus deficiency was identified (Kraemer and Mufarrege, 

1965), and since then it has become increasingly obvious that phosphorus deficiency 

is one of the main constraints on livestock production in Corrientes. The 

soils have less than 5 ppm of available phosphorus, so forage has a phosphorus 

content below 0.10 percent. This strongly limits both forage production and 

quality, which in turn limits the animal output that can be obtained. Research 

on many aspects of phosphorus nutrition of cattle and pastures have been conducted 

in Corrientes (Arias and Manunta, 1981; Arias et al, 1985; Mufarrege, 

Somma de Fere and Homse, 1985; Wilken, 1985; Royo Pallarés and Mufarrege, 

1969; Royo Pallarés, 1985). Mineral supplementation to correct phosphorus 

deficiencies is the technology most accepted and adopted by farmers; but there 

are still doubts, misconceptions and practical problems in its implementation. 

Production systems 

The main production systems are: 

• calf production (Cría) only, with sales of weaned male calves and rejected 

cows, keeping replacement females; 

• breeding and growth (Recría), where male calves are kept after weaning, to be 

sold to other farmers at 18 to 30 months, before winter ; 

• complete cycle, which is the breeding and fattening of all calves to slaughter, 

which can occur at different ages and weights; and 

• fattening, which can be on natural grasslands. In that case steers are finished 

for slaughter at over four years old, starting with one-year-old or older steers. 

Intensive fattening starts from weaned calves or young steers, using variable 

proportions of improved grassland or cultivated pastures. 

In any of these cases, cattle rearing may be accompanied by sheep (Plate 5.3). 

This is commoner in breeding than in fattening systems . Sheep breeding systems 

are similar. Castrated weaned lambs and rejected ewes are the main income source, 

but the current trend is to sell heavier lambs of more than 40 kg liveweight. 

According to grassland characteristics, mixed set stocking in cattle production 

has many limitations, mainly nutritional. Some of the major constraints 

are advanced age of heifers at first mating (a mean of three years old); low 

calving rate (65 percent); low liveweight gain of calves, with consequently low 

weaning weight (130–140 kg); advanced slaughter age (4 years); and low extraction 

rate (18–20 percent). Under such conditions, beef production on natural 

grasslands is about 65 kg/ha/year. 

Table 5.3 compares two management systems , with and without sheep , on 

basalt grasslands. Both systems were evaluated under grazing conditions with a 

continuous fixed stocking rate of 1 cow-equivalent per hectare, for four years. 

Despite the high stocking rate and simple management , the results show 

higher productivity levels than those of extensive production systems . Yearly 

variations in birth and weaning rates are the main factors determining animal



Plate 5.3 

Mixed grazing . 

TABLE 5.3 

Reproductive performance and productivity of two management systems . 

Year Birth rate 

(%) 

Weaning rate 

(%) 

Weaning weight 

(kg) 

Productivity (kg/ha) 

Liveweight Wool 

Cattle system 

1 80.0 77.5 141 109 – 

2 60.0 55.5 141 78 – 

3 87.5 75.0 137 103 – 

4 75.0 70.0 143 100 – 

Average 

Mixed system 

75.6 69.5 141 988 - 

1 75.0 70.0 153 107 10.1 

2 55.0 50.5 143 72 9.0 

3 78.0 75.0 166 125 10.3 

4 65.0 60.0 160 96 9.8 

Average 68.0 64.0 156 100 9.8 

SOURCE: Adapted from Pigurina, Soares de Lima and Berretta, 1998. 

production. Weaning rates are higher in the cattle -only system, but weaning 

weight and total productivity were higher in the mixed system. 

Fattening steers on natural grasslands takes a long time because liveweight 

gain s are variable between seasons, related to availability and quality of forage, 

stocking rate and presence or absence of sheep (Table 5.4). 

Different feeding, management and sanitary control strategies affect sheep 

production. Research programmes focus on increasing wool and lamb production 

efficiency, and the quality of both products. 

Technical options for extensive conditions are presented in Table 5.5. In 

traditional systems , nutritional levels are insufficient for breeding ewes in the 

last third of pregnancy, with consequent low weight and low fat score at lambing.

188 


TABLE 5.4 

Steer liveweight variation (kg/head/day) and productivity (kg/ha/year) in relation to stocking rate 

and sheep :cattle ratio (S:C) in continuous set stocking on natural grasslands. 

Stocking rate (AU/ha) 0.6 (1) 0.8 (1) 0.8 (1) 0.9 (2) 1.06 (1) 1.06 (1) 

S:C ratio 2:1 2:1 5:1 0:1 2:1 5:1 

Season Liveweight variation, kg/day 

Autumn 0.196 bc 0.194 c 0.139 bc -0.248 c -0.076 c -0.130 c 

Winter 0.089 c -0.176 d -0.086 c 0.075 b -0.312 d -0.397 d 

Spring 0.915 a 0.858 a 0.828 a 0.758 a 0.667 a 0.720 a 

Summer 0.351 b 0.413 b 0.297 b 0.604 a 0.431 b 0.436 b 

Yearly average 0.388 A 0.322 A 0.295 AB 0.297 AB 0.178 B 0.157 B 

Total steer production 

kg/head/year) 141 A 118 A 108 B 108 B 65 B 57 B 

kg/ha (3) 75 84 54 125 62 38 

NOTES: a, b, c – Averages in the same column with distinct letters differ significantly (P



Plate 5.4 

Grazing management : forage deferred for winter grazing . 

lambing and improved grasslands 40 to 30 days before lambing. These values 

are modified by weather conditions, which affect the growth rate, and also by 

the amount of forage present at the start of the accumulation period. 

Most ewe hoggets are mated at 2.5 years (four teeth) since many of them 

(40–60 percent) do not reach the minimum liveweight for mating at 1.5 years). 

This has adverse productive and economic consequences for the industry, as 

it reduces the number of lambs produced by each ewe in her lifetime, reduces 

genetic progress of the flock and constrains the overall efficiency of the system. 

To increase lamb production it is very important to increase the reproduction 

rate of hoggets. 

Several management strategies have been defined to improve the liveweight 

gain of hoggets on natural grassland on basalt soils (San Julián et al., 1998). The 

use of improved grassland and sown pastures allows winter liveweight gains of 

60 to 90 g/head/day. Such rates of gain allow a high proportion of hoggets (80– 

90 percent) to attain mating weight at two-tooth, implying weights exceeding 

32 and 35 kg for Merino and Corriedale hoggets, respectively. To attain these 

gains in winter it is necessary to provide 1 500 kg DM/ha of deferred forage, 

with a height of 5 to 6 cm, on natural grasslands or 1 000 kg DM/ha, with a 

height of 4 to 5 cm, on improved grasslands (San Julián et al., 1998). 

In a study in the basalt zone (Ferreira, 1997), three groups of farmers could 

be distinguished according to production systems and technical demands. The 

first group , 56 percent of farmers studied, had low-potential natural resources 

and used a defensive strategy in their decision-making, which resulted in very 

low levels of technology adoption, and the technology available for shallow

190 


soils did not show sufficiently attractive response levels and stability to cross 

the risk aversion thresholds of these farmers. The second group, 18 percent 

of the sample, responded better to technology adoption and behaved proactively 

to technical change: they were not only receptive to new technologies, 

but also experimented and constantly analysed the effects of the introduction 

of technical changes. The third group (26 percent) were the bigger farmers, 

with a reactive and imitative attitude that incorporated technologies that have 

been successfully applied by others. The author concludes that the technology 

offered must be matched to each group, and – even more important – the technology 

identification process should be different for each group. 

GRASSLAND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL 

The natural grasslands of Southern Brazil include native forests and herbaceous 

vegetation , both as open grasslands and dwarf shrub associations, forming a 

mosaic with savannah characteristics. Herbaceous vegetation, of diverse forms 

and botanical composition , is strongly influenced by temperature, showing 

seasonal productivity variations. Grasses predominate, accompanied by some 

legumes. Herbage develops under the influence of latitude, altitude and soil 

fertility, with a dominance of the C4 species that grow in the warm season, 

associated with C3 species in the winter cycle. Relative dominance of species 

on grasslands determines its growth capacity in each season and the balance of 

forage production. More than 800 grass species have been recorded, with 200 

legume species. These grow in associations with herbs such as Compositae and 

Cyperaceae, besides shrubs, resulting in a very rich floral biodiversity . Edaphic 

factors lead to marked variations in botanical composition and substantial 

productivity differences as a function of the dominance of particular species. 

Extensive and extractive livestock production has developed in this ecosystem 

since the colonization of the region. 

An ecological understanding of natural processes is the basis for management 

. Factors include productivity , vegetation cover preservation, pastoral 

value, environmental limitations and recognition of the natural succession 

process. Grassland ecology is closely associated with human activity and management 

of domestic herbivores. Grazing animals are major determinants of 

vegetation structure, as consumption may reach 50 percent of above ground 

net primary production (ANPP ) and up to 25 percent of subterranean productivity 

(Sala, 1988). Plants differ in their responses to defoliation, with differential 

seasonal growing rates , and herbivores select and consume species and parts 

of plants disproportionately to their abundance in the pasture (Boldrini, 1993). 

This natural resource is useful for herbivores; grazing influences species, life 

forms and growth of the vegetation and it can be managed to satisfy economic 

needs. Different animal species use a wider range of forage and may direct succession 

to vegetation states that are ecologically and economically attractive 

(Araujo Filho, Sousa and Carvalho, 1995).

ILSI BOLDRINI 

ILSI BOLDRINI 


Plate 5.5 

Grasslands of southern Brazil . (a) Grasslands with Araucaria trees. 

(b) Representative grassland on the mid-level plateau, with “barba-de-bode” 

(Aristida jubata). 

The 12–15 million hectares of natural grasslands in Southern Brazil show 

great structural diversity (see Plate 5.5), with grass dominance and few legumes. 

Ignorance of their nature and potential led to the belief that they were unproductive 

and should be replaced by sown forages. This was associated with the 

concept of selective grazing and ignorance about its advantages to promote

192 

(c) Grassland with Melica macra. 

(d) Upland grassland in winter. 


ILSI BOLDRINI ILSI BOLDRINI


faster regrowth after grazing. Animal type , their genetics and aptitudes condition 

the development of natural grasslands. Society is now promoting conservation 

of natural ecosystems in managed recreation areas, where herbivores are 

always landscape modellers. A number of technical reports on this situation 

are available. 

Forage from natural grasslands can only be marketed in the form of animal 

products. Nationally, there is still an instinctive resistance, if not dislike, 

to exploitation and use of natural grasslands through pastoralism (Tothill, 

Dzowela and Diallo, 1989). The measure of communal grazing is yield per unit 

of area, as the number of animals represents the economic value of the activity. 

In the philosophy of managed ecosystems (ranching), yield per animal and 

commercial value of the product represent the economic value. This philosophy 

of forage use is based on management of pastures and stock in delimited areas, 

with the possibility of external inputs. There are still many natural grassland 

properties operating with the philosophy and yield of pastoralism, which could 

attain the yield of managed ecosystems. 

Until recently, stock rearers did not understand basic grassland management 

technology: to maintain vegetation and make long-term decisions on sustainability 

. The need is now appreciated of understanding natural grasslands and 

recognizing the availability level that does not restrict animal intake, in order to 

attain high individual performance and high per-hectare production. 

Dry matter accumulation in natural grasslands 

The climatic transition strip in the south of Brazil favours summer grasses, 

which explains the seasonal differences in forage production (Apezteguia, 

1994; Correa and Maraschin, 1994; Maraschin et al., 1997). In the cool season, 

which covers from a third to half of the year, there is slower growth due to 

low temperature, frost and irregular rainfall . Rejected forage increases errors 

in pasture evaluation (Moojen, 1991). Native winter species contributed 

17 percent of yearly DM production in Uruguay (Berretta and Bemhaja, 1991) 

and 18 percent in Rio Grande do Sul (Gomes, 1996). But the warm season 

covers two-thirds to half the year (Maraschin et al., 1997). Daily growth is 

termed the DM Accumulation Rate (AR) and represents what can be grazed. 

Table 5.6 shows ARs (in kg DM/ha/day) in a Rio Grande do Sul natural 

grassland , influenced by forage offer (FO) levels per head and per day, with 

corresponding residual DM (Moojen, 1991; Correa and Maraschin, 1994). 

ARs increase with increasing levels of FO until more than 12 percent of 

liveweight, and tends to decrease after FO exceeds 16 percent of liveweight. 

Maximum recorded AR was 16.3 kg DM/ha/day, with an FO of 13.5 percent 

of liveweight, which corresponded to forage availability of 1 400–1 500 kg DM/ 

ha at any time. 

Unfertilized natural grasslands produced 2 075 to 3 393 kg DM/ha considered 

as available forage, defining the number of animals that could be grazed on

194 


TABLE 5.6 

Pasture parameters and radiant energy conversion efficiency on a natural grassland in the Central 

Depression of Rio Grande do Sul, with dominance of P. notatum and different forage offer (FO) 

levels (5-year average; 21.6 TJ/ha of incident PAR). 

Dry matter on offer – percent liveweight 

Parameters 

4.0 8.0 12.0 16.0 

Accumulation Rate (AR) kg DM/ha/day 11.88 15.52 16.28 15.44 

DM Production kg/ha 2 075 3 488 3 723 3 393 

Primary Aerial Productivity (PAP) MJ/ha 40.877 68.714 73.343 66.842 

PAR/PAP Efficiency % 0.20 0.34 0.36 0.33 

Daily liveweight gain (DLWG ) kg/head 0.150 0.350 0.450 0.480 

Animal-day/ha no. 572 351 286 276 

Stocking rate kg LW/day/ha 710 468 381 368 

Residual DM kg/ha 568 1 006 1 444 1 882 

Liveweight gain (LWG ) kg/ha 80 120 140 135 

Secondary production (SP) MJ/ha 1 880 2 820 3 290 3 173 

PAR/SP Efficiency % 0.009 0.0015 0.017 0.013 

PAP/SP % 4.48 4.53 4.66 4.10 

SOURCE: Adapted from Maraschin et al., 1997; Nabinger, 1998. 

them. With plant development and dead matter accumulation at the base of the 

plants, there seems to be a reduction in AR and also a liveweight gain inhibition, 

as the treatment with an FO of 16 percent of liveweight suggested. The parallelism 

of both development curves suggests liveweight gain variations are closely related 

to AR (kg DM/ha/day), as both showed optimal response at an FO of 13 percent 

liveweight. 

Grazing intensity effects can be evaluated on the energy flow of the system, 

as a function of FO levels. Forage availability (kg DM/ha) and liveweight gain 

(kg LW/ha) are multiplied by 19.7 and 23.5 MJ/kg, respectively (Briske and 

Heitschmidt, 1991). Based on normal global radiation and photosynthetically 

active radiation (PAR), Nabinger (1998) determined conversion efficiency 

indexes, which represent the quotient between the energy values considered, 

multiplied by 100 (Table 5.6). With an FO of 4.0 percent LW, conversion 

efficiency of PAR to DM is estimated at close to 0.20 percent. Conversion 

increased to 0.34 percent with an FO of 8 percent LW, peaked at 0.36 percent 

with an FO of 12.0 percent LW and declined to 0.33 percent with an FO of 

16.0 percent LW, as a consequence of age and senescence of natural grasslands, 

influenced by FO levels. Primary production of natural grassland increased 

markedly (+80 percent) when FO was 12 percent. 

The grazing animal prefers green grass to dry , leaf to stem, and the upper half 

of young leaves; this shows clearly what forage is desirable and what should therefore 

be encouraged in the sward. It is necessary to distinguish between the total 

aerial biomass of plants and the available DM for the grazing animal; the former 

is the forage technically within reach of the animal, while the latter is the forage 

selected. It has to be clear what should be the optimum height of the pasture after 

grazing to maintain regrowth capacity (Maraschin, 1993). Understanding this


provides understanding of how animals behave on different swards and pasture 

conditions. 

Data in Table 5.6 show that the highest liveweight gain (LWG ) per head 

is when the number of animal-days per ha is low and LWG /ha reaches its 

maximum close to the maximum pasture AR , with an FO of 12 percent LW. 

Similarly, observing the efficiency of secondary production as a function of 

the energy fixed by primary production, the energy flow of the system shows 

that the efficiency of secondary production (kg LW/ha) in relation to PAR was 

0.009 percent with an FO of 4.0 percent LW, increased to 0.015 percent at an 

FO of 8.0 percent LW, peaked at 0.017 percent at an FO of 12.0 percent LW, 

and then decreased in the FO of 16.0 percent LW treatment. Increasing FO 

increases the amount of dead material in the sward profile, which is wrongly 

considered as a forage component of pasture biomass (Maraschin, 1996). This 

is an important issue in animal-plant relationships, which has to be better 

understood, as it relates to quality expression and global yield of grasslands. 

This dry matter plays an important role in nutrient recycling in ecologically 

managed natural ecosystems , promotes moisture retention capacity of soils and 

conservation of soil, flora and fauna. 

Optimizing animal production from natural grassland ecosystems 

The amount and botanical composition of available forage determines the 

sustainable animal production level (Moraes, Maraschin and Nabinger, 1995), 

which depends on forage on offer for a specific animal class (Maraschin, 1996). 

Firstly, it is necessary to know how much forage is available to feed the stock 

properly in relation to their biological functions. Knowledge developed by the 

Forage Plants and Agrometeorology Department of the Federal University of 

Rio Grande del Sul (UFRGS) on forage transformation into animal products 

allowed the natural grassland heritage to be rescued and production raised to a 

level not seen before, due to better understanding of soil-plant-animal relationships. 

Seasonality of forage production reflects the favourable environment, 

with rainfall well distributed throughout the year. Grassland growth is different 

in the cool season (40–30 percent of the year) and warm season (Moojen, 

1991). Fixed stocking may contribute to animal yield losses because of seasonal 

fluctuations, and may damage the grassland ecosystem and increase farmers’ 

vulnerability. Since true forage production is in the warm season, it is mainly 

in spring that animals gain weight, thus defining overall performance for the 

year (Correa and Maraschin, 1994), because it is dependent on grassland daily 

growth rate (Table 5.6) and forage availability (Setelich, 1994; Maraschin et al., 

1997). If farmers do not make use of spring forage correctly, capitalizing it as 

animal products, they will not be able to catch up in summer . 

FO levels determine sward profiles. With low FO (4.0 percent LW = high 

grazing pressure ), pasture seems uniform, like a low sward, and forage from 

new leaves has 8 percent of crude protein. Prostrate summer species pre-

196 

Figure 5.3 

Forage offer (FO ) and 

daily liveweight gain s 

per animal (DLWG ) 

and per hectare (LW) 

and its effect on solar 

radiation conversion 

efficiency, on a natural 

grassland of Rio 

Grande do Sul, Brazil . 

LW gain/ha (kg) [G] 

150 

140 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

80 

G/ha= - 17.9 + 29.2 OF - 1.3 OF 2 

1 006 1 444 

Forage remaining - kg DM/ha 


70 

0.009 0.015 0.017 0.013 

0.1 

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 

Forage on offer - % LW/day 

568 

GD= - 0.212 + 0.108 OF - 0.004 OF 2 

1 882 

dominate, with near disappearance of winter species and little contribution of 

legumes, decrease in Andropogon lateralis , Aristida jubata and Eryngium horridum 

, and increased bare soil. Regrowth does not reflect its forage production 

and daily LWG is low. With an increase of FO to 8.0 percent LW, animals show 

better body condition but the grassland is vulnerable, lacking protection for 

grazing-sensitive species. 

At medium and low grazing pressures (12.0 and 16.0 percent LW) and 

higher FO , the grassland showed greater height, with more bunchgrasses of 

varying diameter. Winter species were more frequent and increased grassland 

quality, such as Stipa neesiana , Piptochaetium montevidense and Coelorachis 

selloana , besides native legumes, with an important presence of Desmodium 

incanum . Forage production and seed production of native legumes was 

only seen after 8–10 years of this grazing treatment. Under lighter stocking 

rates , animals graze more selectively and choose higher quality fractions of 

available forage, leaving higher, less grazed plants. This contributes to maintaining 

higher leaf area and promotes faster regrowth after each defoliation 

under continuous grazing . With selective grazing, on lightly stocked swards, 

forage production is higher, as is the voluntary intake of the animals, which 

produced daily liveweight gain (DLWG ) of 0.500 kg per head (Figure 5.3). 

This DLWG would not be possible if one considers the average crude protein 

content s of the forage. The increased FO allows the animals to select a 

more nutritious diet than average; the animal is harvesting more because it is 

harvesting better. 

0.6 

0.5 

0.4 

0.3 

0.2 

Daily LW gain (kg) [GD]


With increasing levels of FO , ground cover increases; as leaves increase in 

relation to stems, forage and animal production also increase. The PAR/SP 

[Secondary Production] relationship nearly doubles when FO changes from 

4.0 to 12.0 percent LW. Maximum LW is attained at lower stocking rates , which 

are exactly those that promote high DLWG , related to high AR and light grazing 

. The Primary Aerial Productivity (PAP):SP relationship had an efficiency 

of 4.48 percent with an FO of 4.0 percent, reaching 4.66 percent with an FO of 

12.0 percent, as a consequence of increased DLWG . Lighter grazing pressures 

allow tall species to make important contributions to increase animal diet quality, 

and also protects native fauna. 

Optimal utilization ranges for natural grasslands can be derived from a curvilinear 

response model , promoting productivity and ensuring sustainability , 

which is attained by higher utilization efficiency of incident PAR (Table 5.6 

and Figure 5.3). Optimal utilization ranges are estimated from FOs of 13.5 percent 

of LW (maximum DLWG per head) to 11.5 percent of LW (maximum 

LW), where there is compromise between individual and per-hectare production. 

As there is considerable variation between the nutritional requirements 

of species and classes of animal (cow+calf, ewe+lamb, heifers, steers, bulls, 

horses, etc.) each pasture has to be managed according to the specific animal 

class requirements. Stocking rate and carrying capacity can only be defined as 

a function of the animal product involved and cannot be fixed, because they 

depend on environmental variations. 

Table 5.7 can be prepared as a function derived from the grassland optimization 

model , which reflects natural grassland grazing optimization and the 

stocking rate that this pasture could feed at optimal carrying capacity . In the 

warm season – a nearly 200-day grazing period for natural grassland – these 

results adjust to the animal product yield equation in the following way: 

Yield = Quality × Quantity 

Liveweight/ha (LW) = DLWG × Animal-day/ha 

146 kg = 0.517 kg × 282 

Forage harvest from natural grasslands could be improved , representing an 

annual increase of 784 000 t live weight, without cost, in Rio Grande do Sul 

alone through the recommended strategy of high FO to the grazing animal, 

TABLE 5.7 

Natural grassland and animal performance in the optimal utilization range. 

Parameters Responses 

DM/ha/day (kg) 16.30 (evaluated) 

Animal-day/ha 282 (counted) 

Daily LWG (kg) 0.517 (evaluated) 

Liveweight gain /ha (kg) 146 (calculated) 

Carrying capacity 1.17 two-year-old steers (calculated) 

Stocking rate (kg/ha) 370 (observed)

198 


which also optimizes forage accumulation rates in the pasture . This approach 

is expanding opportunities in southern Brazil . 

Natural grassland dynamics 

The natural grasslands of southern Brazil evolved without the presence of 

large herbivores, and were altered by the introduction of livestock at the 

beginning of colonization, changing from a climax condition to a productive 

disclimax with a range of growth habits and life forms. Knowledge of 

grassland ecology became important when the value of natural grassland was 

acknowledged in parallel with the need for controlling grazing -induced land 

degradation . Boldrini (1993) studied vegetation cover variations as part of 

the long-term grazing experiment described earlier, and then verified that soil 

type has a greater influence on botanical composition than FO levels. Erect 

plants were more sensitive to defoliation than prostrate ones, because leaf 

tissues and growing buds are more exposed to grazing. With lighter grazing, 

they stood above the sward canopy and dominated prostrate species. 

Some important natural grassland species were selected to evaluate vegetation 

dynamics : Paspalum notatum is the one with greatest presence and 

contribution. Like P. paucifolium , it is a rhizomatous species, and they are 

both pioneers in more eroded and leached areas, with higher cover in FOs 

of 4.0 and 12.0 percent of LW. Andropogon lateralis benefits from high soil 

moisture levels, but is very sensitive to increases in grazing pressure . Its frequency 

decreases drastically with low FO (from 2.4 to 4.5 percent of LW) 

but it remains stable under optimal stocking and offers protection to other 

highly palatable grasses, allowing them to reseed. Axonopus affinis , with long 

stolons, thrives in damp areas of low fertility and benefits from high intensity 

grazing under low-FO treatments. Aristida filifolia is adapted to drier soils 

and is favoured by low grazing pressures, where it remains stable. Paspalum 

plicatulum shows lignification at the base of the leaf blades, but still it is well 

accepted and consumed by animals and damaged by heavy grazing under low 

FO. It seems to benefit from light grazing and showed marked increases in 

density and cover after two or three years of light grazing. It benefits from 

the shelter of more vigorous vegetation and so produces seeds and increases 

in the grassland. Piptochaetium montevidense , which is important because it 

grows more in winter –spring , shows higher cover on hillsides and seems to 

suffer from competition in more humid niches, but tends to persist in less 

dense swards. Another important plant is the legume Desmodium incanum , 

which presents higher cover values under light spring grazing pressure and 

with the aid of protective species. It shows ecological versatility in the face 

of competition, and flowers and produce seeds, generating viable plants to 

increase the population. 

In a study where FO levels were associated with soil fertility and deferred 

grazing (Gomes, 1996), the prostrate species Paspalum notatum was more


frequent on heavily grazed treatments, whereas the caespitose species 

Andropogon selloanus and Elionurus candidus were commoner on lightly and 

very lightly grazed paddocks. Plant groups that are independent of growth 

habit, such as Paspalum paucifolium , Eragrostis neesii and Eryngium ciliatum , 

occurred on drier sites, while Andropogon lateralis , Eryngium horridum , 

E. elegans , Schizachyrium microstachyum and Baccharis trimera occurred on 

sites with higher soil moisture levels, and were also sensitive to heavy grazing 

. 

An interesting issue was the tolerance of heavy grazing shown by 

Coelorachis selloana and Piptochaetium montevidense , both low growing 

with buds close to the soil. However, when FO is higher they grow along 

with the height of the sward profile and remain as contributors to DM 

production. The ability to adapt growth habit is also seen in the native 

legume Desmodium incanum : it remains prostrate under heavy grazing, 

but its branches rise to sward height when grazing is reduced. The legumes 

Aeschynomene falcata , Chamaecrista repens , Stylosanthes leiocarpa , Trifolium 

polymorphum and Zornia reticulata are associated with higher utilization 

intensities, but need resting periods. Non-limiting FO management practices 

on natural grasslands seem to be an ecologically efficient procedure to restore 

and maintain grassland productivity in a sustainable manner. 

FERTILIZING CAMPOS GRASSLAND 

Fertilization in Argentina 

In the past 30 years the Mercedes Research Station has evaluated the effects 

of fertilizing natural grasslands on animal production in the Rocky Outcrops 

region. Large increases in stocking rate , liveweight gain per animal and 

annual beef production per unit area have been registered in all trials. The 

first study showed that, with NPK fertilization , animal production increases 

yearly, reaching 210 kg LW/ha/year by the third year, which represented a 

138 percent increase over the control (Royo Pallarés and Mufarrege, 1970). 

Subsequently, different N levels were applied to natural grassland , which 

raised animal production in the third year to 254 kg LW/ha/year at 120 kg N/ 

ha/year (Mufarrege, Royo Pallares and Ocampo, 1981). 

Phosphorus fertilization was evaluated for 11 years at the Estancia Rincón 

de Yeguas. Average animal production on fertilized paddocks was 40 percent 

higher, for the three stocking rates evaluated, with production levels that 

rose to 188 kg LW/ha/year (Benitez, unpublished). In another eight-year 

fertilization and stocking rate trial by Mercedes Research Station, production 

reached 176 kg LW/ha/year at the higher stocking rate. The increase in total 

animal production at the same individual performance level was 76 percent 

(Royo Pallarés et al., 1998). Observed effects of phosphorus fertilization on 

grasslands are increased forage production, a large increase in the phosphorus 

content of the forage and increased legume cover.

200 


Fertilization of Campos Grasslands in Uruguay 

The reduced winter growth of natural grasslands due to P and N deficiencies 

in most of the soils of the region led to the use of inorganic nitrogen and to 

legume introduction with phosphatic fertilization to foster establishment 

and production. Phosphatic fertilization alone has little impact on botanical 

composition and production increases are low (less than 15 percent) because of 

the low frequency of native legumes. 

The use of relatively low doses of N and P2O5 (90 kg N/ha/year; 

44 kg P2O5 ha/year) favours an increase in the fertility level of the soil, especially 

if the fertilizer is split: the first dose at the beginning of the autumn and 

the other at the end of the winter . This can only be done when relative frequency 

of winter forages in the total vegetation is above 20 percent. Autumn 

application promotes regrowth of winter grasses and extends the growth of 

summer grasses into late autumn. Winter application favours longer growth 

of winter species and earlier regrowth of summer ones (Bemhaja, Berretta and 

Brito, 1998). 

As the fertility level of the system increases, forage growth starts to stabilize 

at a level that is 60 percent higher than an unfertilized grassland . The seasons 

in which fertilization can make significant improvements to livestock production 

are autumn and winter . Autumn daily forage growth is higher on fertilized 

grasslands. To defer forage for winter feeding, autumn growth should be sufficient 

to accumulate more than 1 000 kg DM/ha, plus the available forage prior 

to deferment or stocking rate reduction. Fertilized grasslands show 100 percent 

increments in daily forage growth rates during winter, compared with unfertilized 

grasslands (Figure 5.4). 

kg DM/ha/day 

18 

16 

14 

12 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

0 

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 

Campo Campo +NP 

Figure 5.4 

Winter daily forage growth rate (kg DM/ha/day) of unfertilized and N+P 

fertilized natural grasslands.


kg/ha 

250 

200 

150 

100 

50 

0 

CN - 0.9 

AU/ha 

CN+NP - CN+NP - 

0.9 AU/ha1.2 

AU/ha 

kg/head/day 

0.5 

0.4 

0.3 

0.2 

0.1 

Production (kg LW/ha) DG (kg/head/day) 

0 

Figure 5.5 

Daily liveweight gain (kg/head/day) 

and beef production (kg liveweight/ 

ha) on natural grasslands with 

rotational grazing stocked at 0.9 AU/ 

ha, and on fertilized natural grassland 

with rotational grazing and stocking 

rates of 0.9 and 1.2 AU/ha. 

Spring forage growth for these grasslands exceeds 1 600 kg DM/ha, while 

unfertilized grasslands produce about 1 000 kg DM/ha. Maximum registered 

daily forage growth rate without fertilization was 19 kg DM/ha/day, while 

fertilized grasslands shown a maximum of 35 kg DM/ha/day. Summer growth 

is tightly tied to precipitation and therefore highly variable. Annual addition of 

92 and 44 kg/ha of N and P, respectively, increased forage production, adding 

7.5 kg DM/kg nutrient in the first year and about 24.0 kg DM/kg nutrient in 

subsequent years. 

Nitrogen and phosphorus content in the forage is always higher in fertilized 

grasslands. In natural grasslands, the highest N and P values occur in 

winter and spring , and the lowest are in summer , when forage is mature and, 

as usual, there is a moisture deficit (Berretta, 1998). In winter, N content of 

forage reaches 2.3 percent, while unfertilized grasslands reach 1.7 percent; in 

spring the values are 2.8 and 1.9 percent, respectively. In summer, N contents 

decreases to 1.4 and 1.1 percent, respectively. Taking winter as an example, 

natural grasslands produce about 38 kg/ha of crude protein (CP), while fertilized 

grasslands produce about 95 kg CP/ha. Forage P content during winter 

and spring is about 2.3 mg P/g DM with fertilizer and 1.8 mg P/g DM without 

fertilizer (Berretta et al., 1998). The values are 1.9 and 1.5 mg P/g DM, in summer 

and 1.5 and 2.2 mg P/g DM in autumn , respectively. 

Throughout the year, the relative frequency of winter grasses is higher in 

fertilized grassland . The increase in the C3 grasses is related to nutrient input, 

which raises the fertility level of the soil. Fertilization is a way of changing the 

botanical composition of grasslands and consequently to increase winter forage 

production. 

Winter-productive species such as Stipa neesiana , Piptochaetium stipoides , 

Poa lanigera and Adesmia bicolor tend to increase their cover with fertilization 

. Summer grasses such as Paspalum notatum and P. dilatatum also increase

202 


their cover. Ordinary grasses, such as Bothriochloa laguroides and Andropogon 

ternatus , decrease and Schizachyrium spicatum becomes less frequent than the 

others following fertilization, as it is most competitive in a poor environment. 

Paspalum plicatulum also decreases with fertilization, although this may be 

linked to a palatability increase, as its leaves keep green for longer than unfertilized 

grassland . Native legumes increase in frequency, reaching values close to 

5 percent. Weeds, typically Baccharis coridifolia , B. trimera and Heimia sp., are 

scarce and do not increase with fertilization. 

Fertilized grasslands managed under rotational grazing provided the highest 

beef production per unit area when stocked with 1.2 AU/ha, and the 

highest liveweight gain s per animal at the lower stocking rate of 0.9 AU/ha 

(Figure 5.5). At lower stocking rates on fertilized grasslands, steers grew to 

440 kg liveweight at 2.5 years, while at the higher stocking rate they did not 

exceed 400 kg. 

Results can be quite different if the grassland has a high proportion of 

summer species and the winter species are mainly annuals, like the soils of the 

Crystalline and Eastern Hills. Fertilization at the start of the winter favours 

the presence of winter annual grasses such as Vulpia australis and Gaudinia 

fragilis , which have limited productive potential at the end of the season. The 

disappearance of these species as they finish their growth cycle leaves spaces 

that can be occupied by undesirable plants. Spring fertilization increases forage 

growth at the end of the summer, when summer grasses flower and produce 

seeds. Organic matter digestibility of fertilized forage was greater than unfertilized 

grassland (Formoso, pers. comm.). N fertilization increases spring and 

summer production markedly, but has little effect on winter growth. This 

nutrient increases the frequency of annuals and decreases perennials (Ayala et 

al., 1999). N+P fertilization produces a threefold increase in beef production in 

comparison with untreated natural grassland. 

Fertilization of natural grasslands in southeast Brazil 

The quality and production potential of natural grasslands were always 

considered to be limited. There was uncertainty about their responses until 

Scholl, Lobato and Barreto (1976) showed forage production increases on 

natural grassland with N applications in summer , and Barcellos et al. (1980) 

obtained significant responses of natural grassland to high P fertilizer rates . 

After the results of Rosito and Maraschin (1985) on secondary succession on 

fertilized grasslands, a new scenario was clear for southern Brazil , with animal 

production results in the Central Depression (Perin and Maraschin, 1995) 

similar to those obtained in Campaña fields (Barcellos et al., 1980). On poor 

soils of the Central Depression of Rio Grande del Sul (30°S), blanket application 

of lime and fertilizers (Moojen, 1991) evaluated five years later (Gomes, 1996) 

showed a rise of pH and reduction in Al +++ , while calcium, magnesium and 

phosphorus contents of the upper 7.5 cm of the soil increased. Organic matter


content of this horizon also increased with fertilizer increase, in the same way 

as deferment accumulation, which increased the litter content in the pastures. 

From the beginning of this study, Desmodium incamun responded rapidly to 

increasing fertilizer levels, rising to 12.5 percent (Moojen, 1991) and reaching 

close to 24.4 percent of contribution to total DM of the natural grassland five 

years later (Gomes, 1996). 

Residual effects of fertilizers reduced the number of species, from 137 species 

noted by Moojen, (1991) to 122 recorded by Gomes (1996); this was attributed 

to better conditions offered to species that were formerly limited by low soil 

fertility. These species become dominant, modifying the flora. The presence 

and contribution of Paspalum dilatatum , P. maculosum , P. pauciciliatum and 

P. urvillei was noted, yet these desirable grasses were not mentioned in the 

report of Moojen (1991). There was also development of the legume Trifolium 

polymorphum . Another important observation reported by Gomes (1996) 

was the increased frequency of Desmodium incanum , Agrostis montevidense, 

Coelorachis selloana , Paspalum notatum , Sporobolus indicus and Stipa spp. 

when more than 250 kg/ha of P2O5, were applied; the species also increased 

their contribution to DM production of grasslands. Elionurus candidus , 

Aristida spp. and dead material were less. When fertilization rates were below 

250 kg P2O5/ha, Paspalum plicatulum , Piptochaetium montevidense and 

Axonopus affinis increased their presence and made some contribution to DM 

production, while Andropogon lateralis , Elionurus candidus and Piptochaetium 

montevidense were intermediate contributors. 

With blanket N+P fertilization of natural grassland , Moojen (1991) and 

Gomes (1996) raised forage production to 7.0 t DM/ha. Subsequently, through 

increasing N and avoiding moisture stress, Costa (1997) reported 12.0 t DM/ha 

and derived the following DM production model for unit area (m 2 ) per day of 

Paspalum notatum : 

DM = 0.44. Rs (1 exp(-0.0031. ST)) + R 

where Rs is global solar radiation, ST is thermal addition and R is green residual 

DM. Following this model , Boggiano (2000) obtained 18.0 t/ha of total DM, 

including stolons and roots to 8 cm deep, on a natural grassland dominated by 

P. notatum . Liveweight gain per hectare was 700 kg in 200 grazing days, under 

continuous stocking. This response removed suspicions about limited growth 

potential of natural grasslands, creating expectations for this natural resource. 

Structural changes on fertilized natural grasslands in SE Brazil 

As research programmes evolved, fertilizer studies on natural grassland were 

extended to consider different fodder offers and N fertilization levels applied 

in a Composite Central Rotation with Uniform Precision experimental 

design, using three-day spells of grazing on a grazing cycle of 38 days. This 

study exposed a lack of knowledge about N fertilization responses of natural 

grasslands. Nitrogen action was reliable on some important species, such as

204 


Paspalum notatum . Following Lemaire (1997), DM production of vegetative 

grasslands depends mainly on three morphogenic variables: Leaf Appearance 

Rate (LAR ), Leaf Expansion Rate (LER ) and Leaf Life Span (LLS ). These 

variables are genetically defined, but modified by environmental factors. The 

combination of these variables determines the structural characteristics of the 

grassland, such as tiller density, leaf size and number of leaves per tiller, and the 

integral outcome gives the Leaf Area Index (LAI ). Boggiano (2000) verified 

that LER and the number and size of leaves and tillers were very sensitive 

to N effects and defoliation management , leading to different recovery rates 

of Paspalum notatum after grazing. LAR was 5.5–7.0 days, influenced by N 

and FO , suggesting that lighter grazing increases sheath length, the expansion 

period and the size of new leaves. With low N applications, there is an increase 

in the number of small leaves and a longer LLS . Average LLS varied from 21 

to 31 days, increasing with FO and with reducing N. It was evident that LAR 

and tiller density increase with higher defoliation intensities. 

Tiller density depends on LAR and increases with lower FO , which 

provoke higher grazing frequency (more defoliations). At the same time, N 

increases LAR and stimulates higher tiller densities under lower FO, while 

contributing to low tiller number in high FO conditions, where defoliations 

are less frequent. N × FO interaction alters compensatory relationships, with 

a trend towards higher tiller density on high N–low FO swards. N reduction 

decreases tiller density and increasing N raises the weight per tiller. This gives 

us the parameters for an area covered by Paspalum notatum , modelling a compact 

sward with low production. It differs from a productive grazing pasture , 

with fewer, bigger tillers, in a higher sward profile that ensures high DM accumulation 

rates and it is more favourable for animal production. 

Average final length of the laminae is more dependent on previous defoliation 

intensity (residual LAI ) than on nitrogen supply. Bigger tillers have greater 

LER (Table 5.8). It seems to be desirable to promote management practices 

that promote larger tillers. LAI is the main factor determining interception of 

incident solar radiation, which has direct effect on the DM accumulation rates 

TABLE 5.8 

Estimated LAI values for Paspalum notatum as a function of surface response models for residual 

LAI and after 33 days of regrowth (Boggiano, 2000). 

FO (percent of LW) N (kg/ha) LAI after grazing LAI after 33 days regrowth 

4.0 0 1.992 3.956 

4.0 100 1.555 4.093 

4.0 200 0.644 4.144 

9.0 0 0.962 2.536 

9.0 100 1.462 3.675 

9.0 200 1.614 5.924 

14.0 0 1.480 2.816 

14.0 100 3.045 6.153 

14.0 200 4.130 9.404 

SOURCE: Adapted from Boggiano, 2000.


of grasslands (Brougham, 1959; Parsons, Carrëre and Schwinning, 2000). For 

Paspalum notatum , responses to N and FO were observed reaching LAI values 

of 9.4, which is high for this kind of plant. 

With low N, the pasture is more prostrate and less exposed to animal defoliation. 

With increased FO , grazing is more selective, leaving more residues 

that contribute to regrowth. With frequent grazing and low N there are smaller 

leaves with low LAI values, less light interception and lower DM production. 

Increasing N promotes faster LAI recovery, which in the higher FO promotes 

a faster regrowth start, with higher LAI at the end of the regrowth period. 

Therefore there is higher radiation interception, higher carbon sequestration , 

higher forage production and higher efficiency of applied N. 

Green DM of the grassland is produced from the grazing stubble , which 

increases according to the net AR of the regrowth period, which is increased by 

the action of N. The effect of management has been well documented, because 

Boggiano (2000) observed available DM increases of 1 000 kg/ha for each 35 

days of regrowth, as this is the response to lighter grazing on fertilized grasslands. 

The low LLS makes difficult to maintain high LAI values, while low FO , 

with low LAI , consistently show less leaf length and less final length. Higher 

grazing intensity leads to reduced forage production, lower forage accessibility 

for grazing animals and consequently lower intake. 

In terms of plants and pastures, with low FO and poor N status, the priority 

is to accumulate dry matter in stolons and roots, preserving meristems and 

increasing the proportion of stolons in total aerial biomass, so as to supply the 

demands of the next growth period. At intermediate FO, stolon biomass is maximal 

and root biomass minimal. This topic requires more study. Stolons cannot 

be grazed, so Paspalum notatum and its biological forms show greater cover on 

grazed grassland . Defoliation and shading alter the carbon supply to plants and 

increase the proportion used for leaf production, while factors that reduce meristem 

activity (N, moisture) promote higher carbon accumulation in the roots 

(Lemaire, 1997). Careful use of N increases the capacity of natural grasslands to 

sequestrate carbon from the atmosphere, storing it in permanent plant structures 

for growth, organ and tissue development , DM production, and consequently 

livestock feeding. Better performance tends to reduce methane emissions and 

the litter that, with animal dejections, constitute the main source for renovation 

and increment of soil organic matter. This enrichment of the environment 

promotes favourable conditions for microfauna, which form part of the fertility 

chain of predator fauna, hence contributing to environmental health, nutrient 

recycling and strengthening of life expression in natural grassland. 

IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES 

Over-seeding 

This technique for introducing valuable forages to the sward has been 

evaluated for a long time. Many forages, mainly winter legumes, have been

206 


TABLE 5.9 

Winter performance and yearly liveweight gain for two treatments on natural grassland . 

Treatment 

LWG winter 

period 

kg/day/head 

1997 

Year 

1998 

liveweight/ha/year 

1999 

P fertilization 0.615 151 219 267 

P fertilization + over-seeding 0.695 173 245 302 

tested and also seeding methods, previous grassland management , fertilization 

levels, over-seeding, grazing management , etc. Rarely do the introduced species 

persist for more than three years due to strong competition from native species. 

Despite this, when some winter species become established, animal production 

increases are large. Higher productivity has been obtained recently in a threeyear 

grassland improvement trial. Preliminary results of two treatments are 

shown in Table 5.9 (Pizzio, unpublished). 

The most interesting results from this trial are the excellent animal performance 

in winter , which exceeded 0.6 kg/day when normally there is no gain at this 

season, and the year-on-year productivity increases. 

This experiment considered some factors not previously evaluated: 

(1) a higher level of phosphorus fertilization in comparison with previous 

research, which brought the phosphorus content in grass above 0.22 percent, 

which had not previously been recorded; (2) a sward structure that offered a 

good quantity of green, easy-to-graze grass; and (3) a diverse and desirable 

botanical composition , that offered good quality green feed in winter , with 

species such as red clover , Lotus cv. Rincón, ryegrass and oats. These factors, 

with others, allowed the animals to harvest a large quantity of high quality 

of forage in the available grazing time, to attain performance similar to those 

from sown pastures. 

Legume introduction 

The need to improve the primary production and quality of Uruguayan 

grasslands led to legume introduction using minimum- or no-tillage techniques, 

as a way to increase secondary production. Correcting soil P deficiencies is a 

crucial element in this process (Bemhaja and Levratto, 1988; Berretta and 

Formoso, 1993; Berretta and Risso, 1995; Risso and Berretta, 1997; Bemhaja, 

1998). The study of anthropogenic factors provides an understanding of 

various aspects of induced vegetation succession, which contributes to success 

in the application of the technology. To make a proper improvement in natural 

grasslands, the following must be considered: 

• Vegetation sward as botanical composition defines the quality of the grassland , 

related to productive types , vegetative types and growing cycle. 

• Soil type , topography, stoniness, drought and erosion risks, drainage, etc. 

• Grazing objective for the improved paddock: cattle , sheep , fattening, 

weaning, etc.


These factors influence the selection of forages to be introduced and the 

way the seed will be in contact with the soil, for efficient moisture and nutrient 

supply to the seedling. The establishment, productivity and persistence of 

introduced forages depends mainly on the way that competition from natural 

herbage is reduced, the quality of the seedbed and the adaptation of introduced 

species to the environment. Forage yield of improved pastures depends on 

soil type and botanical composition , and can be 50 to 100 percent higher than 

unimproved grasslands, with winter yield up to three times higher (Berretta et 

al., 2000). 

Sward preparation for seeding 

Generally it is necessary to graze with cattle beforehand to reduce tall-grasses 

and accumulated dead material. Stocking rates will depend on forage availability 

at the end of the spring and summer , but should be high. If the summer is wet, 

grass growth will be high and dry matter and seed stalks will remain at the end 

of the season, so stocking must be increased to eliminate this material. Sheep 

are used in the final stages, to reduce sward height to 2 cm. This grazing could 

be continuous , but rotational grazing is better to allow regrowth and regrazing; 

this reduces wild plant reserves , thus favouring the germination, emergence and 

establishment of the introduced forages. Depending on grass growth, grazing 

must be done every 30–45 days. If grazing is alternated with resting, stocking 

rates must be much higher than with continuous grazing . Sward preparation 

aims to provide safe sites for good seed-soil contact. Generally it is very 

difficult to reduce vegetation cover below 50 percent, although sward height 

may be low. Some herbage at sowing time is, however, important to protect 

seeds from bad weather. 

Chemicals must be used carefully. Non-selective contact herbicides are preferred, 

to avoid reducing the growth capacity of native plants. When systemic 

herbicides are used, the dose must be low enough to preserve valuable native 

species (Berretta and Formoso, 1993). 

Legumes for improvement 

Many evaluations of different genera and species of legumes have been carried 

out. Recent studies include several species of Trifolium , Lotus , Medicago , 

Ornithopus , Desmanthus , Vicia , etc. (Bemhaja, 1998). On medium and deep 

soils, the best forages tested have been white clover cvs Zapicán and Bayucuá, 

and Lotus corniculatus . Less reliable have been L. pedunculatus cv Maku, 

L. hispidus cv. El Rincón and red clover (Trifolium pratense ). 

Recommended seed rates are 4–5 kg/ha for white clover , 10–12 kg/ha for 

L. corniculatus , 2.5–3.5 kg/ha for L. pedunculatus cv Maku, 4–5 kg/ha for Lotus 

cv. El Rincón, 6–8 kg/ha for red clover , and for a mix of white clover and L. corniculatus, 

2–3 kg/ha of the former and 8–10 kg/ha of the latter are recommended 

(Risso, 1991; 1995; Risso and Morón, 1990).

208 


TABLE 5.10 

Production of steers in rotational grazing on improved native grasslands in different regions of 

Uruguay . 

Soils 

Stocking rate 

(AU/ha) 

Liveweight gain 

(kg/ha) 

Individual performance 

(kg LW/head) 

Crystalline 1.55 533 406 

Medium and deep Basalt 1.85 680 485 

Hills 1.53 (1) 700 473 

NOTES: (1) Includes mixed grazing with wethers in a ratio of two wethers per steer. 

SOURCE: Adapted from Ayala and Carámbula, 1996; Bemhaja, Berretta and Brito, 1998; Risso and Berretta, 1997. 

This improvement technique is low-input and environmentally friendly, 

promotes sustainable development of native vegetation and improves productivity 

, accelerating fattening by means of better individual performance 

and higher stocking capacity (Table 5.10). These results were obtained in 

rotational grazing conditions, 5–8 paddocks, 7–12 grazing days and 30–40 

rest days, in grazing seasons of about 300 days (Berretta et al., 2000). 

Effect of legume introduction on composition of native grasslands 

Once legumes have been established for some years, an important change 

is an increase of winter grasses (C3 ) (Berretta and Levratto, 1990; Bemhaja 

and Berretta, 1991). On similar unimproved grasslands of the basalt region, 

summer species are always more frequent than winter ones (Formoso, 1990; 

Berretta, 1990). On improved grasslands, the relative frequency of winter 

forage species is around 75 percent, with similar values for native grasses 

and introduced Trifolium repens . The increased frequency of better quality 

species raises the N content of the forage to 3.2 percent. 

Flowering and seed production are necessary to maintain introduced 

species in the pasture . This ensures regeneration the next autumn , since they 

pass the summer partly as plants and partly as seeds (Berretta and Risso, 

1995). Reduction or total exclusion of grazing also favours seed production 

of native winter grasses, including Poa lanigera , Stipa setigera , Piptochaetium 

stipoides and Adesmia bicolor . Therefore conservation of these species in 

native grasslands is related both to rest periods to allow flowering and seed 

production, and to increased soil fertility. In many improved grasslands, there 

is a remarkable increase in the frequency of Lolium multiflorum , which has 

adapted, and in many cases is introduced and thrives with increased fertility. 

Legume introduction can have positive effects in more degraded grasslands, 

dominated by unproductive or unpalatable grasses and short herbs. Relative 

legume frequency (Trifolium repens , Lotus corniculatus ) is about 60 percent. 

Native, productive winter grasses – Stipa neesiana and Piptochaetium 

stipoides – and naturalized species, such as Lolium multiflorum , increase 

in frequency, while unproductive grasses and herbs decrease (Berretta and 

Risso, 1995; Risso and Berretta, 1997). Oversowing of perennial and annual 

legumes in C3 -dominated grasslands that had a yearly forage production of


3 400 kg DM/ha, increased forage production to 8 600 kg DM/ha (Ayala et 

al., 1999). 

Stock management 

Managing livestock is one of the most important options for farmers in 

improving the utilization efficiency of available forage and to increase its 

productivity . This low-cost technique is based on adapting the nutritional 

requirements of stock classes to the grassland growth curve. Stock management 

involves short seasonal mating, early weaning, pregnancy diagnosis, stock 

classification according to nutritional requirements, and sales organization. 

An example of the impact of this technology is found in Curuzu Cuatiá 

Department. While the average liveweight gain for the Department is 56 kg/ 

ha/year, twelve farms that adopted these practices averaged 88 kg/ha/year 

over five years. 

Mineral supplementation 

Phosphorus deficiency in diets is one of the limiting factors for animal 

production in the region. Unsupplemented steers have a liveweight gain of 

66 kg/year, while supplemented steers can gain 106 kg/year. 

Other management practices 

Other management practices that increase productivity include mowing of 

tussock grasslands, burning , autumn deferments for winter grazing , strategic 

rests for paddocks, energy-protein supplementation, and “protein banks”. 

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES 

Advances in knowledge over the last 35 years concerning the structure, function 

and management of natural grasslands show that there is great potential, at 

least in the Rocky Outcrops region. The next task should be to evaluate these 

technologies in other ecological regions where this could be applicable. In 

regions such as the malezales , factors such as drainage and use of fire have to be 

studied before thinking of any further improvement . The relationship between 

soil series, grass production and carrying capacity is an issue that has received 

little attention. Soil has a great effect on grassland production and stability, but 

research has paid little attention to this topic. 

A task that has to be completed, validated and then extended is paddock 

ranking . Managing natural grasslands means to manage soil, vegetation 

and stock within the constraints of climate to get the best results from the 

combination of factors. Each stock class has specific nutritional requirements; 

each paddock has different FO and potential. Today, the pastoral value of a 

paddock is subjectively evaluated. Methodology development is required to 

enable simple objective paddock ranking, and to match paddock FO with 

animal requirements.

210 


Research has focused on technology for increased production. Monitoring 

the effects of recommended technology with respect to biological and 

economic sustainability has received little attention. The search for alternative 

production from grasslands, such as agrotourism and game harvesting , would 

allow diversification of use of these ecosystems . There is a need to find reliable 

sustainability indicators to allow us to ensure that recommended technologies 

are sustainable, so coming generations receive a better resource than we 

inherited. 

Ecological grassland management for maintaining productivity 

Natural grasslands are the main basis for meat and fibre production in the 

region, and are also a huge reservoir of valuable grass and legume species, which 

it is necessary to select and screen under cultivation . Only with deep knowledge 

of the behaviour of native species will it be possible to conserve and improve the 

natural grasslands and protect the soil from erosion and degradation . Research 

in the region suggests that the potential of natural grasslands is very high, close 

to cultivated pastures, with better persistence. 

Studies on natural grassland dynamics with several management -controlled 

factors reflect ongoing changes that occur slowly, with seasonal variations more 

important than grazing effects. Over longer periods, high continuous grazing 

and a high sheep :cattle ratio encourages pasture degradation and lower primary 

production. Quite often, high stocking rates are maintained for economic 

and social reasons, but ultimately lead to poorer animal production. Higher 

stocking rates may increase short-term economic returns, but they increase 

operational risks. Continuous and deeper studies of native grasslands and 

native forage species will increase understanding of the factors that promote 

high secondary productivity – meat and wool in this case – through primary 

production increases related to better use and conservation of forage. 

When stocking rates are adjusted to grassland potential and grazing 

methods include rest periods, grasslands can be maintained, with variations due 

to seasonal changes. These prairie ecosystems are highly stable and are capable 

of recovering after severe impacts, such as droughts . 

Spatial heterogeneity is high on most of the grasslands, mainly due to soil 

type , combined with weather fluctuations and grazing management . Vegetation 

types must have management practices adjusted to the morphological and 

physiological characteristics of the dominant species, so they are better 

managed as independent units. When planning grazing systems , it is necessary 

to know precisely which species are present in the vegetation , concentrating 

on productive types, particularly when coarse ordinary grasses are dominant, 

because prolonged rests and low stocking rates may be beneficial. Determining 

a proper stocking rate that achieve animal performance objectives without 

ecosystem deterioration is the most important management decision. Each 

grassland has a production potential that determines its carrying capacity. The


main problem in developing an optimum stocking rate criterion is the need to 

preserve forage to be used when grass growth is limited by moisture stress or 

low temperatures. 

Liveweight gain s are highly variable, being a function of weather and 

forage availability. When pastures have winter species, autumn deferment is 

recommended to supply forage for winter. When winter grasses are scarce, 

forage accumulation must be achieved in other periods because of fast declining 

forage quality in autumn; under conditions of low autumn growth and quality 

loss as the resting period extends, the accumulated forage is inadequate to 

supply animal requirements and provide the desired liveweight gains (Ayala 

et al., 1999). 

Inadequate grazing management – such as overgrazing , inadequate 

subdivision and continuous grazing – prevent flowering and seed production of 

winter grasses, leaving reliance on vegetative mechanisms alone for persistence. 

This may be the main reason for decreased cover of winter grasses in natural 

grasslands of the Campos . 

Raising the fertility level of the soil by means of N and P fertilization 

increases the production and quality of natural grassland . The process is 

relatively slow, with increased responses as more nutrients are applied. 

Fertilization “disturbance” leads vegetation to a new equilibrium point, with 

botanical changes consisting of an increase in productive species frequency, 

and therefore increased secondary production. This technology complements 

grassland improvement with legume introduction, as well as cultivation of 

perennial and annual forages. Natural grassland fertilization allows increased 

production and quality of vegetation on soils too shallow for more productive 

forages. At the same time, the residual benefits of N and P fertilization must 

also be considered. 

N and P additions, particularly the latter, should help to return to natural 

grassland something that has been extracted during centuries of grazing , from 

livestock introduction at the beginning of the seventeenth century, besides 

its contribution to plant and animal biodiversity maintenance on natural 

grasslands. It is important to conserve this natural resource without degrading 

it, maintaining an awareness of the economic, ecological and social aspects 

implicit in sustainable development . 

The introduction of legumes, coupled with fertilizing at sowing, yearly 

maintenance phosphorous dressings and grazing management , move vegetation , 

in a slow biotic process, to a new equilibrium point where yield and quality 

are higher than the original. Grazing management and fertilization have 

to be closely controlled to maintain the pasture at this higher equilibrium 

point. The result should be a sward dominated by winter species, where high 

quality native perennial species are outstanding. This is an alternative route 

to increasing annual primary production without using herbicides while 

conserving productive species of the natural grassland .

212 


It is necessary to improve the extension of available technologies and to 

promote the training of scientists specialized in management and conservation 

of natural grasslands. This discipline does not exist in Uruguay , despite its main 

agricultural exports being based on natural grassland outputs. 

Scientific knowledge has contributed to better natural grasslands management 

practice, which has resulted in biological and economic benefits for 

farmer communities and society in the long term, with special care for animal 

and vegetation biodiversity and water conservation for the use of all living 

creatures. Plants and domestic animals will continue to provide the main food 

and fibre source of the world, conditioning our actions and behaviour to preserve 

natural resources for future generations. 

In 1943, Professor Bernardo Rosengurtt wrote: 

“Let us conserve with infinite care the prairie heritage, simultaneously national and private, to 

transfer it whole to the coming generations.” 

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Grasslands of central North America 221 

Chapter 6 

Grasslands of central North America 

Rex D. Pieper 

SUMMARY 

At the time of colonial settlement there was extensive grassland from the prairies 

of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico on mainly level topography. Great Plains grassland 

is in three strips running north-south: tall-grass , mixed -grass and short-grass , 

with the tall-grass in the better watered west. Precipitation increase from west to 

east (320 to 900 mm) is the main factor governing primary productivity ; periodic 

droughts occur. Bison, the dominant large herbivore until the mid-nineteenth 

century, have largely been replaced by cattle . About half of the beef cattle in the 

United States of America are in the Great Plains. Woody vegetation types are 

embedded, with the trees varying according to latitude. C4 species comprise more 

than 80 percent from 30° to 42°N, while C3 species increase dramatically north of 

42°N. Only 1 percent of the tall-grass remains; half of the short-grass is uncultivated; 

unproductive cropland is being put back to grass. Cattle predominate; 

sheep are far fewer and declining. Most land is privately owned, much in small 

farms . There is extensive ranching in dry areas. Grazing is seasonal, especially in 

the north with supplemental feed in winter . In favourable areas, sown pasture are 

used sometimes alongside range grazing . Rotational grazing is common, although 

research results on its advantage are mixed. Fire is used to suppress undesirable 

plants and increase fodder production. Grassland monitoring includes long-term 

ecological research sites. Introduced plants can cause problems: Euphorbia esula 

is an aggressive weed and Bromus japonicus often competes with native grasses. 

Many small operations are no longer economically viable, so many are being 

abandoned. Livestock enterprises should remain viable, although they have to 

compete with systems based on forage grown under irrigation. 

INTRODUCTION 

When European settlers first moved into the central portion of what is now 

the United States of America (USA ), they encountered an extensive , unbroken 

grassland extending from the prairies of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and 

Mexico. While this grassland was generally free from woody plants, apparently 

there was a dynamic ecotone between the mountains and deserts to the 

west and the eastern deciduous forests in central and northern portions of 

the grassland (Bazzaz and Parrish, 1982; Gleason, 1913; Transeau, 1935). The 

general impression held by many observers was that conditions in this vast

222 

Figure 6.1 

The extent of grasslands in North America. 


Figure 6.2 

Map showing grassland 

types in central USA . 

SOURCE: Lauenroth et al.,1994. 

grassland prior to European settlement were pristine and little modified by 

man (Deneven, 1996; Leopold et al., 1963). However, Flores (1999) presents 

persuasive arguments that native American populations were relatively high in 

the Great Plains and probably exerted considerable influence on other components 

of these grassland ecosystems . 

LOCATION AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION 

The extent of grasslands in North America is shown in general terms in Figure 6.1. 

At coarse scales the Great Plains grassland is commonly divided into tall-grass 

(true prairie), mixed - (or mid-)grass , and short-grass (Bazzaz and Parrish, 1982; 

Gleason and Cronquist, 1964; Lauenroth, et al., 1994; Laycock, 1979; Sieg, Flather 

and McCanny, 1999; Sims, 1988) (Figure 6.2). Plates 6.1a–c show examples of the

REX PIEPER 

REX PIEPER 


Plate 6.1a 

Examples of the three major grassland types , from North Dakota in the north to 

New Mexico in the south – (a) Short-grass prairie (central New Mexico). 

Plate 6.1b 

Examples of the three major grassland types , from North Dakota in the north 

to New Mexico in the south – (b) Northern mixed -grass prairie (central North 

Dakota). 

three major grassland types from North Dakota to New Mexico. The map in 

Lauenroth et al. (1994) (Figure 6.2) shows that the tall-grass prairie formed a 

narrow band from Canada south to the Gulf Coast Prairie in Texas. The diagram 

in Barbour, Burk and Pitts (1987) shows a transect (Figure 6.3) from the Pacific 

Ocean to the Atlantic at latitude 37°N (the northern boundary of Arizona and

224 


Plate 6.1c 

Examples of the three major grassland types , from North Dakota in the north to 

New Mexico in the south – (c) Tall-grass prairie (eastern Kansas). 

Figure 6.3 

Transect showing topographical changes across central USA . 

SOURCE: Barbour, Burk and Pitts, 1987. 

New Mexico). This diagram shows short-grass vegetation occupying the area 

between 105° and 101°W, the mixed prairie to 98°W and the tall-grass prairie 

to 93°W. The map in Lauenroth et al. (1994) shows that the northern mixed 

prairie forms a broad band in Canada, eastern Montana, the Dakotas and eastern 

Wyoming (Figure 6.2). The southern mixed-grass prairie is constricted between 

the tall-grass prairie to the east and the short-grass prairie to the west, and found 

REX PIEPER


in southern Nebraska, central Kansas and Oklahoma, and Texas (Lauenroth et al., 

1994; Lauenroth, Burke and Gutmann, 1999). 

CLIMATE 

Figure 6.4 shows the precipitation gradient east of the Rocky Mountains in 

the central part of the Great Plains resulting from the rain-shadow effect of 

the Rocky Mountains. Annual precipitation increases from about 320 mm 

at Greeley, Colorado, to nearly 900 mm at Kansas City, Missouri. Seasonal 

precipitation patterns also vary from south to north in the central plains 

(Trewartha, 1961). In southern portions of the short-grass prairie , summer 

maxima are the rule, while further east there is one peak in the late spring -early 

summer and another in late summer-early autumn (type 3b in Trewartha, 1961). 

In the northern Great Plains, spring peaks are common (type 3c in Trewartha, 

1961) while in the upper Mississippi Valley-Great Lakes region, summer and 

autumn peaks occur (Trewartha, 1961). 

The major temperature gradient is from warm temperatures in southern 

grassland to cooler temperatures in the north (Figure 6.5). The gradient is 

steeper for January temperatures than for July temperatures. Colder winter 

temperatures in the north have many implications for both plants and animals. 

However, snow cover in the north may ameliorate extremely cold air temperatures 

at the soil surface. Winter temperatures in southern locations allow 

cool-season plant growth almost any time that there is adequate soil moisture 

(Smeins, 1994; Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 2001). 

Before European settlement, the three grassland types in the central portion 

of the continent were fairly comparable in area: short-grass was 615 000 km 2 , 

mixed prairie was 565 000 km 2 and tall-grass prairie was 570 000 km 2 (Van 

Dyne and Dyer, 1973). Today, the tall-grass prairie is much constricted because 

of conversion to intensive agriculture; originally, it extended eastward into 

southern Minnesota, most of Iowa, northern Missouri and northern Illinois 

and western Indiana (Lauenroth, Burke and Gutmann, 1999). Currently, the 

Figure 6.4 

Mean annual precipitation 

gradient for various sites on 

the Great Plains east of the 

Rocky Mountains.

226 

Figure 6.5 

Average January and July 

temperatures for various sites 

on a south-north transect in 

the Great Plains. 


tall-grass prairie occurs mostly as isolated tracts, such as the Osage Hills in 

Oklahoma and the Flint Hills in Kansas. 

TOPOGRAPHY AND SOILS 

Topographically, the Great Plains are relatively level, but minor topographic 

variations are important in influencing plant species distributions and other 

inclusions within the grassland . Often, poorly drained sites in depressions, 

either with or without standing water, offer habitats for plants and animals not 

found in adjacent grassland. 

Grassland soils have developed from a variety of parent materials: limestone, 

sandstone, shale, metamorphic and igneous outwash, and loess (Buol, 

Hole and McCracken, 1980; Dodd and Lauenroth, 1979; Miller and Donohue, 

1990; Sims, Singh and Lauenroth, 1978). The major soils are mollisols, deep 

soils with dark A horizons and high (>50 percent) base saturation (especially 

calcium) (Miller and Donohue, 1990). Surprisingly, the A horizon has a clay 

content nearly equal to that of the B horizon (Baxter and Hole, 1967). Several 

soil organisms including a common prairie ant (Formica cinerea) are apparently 

involved in translocation of clays from the B horizon to the A (Buol, Hole 

and McCracken, 1980). Buol, Hole and McCracken (1980) describe the soil 

forming process for mollisols as “melanization”. This process consists of five 

specific processes (Hole and Nielsen, 1968): 

1. Growth of plant roots into the soil profile. 

2. Partial decay of organic material in the soil. 

3. Mixing of the soil by soil micro-organisms. 

4. Eluviation and illuviation of organic colloids and some inorganic colloids.

S.G. REYNOLDS 


5. Formation of resistant “ligno-protein” residues producing the dark colour 

in the soil. 

Soils developed in semi -arid portions of the grassland , classified as aridisols 

formed by calcification, often develop calcium carbonate (caliche) layers at varying 

depths below the surface (Breymeyer and Van Dyne, 1979). Other soils 

found in the grassland include alfisols, found extensively in Kansas, Oklahoma 

and Texas (Sims, 1988). 

FAUNA 

At the time of early exploration of the American grassland , bison (Bison bison) 

were the dominant large herbivore in the Great Plains (Plate 6.2), although 

pronghorn antelope (Plate 6.3) were also abundant (Shaw, 1996; Yoakum, 

O’Gara and Howard, 1996). Seton (1927), Garretson (1938) and Danz (1997) 

estimated that as many as 40–60 million head of bison were present in the 

North American grassland before settlement. Numbers of pronghorn were 

probably comparable to those for bison (Nelson, 1925; Yoakum, O’Gara and 

Howard, 1996). 

Grasslands also provided habitat for a wide variety of small mammals, 

including prairie dogs (Cynomys spp. ), jackrabbits (Lepus spp. ), ground squirrels 

(Spermophilus spp. ), gophers (Geomys spp. and Thomomys spp.) and 

voles (Microtus spp .). Originally, several species of prairie dogs occupied over 

800 000 ha of grasslands in central USA (Kreitzer and Cully, 2001; Summer and 

Linder, 1978), but by the early 1990s their distribution had been reduced by 

98 percent (Vanderhoff, Robel and Kemp, 1994). 

A wide number of invertebrates such as grasshoppers, beetles, ants, sap 

feeders and members of other orders are important components of grassland 

Plate 6.2 

Remnant herd of bison (Bison bison).

228 

Plate 6.3 

Pronghorn antelope on mixed grass prairie – North Dakota. 


ecosystems (Blocker, 1970; McDaniel, 1971; Risser et al., 1981). Some, such 

as grasshoppers, have been studied because of their economic importance 

(Hewitt, 1977; Hewitt and Onsager, 1983) while others, such as nematodes, 

have only recently been properly assessed as to abundance and importance 

(Freckman, Duncan and Larson, 1979; Smolik, 1974). 

Central plains grasslands also support diverse populations of birds (Bolen 

and Crawford, 1996; Guthery, 1996; Knopf, 1996; Wiens, 1973). However, 

within the grassland geographical region, habitats other than grasslands 

have higher numbers of avian species. Only 11 percent of the bird species 

within the grassland geographic area were actually inhabitants of grassland 

per se: 51 percent were associated with woodland and forest habitats and 

22 percent with wetland habitats (Bolen and Crawford, 1996). Nevertheless, 

birds are abundant in grasslands. Glover (1969) listed over 150 species found 

on the Central Plains Experimental Range in short-grass habitat in northcentral 

Colorado. These included both primary consumers and secondary 

consumers. Common grassland birds include western meadowlark (Sturnella 

neglecta), grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), horned lark 

(Eremophila aplestris) and chestnut-collared longspur (Calcarius ornatus) 

(Wiens, 1973, 1974). 

Cattle (Plates 6.4 and 6.5) have largely replaced bison as the dominant large 

herbivore on the Great Plains. The importance of Great Plains cattle to the beef 

industry in the USA is reflected in data quoted by Holechek, Pieper and Herbel 

(2001) indicating that 50 percent of all USA beef cattle are found in the northern 

and southern Great Plains. Although Lauenroth et al. (1994) concluded 

that vegetation changes resulting from the shift from bison to cattle have been 

minimal, there are differences in grazing patterns and behaviour: bison select a 

DUANE McCARTNEY

MAE ELSINGER 

DUANE McCARTNEY 


Plate 6.4 

Herding cattle in a mixed -grass zone, Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Plate 6.5 

Cattle grazing on Deseret Ranch near Salt Lake City, Utah, USA . 

diet higher in grasses than cattle; bison select a diet higher in digestibility than 

cattle; bison spend less time grazing than cattle; and cattle are restricted in grazing 

by fences while bison were free to move over the landscape (Danz, 1997; 

Donohue, 1999; Stueter and Hidinger, 1999; Pieper, 1994).

230 


VEGETATION PATTERNS 

While the Central Plains grassland of North America is often divided into three 

subdivisions, as noted earlier, the patterns are more complex at finer scales. 

For example, Sieg, Flather and McCanny (1999) show 24 major vegetation 

types extending from Canada to the coastal prairies in Texas. Similar rangeland 

also occurs in northern Mexico. Woody vegetation types embedded in the 

grassland includes aspen parkland in the north, mesquite -acacia savannah, 

shinnery oak savannah, cross timbers, mesquite-buffalo grass , juniper -oak 

savannah, oak-hickory forest and oak-hickory-pine forest in the south (Sieg, 

Flather and McCanny, 1999). These woodland types have been described in 

more detail by Dahl (1994), McClendon (1994), Pettit (1994), Engle (1994) 

and Smeins (1994). Several species of juniper have expanded into grasslands in 

recent times. In Oklahoma some estimates of expansion of eastern red cedar 

(Juniperus virginiana ) are as high as 113 000 ha annually (Engle, 2000; Gehring 

and Bragg, 1992). In Texas, ash (Juniperus ashei ) and redberry (Juniperus 

pinchoti ) junipers have also expanded into grasslands (Smeins, 2000). Reduced 

fire intensity and frequency is considered one of the primary factors in this 

expansion (McPherson, 1997). 

Major grass dominants in the tall-grass prairie (Plate 6.6) are big bluestem 

(Andropogon gerardii ) little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium ), Indian grass 

(Sorghastrum nutans ) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ). In the mixed -grass 

prairie (see Plates 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9), needle-and-thread grass (Stipa comata ) and 

western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii ) are common grasses, but many other 

species are abundant on specific sites. Sims (1988) states that the vegetational 

Plate 6.6 

Tall-grass prairie – Sheyenne National Grassland area, North Dakota, USA . 

JEFF PRINTZ, USDA-NRCS

JEFF PRINTZ, USDA-NRCS 

JEFF PRINTZ, USDA-NRCS 


Plate 6.7 

Mixed-grass prairie – west side of the Missouri river, just south of Mandan, 

North Dakota. 

Plate 6.8 

Mixed-grass prairie – north-central North Dakota, USA . 

diversity of the mixed prairie is highest of all grassland types in the USA (not 

unusual for vegetation often considered an ecotone ). Two major grass dominants 

of short-grass (Plate 6.10) vegetation are blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis ) 

(Plate 6.11) and buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides ). Many forb species are also 

common in the grassland. Thus, the term “grassland” may be somewhat mis-

232 

Plate 6.9 

Mixed-grass prairie on the Monet Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Community Pasture , 

Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Plate 6.10 

Short-grass prairie – from a badlands area. 


leading if it implies only grasses are present in high abundance. Typical grassland 

scenes near Mandam in North Dakota and near Salt Lake City, Utah, are 

shown in Plates 6.12 and 6.13, respectively. 

Within the central North America n grassland , there are also minor 

variations in species composition related to micro-relief patterns. Ayyad and 

Dix (1964) reported that three species (Festuca scabrella , Carex obtusa ta and 

MAE ELSINGER 

JEFF PRINTZ, USDA-NRCS

S.G. REYNOLDS 

DUANE McCARTNEY 


Plate 6.11 

Bouteloua gracilis – Blue grama. 

Plate 6.12 

Mixed grass prairie near Mandan, North Dakota. 

Galium boreale ) were most abundant on moist and cool north-facing slopes, 

while other species (Phlox hoodii , Carex filifolia , Stipa comata , Artemisia 

frigida ) reached highest abundance on relatively warm and dry south-facing 

slopes. Species occupying intermediate habitats were Koeleria cristata , Carex 

eleocharis , Stipa spartea and Agropyron dasystachum . Redmann (1975) and 

Sims (1988) reported on micro-topographical and soils variations in mixed

234 

Plate 6.13 

Grassland with sagebrush near Salt Lake City, Utah. 


prairie vegetation in North Dakota. Agropyron smithii , Carex pennsylvanica and 

Stipa comata were dominant species on rolling upland with fine-textures soils, 

while sites at lower elevations with medium-textured soils supported stands of 

Sporobolus heterolepis . In short-grass vegetation in New Mexico, blue grama was 

present in all topographic positions, while Lycurus phleoides , Aristida wrightii , 

Stipa neomexicana and Bouteloua curtipendula occurred on upper slopes. 

Sporobolus cryptandrus and Muhlenbergia torrey i along with blue grama were 

dominant on lower slopes, with blue grama and buffalo grass , Muhlenbergia 

repens and Hilaria jamesii in moister depressions (Beavis et al., 1981). 

There is also a north-south gradient in the relative proportion of C3 and 

C4 species (Sims, Singh and Lauenroth, 1978). C4 species comprise more than 

80 percent of the flora from 30° to 42°N, while C3 species increase dramatically 

north of 42°N (Sims, 1988). 

PRIMARY PRODUCTION 

Several environmental variables act to control primary production in the 

Central Plains grasslands in North America. Precipitation, as it is translated 

into soil water content through infiltration, is often considered the main 

control for primary production (Laurenroth, 1979; Sims, Singh and Lauenroth, 

1978; Sims and Singh, 1978a, b). Several studies have provided regression 

analyses showing the relationship between precipitation and above ground 

net primary productivity (ANPP ). Lauenroth (1979) showed a linear 

relationship between ANPP and mean annual precipitation for 52 grassland 

sites around the world, with r 2 of 0.51 under mean annual precipitation 

ranging from about 100 mm to about 1500 mm. Later, Lauenroth, Burke and 

DUANE McCARTNEY

MAE ELSINGER 


Gutmann (1999) presented similar analyses for a much larger data set from 

central USA grasslands for normal rainfall, favourable and unfavourable 

rainfall patterns. The r2 values were 0.56 for normal years, 0.66 for favourable 

years and 0.43 for unfavourable years (favourable years represent the wettest 

10 percent of the years; unfavourable are the driest 10 percent of the years; 

and normal the middle 80 percent (Soil Conservation Service, 1973)). Of 

course, the ANPP–precipitation relationship is not linear over the complete 

range of precipitation values, and often annual precipitation is a relatively 

poor predictor of ANPP or end-of-season standing crop (Pieper, 1988). 

For example, Smoliak (1956) found that May-June precipitation was highly 

related to end-of-season standing crop in northern Great Plains short-grass 

prairie (r2 = 0.86), while Hart and Samuel (1985) found a high correlation 

between spring -summer precipitation and herbage yield in short-grass 

vegetation in eastern Wyoming (r2 = 0.95). Since primary production is so 

closely related to precipitation, the general pattern of primary production 

(Plate 6.14) follows those gradients of precipitation, increasing from west to 

east. Lauenroth (1979) reported that general average annual production was 

about 200 g/m2 for short-grass, 300 g/m2 for mixed -grass prairie and 500 g/ 

m2 for USA International Biological Programme locations. These general 

averages mask the tremendous variation across these grasslands. For example, 

Risser et al. (1981) reported that above ground peak live standing crop for 

23 tall-grass locations varied from 180 g/m2 at Junction, Kansas, to nearly 

600 g/m2 in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. 

Plate 6.14 

Estimating annual biomass productivity on the Monet Prairie Farm Rehabilitation 

Area, Saskatchewan, Canada.

236 



Considerable portions of the central grasslands of the USA have been converted 

to intensive agriculture (Gunderson, 1981). Thomas, Herbel and Miller (1990) 

estimated that only about 1 percent of the original tall-grass prairie is still in 

native vegetation , while Lauenroth, Burke and Gutmann (1999) estimated that 

approximately 50 percent of the short-grass prairie is still uncultivated. 

Crop production 

Wheat is the major crop grown on the western edge of the Great Plains, 

although larger percentages of the land in wheat occurred in central and eastern 

Kansas and Oklahoma and northeastern North Dakota (Lauenroth, Burke and 

Gutmann, 1999). The pattern of acreage of wheat grown in the Great Plains 

was one of breaking native sod during times of plentiful precipitation and high 

wheat prices, and abandonment of these lands during drought and periods of 

low wheat prices (Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 2001; Sims, 1988; Stoddart, 

Smith and Box, 1975). The dust bowl of the 1930s occurred in southeastern 

Colorado, southeastern Kansas and the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, 

largely on land unsuited for cultivation without irrigation (Costello, 1944; 

Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 2001; Jordan , 1995; Sims, 1988). Considerable 

effort has been expended in developing seeding techniques to “recover” these 

abandoned fields (Bement et al., 1965). 

In 1985, the Food Security Act provided the opportunity for land owners to 

retire cropland, and provided cost-share funding to establish grass cover, wildlife 

habitat or trees (Joyce, 1989). Under the Conservation Reserve Programme 

(CRP ) of this USA Act, many land owners converted cropland to grassland 

(Mitchell, 2000). The CRP is a voluntary cropland retirement programme 

under which the Federal Government pays an annual rental fee and a cost 

share for conversion from cropland to a permanent cover of grass, wildlife or 

trees. The basic goals for creation of the CPR were to: (1) take highly erosive 

cropland out of production and to establish a permanent perennial vegetation 

cover; (2) to decrease farm commodity surpluses; (3) to generate stable 

incomes for participants; and (4) to enhance natural resource values, including 

soil, water, air quality and wildlife (Goetz, 1989; Heimlich and Kula, 1989). 

The map presented by Mitchell (2000) shows that CRP lands are concentrated 

in the plains states, with high densities in the northern Great Plains (Montana 

and North Dakota), the corn belt (southern Iowa and northern Missouri) and 

the southern Great Plains (eastern Colorado, western Kansas and the panhandles 

of Oklahoma and Texas). Originally, the CRP programme was designed 

for a 10–15-year period, but in separate Acts in 1990 and 1996, the CRP was 

extended and broadened (Mitchell, 2000). 

Most land in the Great Plains is under private ownership (Holechek, Pieper 

and Herbel, 2001). For example, Neubauer (1963) reported that there was 

nearly 34 million hectares of private range and pasture land in the Dakotas,


Nebraska and Kansas, but only 1 million hectares of state and Indian land 

and 1.4 million hectares of federal land. There are National Forest lands in 

the Dakotas, Nebraska, Arkansas and Missouri, but most of these are forest 

or woodlands (Mitchell, 2000). Some Forest Service Land is in National 

Grasslands, but these are relatively small compared with non-federal land. 

Licht (1997) lists 15 separate National Grasslands in the Plains states. These 

vary in size from less than 600 ha for McClelland Creek National Grassland , 

to over 400 000 ha in the Little Missouri National Grassland in North Dakota. 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has mineral rights to considerable 

areas outside the West, but little surface rights in the Great Plains (Holechek, 

Pieper and Herbel, 2001). Most of the BLM holdings in the Plains grassland is 

in Montana and Wyoming, but there are also a few allotments in South Dakota 

(Licht, 1997; Wester and Bakken, 1992). 

Major crops in tall-grass regions are maize and soybeans (Lauenroth, Burke 

and Gutmann, 1999), with maize more important in the north and soybean in 

the central and southern portions of the grasslands. Wheat is the other major 

cereal crop, with higher yields in eastern portions, but greater areas in the west 

and north in locations with less than 500 mm/yr precipitation (Lauenroth, 

Burke and Gutmann, 1999). Cotton is important in eastern New Mexico, western 

Oklahoma and northern Texas. 

Grazing management 

Livestock production 

Several types of enterprises constitute the livestock production systems of 

Central North America. In the drier portions of the region (short-grass 

and mixed -grass ), extensive range grazing operations are the norm. These 

operations are typically cow-calf operations with the young animal sold for 

finishing in feedlots (Neumann and Lusby, 1986). In other cases, stocker 

programmes – whereby weaned animals are retained and maintained by 

feeding roughages to ensure growth but not improvement in condition – are 

practised (Neumann and Lusby, 1986; Wagnon, Albaugh and Hart, 1960). 

Stocking rates on native short-grass prairie vary considerably depending on 

precipitation , range condition and other environmental factors. Klipple and 

Costello (1960) reported that moderate stocking in eastern Colorado was 

about 21 ha per animal unit year (AUY), while Bement (1969) recommended 

19.4 ha to support 1 AUY. In the panhandle of Nebraska, Burzlaff and Harris 

(1969) reported that moderate stocking was 14 ha per AUY. These stocking 

rates were based on summer grazing from May through October. In mixedgrass 

regions, stocking rates are normally higher, e.g. 9.3 ha AUY in North 

Dakota (Rogler, 1951). In tall-grass prairie , stocking rates are much higher: 

4 ha AUY in Oklahoma (Harlan, 1960). In the Prairie Provinces of Canada 

(see Plates 6.15, 6.16 and 6.17), Smoliak et al. (1976) reported that carrying 

capacities ranged from 21.6 to 10.9 ha AUY depending on range type and

238 


Plate 6.15 

Mixed-grass zone: roped steer on the Tecumseh Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Area, 


Plate 6.16 

Mixed-grass zone: cattle on the Caledonia Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Area, 


condition. Holechek, Pieper and Herbel (2001) reviewed several grazing studies 

in the Great Plains, and recommended 35–40 percent removal (utilization) of 

current annual production to maintain vigorous plants and grassland ranges 

in a highly productive condition. Bement (1969) recommended leaving 300– 

MAE ELSINGER MAE ELSINGER

MAE ELSINGER 


Plate 6.17 

Winter grazing on the Canadian prairie. 

350 kg/ha at the end of the summer grazing period to support both livestock 

performance and desirable vegetation condition for short-grass rangeland in 

eastern Colorado. 

Most livestock operations in the Great Plains are relatively small. Over 

85 percent of the farms and ranches in the Great Plains (including North 

and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma) 

had less than 100 head of cattle , and only 5 percent had more than 500 head 

(Mitchell, 2000). Over 46 percent had less than 50 head. These were probably 

small operations where cattle were produced in conjunction with cropping 

operations. There were over 180 000 individual units in these seven states in 

1993. Numerically, cattle are much more important than sheep in the Central 

Plains grasslands (Mitchell, 2000). Total cattle numbers for most of the states 

making up the Great Plains was about 25 million head, compared with about 

5 million sheep (Ensminger and Parker, 1986; Mitchell, 2000). Sheep numbers 

have declined during the last 50 years because of predator problems, economic 

conditions, lack of herders in some western states, lack of demand for mutton 

and lamb, and other factors. These data on livestock numbers do not distinguish 

among different types of operations. 

The northern and southern Great Plains (including Texas) support about 

half of the total beef cattle in the USA (Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 2001), 

while the rest of the West supports less that 10 percent of the total. There was 

no distinction between those in feedlots and those on farms and ranches , but 

these numbers illustrate the importance of the Great Plains as a livestock-producing 

area.

240 


Balancing seasonal variations of forage supply 

In more mesic situations, mixed operations are common, whereby animals are 

raised under pasture or confined conditions in combination with cultivated 

agriculture practices (Neumann and Lusby, 1986). In many cases, the number 

of animals in these situations is relatively small. 

Although grasslands have the potential to be grazed year long, they are 

grazed mostly seasonally by livestock. In northern areas, inclement weather 

largely precludes grazing during the winter (Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 

2001; Neumann and Lusby, 1986; Stoddart and Smith, 1955). Native grass hay 

and alfalfa have been used extensively as winter feed in northern areas and as 

supplemental feed in southern areas (Neumann and Lusby, 1986; Newell, 1948; 

Rogler and Hurtt, 1948). Keller (1960) showed that wild hay (native grasses) 

occupied over 3.6 million hectares in the six plains states, followed by alfalfa on 

about 2.8 million hectares and cereal hay on about 0.4 million hectares. 

Another factor involved in decisions for seasonal grazing is that of declining 

nutritive quality of forage as the growing season progresses (Adams et 

al., 1996; Rao, Harbers and Smith, 1973; Scales, Streeter and Denham, 1971). 

Protein content of Great Plains forage generally reaches a peak during the early 

summer period and declines sharply as the forage matures into winter (Adams 

et al., 1996). During the late summer, forage quality was rated as moderate, 

while in the winter it was rated as low quality. Other nutritional variables 

often change in a similar pattern, such as phosphorus content, digestibility and 

intake. Changes in nutritive quality of forage depend to some degree on species 

composition: cool-season grasses (C3 ) have higher nutritive quality early 

in the season than warm-season species (C4 ) that grow later, during the heat of 

the summer. Presence of forbs may also increase mineral content of herbivore 

diets (Pieper and Beck, 1980; Holechek, 1984). In New Mexico, protein and 

phosphorus content of side-oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula ) was significantly 

lower than that of five other grass species (Pieper et al., 1978). Tall-grass 

prairie plants often become coarse and relatively unpalatable late in the growing 

season. 

One approach to mitigation of the problems of low nutritive quality and 

palatability of forage late in the growing season is intensive early stocking 

(Bernardo and McCollum, 1987; Lacey, Studiner and Hacker, 1994; Smith and 

Owensby, 1978; McCollum et al., 1990; Olson, Brethour and Launchbaugh, 

1993). In Montana, early spring grazing was beneficial for most vegetational 

characteristics compared with summer grazing, but livestock performance 

was not reported (Lacey, Studiner and Hacker, 1994). In tall-grass prairie in 

Kansas, intensive early grazing improved steer gains per unit area compared 

with season-long grazing, resulted in more even utilization of the pastures 

and increased desirable perennial grass production, but reduced gain per steer 

(Smith and Owensby, 1978). Other studies in Kansas indicated that stocking 

density could be increased 2 to 3 times by early-season grazing compared with


summer-season grazing (Launchbaugh and Owensby, 1978). However, Olson, 

Brethour and Launchbaugh (1993) cautioned against using early-season grazing 

at high stocking rates when vigour of cool-season plant species is a concern. 

McCollum et al. (1990) reported that total beef production was increased 

19 percent under increased early-season stocking compared with traditional 

season-long stocking. 

Grazing systems 

Other stocking plans for the Great Plains include several types of rotational 

grazing systems (Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 2001). The objective of many of 

these plans is to increase individual plant vigour and overall plant productivity . 

The basic design for rotation systems is to defer grazing on different pastures 

or portions of the entire area at different seasons in different years (Vallentine, 

1990). This objective is met by adjusting the number of pastures and herds to 

ensure that the same area is not grazed at the same period each year. Research 

results comparing specialized grazing systems to continuous grazing have 

been mixed (Herbel, 1974; Herbel and Pieper, 1991; Hickey, 1969; Van Poolen 

and Lacey, 1979). In some cases there has been little difference in either cattle 

production or vegetation status between continuous grazing and some form 

of rotation grazing in the central Great Plains (Hart et al., 1988; Lodge, 1970; 

Rogler, 1951; McIlvain and Shoop, 1969; McIlvain and Savage, 1951; McIlvain 

et al., 1955). Generally, rotational grazing systems, whereby livestock are 

concentrated in one pasture for short periods, decreased livestock performance 

(gain per head), presumably because of lower selection, lower nutritive quality 

of forage selected and lower digestibility (Malechek, 1984; Pieper, 1980). Field 

studies in some cases confirmed this (Fisher and Marion, 1951; Heitschmidt, 

Kothmann and Rawlins, 1982; Pieper et al., 1991; Smith et al., 1967). Other 

studies indicated that there was some vegetation improvement , including 

higher production, increases in abundance of plant species desirable for 

grazing, or increases in plant cover (Herbel and Anderson, 1959; Smith and 

Owensby, 1978; Pieper et al., 1991) under specialized grazing systems. Van 

Poollen and Lacey (1979) reported that six studies in the northern Great Pains 

showed virtually no difference in herbage yields under continuous grazing 

and rotation systems, while in tall-grass prairie (Flint Hills in Kansas) herbage 

yields were 17 percent higher under specialized grazing systems than under 

continuous grazing. In some cases, improved management and more uniform 

grazing distribution under specialized grazing systems are confounded with 

the grazing system. 

During the 1970s and 1980s, interest in short-duration or time-controlled 

grazing , as advocated by Savory (1999), peaked. This grazing approach is based 

on having a large number of paddocks and moving livestock rapidly through 

the paddocks, especially during periods of rapid plant growth (Savory, 1983, 

1999; Savory and Parsons, 1980). The grazing period is often only a matter

242 


of a few days or even, in extreme cases, hours, since all the livestock normally 

allocated to the entire area are concentrated into one paddock at a time. 

Savory has stated that stocking could be doubled over that recommended by 

standard Soil Conservation Service procedures (Bryant et al., 1989). Results of 

experiments involving short-duration grazing in the Great Plains have been 

mixed . Holechek, Pieper and Herbel (2001) evaluated nine studies conducted 

on USA and Canadian grasslands. Many of these studies showed little difference 

in herbage yield between short-duration grazing and continuous grazing 

(Manley et al., 1997; Pitts and Bryant, 1987; Thurow, Blackburn and Taylor, 

1988; White et al., 1991). In some cases there was some advantage for shortduration 

grazing, depending on stocking rate (Heitschmidt, Downhower and 

Walker, 1987). In New Mexico, on blue grama rangeland, short-duration grazing 

apparently benefited blue grama compared with continuous grazing (White 

et al., 1991). Stocking rate was more influential than grazing system in most of 

these studies (Bryant et al., 1989; Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 2001; Pieper 

and Heitschmidt, 1988). 

Short-duration grazing apparently reduced infiltration and increased runoff 

compared with non-grazed or continuous grazing conditions in grasslands 

(McCalla, Blackburn and Merrill, 1984; Pluhar, Knight and Heitschmidt, 1987; 

Weltz and Wood, 1986). Concentrating livestock, even for short periods, tends 

to compact the soil and negates any possible benefit from hoof action. However, 

in New Mexico, infiltration and runoff had returned nearly to normal in shortduration 

pastures following the rest period (Weltz and Wood, 1986). 

Intensification? 

Since grasslands are generally grazed seasonally, provision for feed for the 

rest of the year is necessary. The use of complementary pastures along with 

native range is one approach for meeting the nutritional needs of livestock 

during periods when grazing of native rangeland is not practical (Gillen and 

Berg, 2001; Hart et al., 1988; Hoveland, McCann and Hill, 1997; Keller, 

1960; Lodge, 1970; Nichols, Sanson and Myran, 1993; Smoliak, 1968). Such 

complementary pastures may involve old world bluestems (Gillen and Berg, 

2001), introduced grasses such as crested (Plate 6.18) and other wheatgrasses 

(Holechek, 1981; Rogler, 1960), other cool-season grasses (Nichols, Sanson 

and Myran, 1993) and legumes. 

Fertilization is another practice used to enhance livestock performance 

in the Great Plains (Nyren, 1979; Wight, 1976). Nitrogen is most often the 

limiting nutrient , but in some cases phosphorus and potassium may also be 

limiting (Nyren, 1979; Vallentine, 1989; Wight, 1976). An extensive literature 

on range fertilization has developed that shows, in general, greater vegetational 

response in northern mixed prairie rangelands than in southern areas 

(Vallentine, 1989). Nitrogen fertilization may change species composition 

by favouring cool-season species if applications are made early in the grow-

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 6.18 

Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum ). 

ing season (Nyren, 1979; Vallentine, 1989). In northern mixed prairie, early 

application of nitrogen may stimulate the aggressive cool-season species 

western wheatgrass (originally Agropyron smithii , now Pascopyrum smithii ) 

at the expense of warm-season species (Nyren, 1979). High nitrogen fertilizer 

rates late in the growing season to benefit warm-season species such as blue 

grama may stimulate cool-season species the next spring (Wight, 1976). In 

southern areas, cool-season introduced species such as Kentucky bluegrass 

(Poa pratensis ) may be stimulated (Owensby, 1970; Rehm, Sorensen and 

Moline, 1976; Vallentine, 1989). 

Power (1972) argued that on many northern Great Plains rangelands, 

inorganic nitrogen is immobilized when nitrogen is added as fertilizer and 

sufficient nitrogen must be added to overcome that immobilized. He stated 

that the system could be maintained if annual fertilizer additions plus mineralization 

equals immobilization plus irreversible losses. 

Even though substantial responses in herbage yield can be accomplished 

with range fertilization in grasslands, the practice may be only marginally 

feasible economically. In blue grama rangeland in south-central New Mexico, 

despite doubling of herbage and cattle production from annual additions of 

40 kg/ha, economic returns were marginal (Chili et al., 1998). The economics 

of range fertilization depend mostly on cost of fertilizer and livestock 

prices.

244 


Plate 6.19 

Prescribed burn to control aspen growth on the mixed -grass of the Wolverine 

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Area, Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Rangeland burning 

Fire is another useful tool in managing Great Plains grassland (Wright, 1974, 

1978; Wright and Bailey, 1982). Vallentine (1989) lists 18 separate objectives in 

rangeland burning but suggests that there are three main reasons to burn: 1. To 

kill or suppress undesirable brush plants (Plate 6.19). 2. To prevent invasion of 

inferior species in the understorey. 3. To increase forage production and thus 

grazing capacity . 

Especially in tall-grass prairie , prescribed burning is often used to reduce 

old growth and stimulate new, more palatable growth (Anderson, Smith and 

Owensby, 1970; McMurphy and Anderson, 1965; Smith and Owensby, 1972). 

Wright (1978) suggested that burning in tall-grass vegetation increased palatability, 

suppressed encroachment of trees and shrubs and reduced competition 

from cool-season plants. However, timing of the burning is very important. 

Cool-season grasses are detrimentally affected by spring burning (Hensel, 1923; 

Wright, 1978). Spring burning tends to increase summer gains of cattle , but 

gains may not hold up into the autumn (Anderson, Smith and Owensby, 1970; 

Vallentine, 1989). Late winter burning may initiate spring growth two to three 

weeks earlier than in the absence of burning (Ehrenreich and Aikman, 1963). 

Development of grasslands 

Grasslands are very dynamic, both spatially and temporally (Dix, 1964; Sims, 

1988). Consequently, different authors have considered different factors as 

MAE ELSINGER


influential in the development of grassland vegetation and animal communities . 

Since grasslands operate as ecosystems , it may be futile to try to isolate causal 

factors, since some internal components may interact with others to change 

the nature of the system. For example, Larson (1940) considered that heavy 

bison grazing prior to settlement helped maintain the short-grass prairie . 

However, bison evolved under grassland conditions – vegetation, climate, 

other herbivores and predators – and attaching causality to one component 

may involve circular reasoning. 

Sauer (1950), in contrast, argued that grasslands were maintained by periodic 

fires. Without fires, grasslands would progress to woodlands or forest . 

Indeed, grasslands of central North America have developed under frequent 

fire regimes, caused both naturally and by man (Flores, 1999; Sauer, 1950). 

Flores (1999) suggested that natural lightning fires had results that differed 

from those set by native Americans. He argued that maintenance of southern 

Great Plains grasslands populated by large grazing animals depended on fire 

management by native Americans. 

One prominent feature of grasslands is a variable climate, with periodic 

droughts a common feature (Dix, 1964). The drought of the 1930s that resulted 

in the dust bowl in the Great Plains has been well documented (Albertson and 

Weaver, 1942; Robertson, 1939; Savage, 1937; Weaver and Albertson, 1936, 

1939, 1940; Whitman, Hanson and Peterson, 1943). During the drought of 

the 1930s, blue grama abundance was reduced dramatically (by as much as 

70 to 80 percent) in Kansas (Weaver and Albertson, 1956). In North Dakota 

mixed prairie, blue grama was reduced to about 40 percent of pre-drought 

(1933) levels in 1936–37 (Whitman, Hanson and Peterson, 1943). Other species 

negatively affected by the drought were western wheatgrass , needle-and-thread 

and prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha ). The one species not affected 

by the drought was threadleaf sedge (Carex filifolia ) (Whitman, Hanson and 

Peterson, 1943). 

In western Nebraska, tree ring analyses indicated that over the last 400 years 

nearly 160 were “drought ” years and 237 “wet” years (Weakly, 1943). Borchert 

(1950) reported that drought years tended to be clumped, with an average 

duration of nearly 13 years, compounding the effects of the drought. 

Geologically, the Great Plains consists of a valley between the relatively 

young Rocky Mountains to the west and the older Appalachian chain to the 

east. The valley is drained by the Missouri and Mississippi River systems , 

which have carried sediment from both the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains 

and sorted and deposited these sediments (Dix, 1964). 

In geological time, the central North America n grasslands have undergone 

many transformations since the late Cretaceous period (Axelrod, 1958; Dix, 1964; 

Donart, 1984). At this time the deciduous Pan Tropical Forest covered most of the 

present USA (Axelrod, 1979). From these forests, two distinct forests developed 

during Eocene times: the Arcto-tertiary and Neotropical-tertiary forests (Dix,

246 


1964; Axelrod, 1958). Both of these forests contributed to the central grasslands 

that probably developed in more recent times (Pliocene and Pleistocene series) as 

the forests retreated (Dix, 1964). These vegetational shifts were also accompanied 

by climatic shifts, geologic events and changing patterns of herbivore utilization 

of these grasslands. Glaciation during the Pleistocene had dramatic influences on 

landscapes and vegetation , but the influence on the grasslands is not completely 

understood (Dix, 1964; Flint, 1957; Love, 1959). 

Current status of grassland research and management 

Traditionally, research on grasslands of the Great Plains has been conducted 

by the Land Grant Universities. These were established by the Morrill Act 

of 1862, whereby one university in each state was designated the Land Grant 

University (Holechek, Pieper and Herbel, 2001). The Hatch Act of 1887 and 

the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 completed the tripartite focus of the Land Grant 

Universities in teaching, research and service (National Research Council, 

1996). Each of these universities in the grassland states has been conducting 

research into agricultural practices and they have received research support 

from federal, state and other grant sources. Departments involved in these 

efforts have been those of Agronomy, Horticulture, Agricultural Economics, 

Animal Science and allied disciplines. The Cooperative Extension Service has 

served as the link between the research and application by farmers and ranchers 

(see Plates 6.20 and 6.21 with examples from Canada). Range research in the 

Land Grant Universities has been conducted by researchers attached to other 

departments in the main grassland states: with Animal Science in Montana, 

Plate 6.20 

Plant identification by range management officers on native prairie in the mixed - 

grass zone at Big Muddy, Saskatchewan, Canada. 

MAE ELSINGER

MAE ELSINGER 


Plate 6.21 

Pasture sampling in the mixed -grass zone, Saskatchewan, Canada. 

New Mexico, North and South Dakota; and with Agronomy in Nebraska, 

Kansas and Oklahoma. The School of Forestry at the University of Montana 

also has a range faculty offering degrees in Range Science (Bedell, 1999). 

Colorado State University has a separate Range Science Department, as does 

Texas Tech (with Wildlife Science) and Texas A & M University. 

Research in grassland agriculture has also been conducted by the Agriculture 

Research Service. Experimental stations have concentrated on range and livestock 

problems in the Northern Great Plains in North Dakota; Sydney, 

Montana (now closed); Central Plains in Colorado; and the Southern Great 

Plains in Oklahoma. Research conducted at the universities and Agricultural 

Research Service (ARS) experimental stations has been broad based, featuring 

both basic and applied research. 

Grassland research has also been conducted by ecologists in Biology or 

Botany Departments in Great Plains states. The University of Nebraska was in 

the forefront of ecological research under the direction of Dr John E. Weaver 

during the 1930s and 1940s, although earlier scientists, including Dr Frederic 

E. Clements, were instrumental in establishing ecology at the University of 

Nebraska (Tobey, 1981). Drs Clair Kucera at the University of Missouri, 

Warren Whitman at North Dakota State University, Lloyd C. Hulbert at 

Kansas State University, William Penfound, Elroy Rice and Paul G. Risser at 

Oklahoma State University and John Aikman at Iowa State University also 

had strong grassland research programmes (Kucera, 1973; Tobey, 1981).

248 


In the late 1960s and early 1970s, another major research effort in grassland 

ecology was launched with the International Biological Programme (IBP) 

(Golley, 1993). The Grassland Biome was established with its focus at Colorado 

State University, with Dr George M. Van Dyne as Director. Satellite research 

areas were established at the Cottonwood site in mixed prairie vegetation in 

South Dakota (operated by South Dakota State University); tall-grass vegetation 

in Oklahoma at the Osage site (operated by Oklahoma State University); 

and short-grass vegetation at the Pantex Site in Texas (operated by Texas Tech 

University) and the Pawnee Site in Colorado (operated by Colorado State 

University) (Van Dyne, Jameson and French, 1970). Other grassland sites, such as 

desert grassland, mountain grassland and California annual grassland, were also 

included in the project. Although the project generated much ecological information 

and extensive literature on aspects of grassland ecology, the goal of publishing 

a synthesis volume for each of the grassland types was not realized (Golley, 

1993). Only the tall-grass volume was actually published (Risser et al., 1981). 

The other major outcome of the IBP programme was establishment of 

Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. The argument was made that 

ecological problems could only be approached by looking at dynamics of 

ecosystems in a long time frame – 10 years or more. The Conyza Prairie in 

Kansas (Knapp et al., 1998) and the Central Plains Experimental Range (the 

old Pawnee Site of the IBP) are currently LTER sites. 

Great Plains agriculture is now facing many challenges from various 

sources. This analysis will focus on only a few of these. In the Great Plains, 

as well as most of the West, many small towns and communities are facing 

extreme economic conditions and many are being abandoned (Flores, 1999; 

Licht, 1997). Licht (1997) reported that 81 percent of the Great Plains counties 

lost population between 1980 and 1990. There are probably multiple reasons 

for this decline in rural communities such as reliance on railroads; influence of 

technology and government; better transportation to larger urban areas; location 

of agricultural agents in county seats; and governmental policies (Burns, 

1982). However, Licht (1997) argues that: 

“…the main reason for the collapse of rural communities in the Great Plains is indisputable; the 

region’s inhospitable climate, lack of economically valuable natural resources , high transportation 

costs and other factors meant that it was never capable of supporting numerous vibrant 

economies with high human densities.” 

Along with the constriction of rural communities , many agricultural enterprises 

have been caught in an economic squeeze, with, on the one hand, high 

production costs and, on the other, low prices for their products. This is true in 

both intensive agriculture and the livestock sector. Consequently, many smallscale 

operators (such as family farms ) are no longer able to operate economically 

(Licht, 1997). 

Other biological problems relate to environmental concerns. Even though 

Lauenroth et al. (1994) considered that grazing lands in the Great Plains had


changed little since European settlement, farming and other disturbances have 

had a great effect. For example, Klopatek et al. (1979) showed that most counties 

in the Great Plains had lost some of the potential natural vegetation , with 

the greatest impact in the mesic eastern edge and the least disturbed being the 

more xeric western short-grass plains. From 85 to 95 percent of the bluestem 

prairie vegetation types had been converted to cropland (Sieg, Flather and 

McCanny, 1999). These types of disturbance and vegetation shifts represent 

habitat fragmentation for many wildlife species that developed in unbroken 

tracts of grassland . Conversion to cropland created habitats for other species, 

but loss of both plant and animal diversity in the grassland is a concern 

(Sieg, Flather and McCanny, 1999; Leach and Givnish, 1996; Licht, 1997). 

For example Sieg, Flather and McCanny (1999) reported that in the Canadian 

province of Saskatchewan and six Great Plains states in the USA , 19 percent 

of the breeding bird species declined in numbers from 1966 to 1996. However, 

the number of listed, threatened and endangered (LT&E) plant and animal 

species is relatively low compared with other regions of the country (Ostlie 

et al., 1997; Sieg, 1999). No pattern of LT&E species could be discerned for 

the Great Plains. Large blocks of counties showed no known LT&E species, 

up to a maximum of 9–12 species. These counties were scattered throughout 

the Great Plains (Sieg, 1999). Examples of LT&E species are the black -tailed 

prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigrepes) 

and the western prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara) (Sieg, Flather 

and McCanny, 1999). 

Other environmental concerns regard use of pesticides and herbicides, commercial 

fertilizers, grazing by introduced domestic livestock, status of riparian 

areas and introduction of invasive plants and animals. Crested wheatgrass was 

introduced into the Great Plains in the early 1900s (Holechek, 1981; Rogler, 

1960). The species played a major role in restoration of abandoned wheat fields 

in the northern Great Plains in the 1930s (Rogler, 1960), but some workers 

regard crested wheatgrass as an invader species leading to near monocultures. 

One of the most troublesome introduced plant species is leafy spurge 

(Euphorbia esula ) (Plate 6.22), a perennial forb accidentally introduced into the 

USA from eastern Europe or western Asia (Biesboer and Koukkari, 1992). It is 

an aggressive weed that currently infests over one million hectares in the USA 

(DiTomaso, 2000) and over 650 000 ha in the northern Great Plains (Leistritz, 

Leitch and Bangsund, 1995). Estimates of loss of livestock grazing because 

of leafy spurge encroachment onto northern Great Plains rangelands were 

736 000 Animal Unit Months (AUMs), or US$ 37 million annually (Leistritz, 

Leitch and Bangsund, 1995). 

Introduction of annual grasses such as Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus ) 

has also altered grassland vegetation (Haferkamp et al., 1993; Haferkamp, 

Heitschmidt and Karl, 1997). Japanese brome occurs throughout the Great 

Plains (Hitchcock, 1950) and often competes with native perennial grasses.

250 


Plate 6.22 

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula ) infestation on sandy soils in the mixed -grass zone, 


Haferkamp, Heitschmidt and Karl (1997) reported that presence of Japanese 

brome reduced yield of western wheatgrass in eastern Montana, but removal 

of Japanese brome reduced total standing crop since other species did not completely 

replace the brome. In addition to economic consequences, Huenneke 

(1995) and Hobbs and Huenneke (1992) listed the following ecological impacts 

of plant invasions (for lack of a more appropriate word): spread of toxic substances, 

replacement of native species, alteration of hydrological characteristics, 

alteration of soil properties, and changed nutrient cycling. 

Other suggestions for managing the Great Plains include increasing the 

number of national grasslands and developing a “buffalo commons” for certain 

portions of the Great Plains (Licht, 1997; Popper and Popper, 1994). Although 

such proposals have appeal to some environmental groups, Licht (1997) discusses 

several limitations of such proposals. 

Riparian areas in the Great Plains are also of concern, as they are in many 

other areas of the country (Johnson, 1999). These systems occupy less than one 

percent of the land surface, yet are vitally important for catchment processes; 

plant and animal diversity; and uses by man, including both industrial and agricultural 

purposes (Johnson and McCormick, 1979; Swanson, 1988). Riparian 

systems in the Great Plains have been modified by human activities such as 

clearing for agriculture, grazing , canalization, damming and water diversion 

(Johnson, 1999). Johnson (1999) presents case studies on how these activities 

have altered the Missouri River in North Dakota, the Platte River in Nebraska 

and Foster Creek in South Dakota. 

MAE ELSINGER


FUTURE OF THE GREAT PLAINS 

It is likely that agriculture will continue to dominate the Great Plains into the 

foreseeable future. While technology will continue to develop new approaches, 

such as no-till cultivation , more efficient use of water and fertilizer , and 

methods to survey and monitor landscapes, some of these technologies will be 

difficult to apply because of economic, sociological and biological constraints. 

For example, we now have the technology to consider management at 

relatively large scales (Ludwig et al., 1997). Modern tools. including remote 

sensing (Tueller, 1989), geographical information systems (GIS ) and global 

positioning systems (GPS), provide the opportunity to consider land management 

and ecological situations across landscapes and habitats. However, these 

approaches need to be applied with consideration of some of the limitations, 

such as lack of adequate ground truth data for remote sensing and GIS applications. 

Development of landscape -scale planning for the Great Plains might 

entail consideration of crop agriculture areas, riparian habitats and “natural ” 

vegetation types . The extent and arrangement of agricultural areas and grassland 

vegetation types would be challenging, even if all those concerned could 

agree on percentages of land areas devoted to each and the spatial distribution 

of land devoted to different or several uses because of differences in land ownership 

patterns and extent of agricultural development . Developments such as 

the buffalo commons would be difficult to effect because of the large extent of 

private land in the region. Eventually, lack of water resources will have heavy 

impacts on both agricultural and industrial development. 

Major cities in the Great Plains may not expand into adjacent farmland and 

wild land to the same extent as those in other western cities, but there will 

probably be some expansion. Cities along the western edge of the Great Plains 

– Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, etc. – will continue to grow 

because of favourable perceptions of location near the mountains. 

Livestock enterprises, although stressed economically, will probably remain 

relatively stable. Walker (1995) stated that grazing systems have largely not 

changed the selective nature of livestock grazing. Stocking rate is the primary 

factor determining livestock and vegetational responses (Holechek, 

1988; Walker, 1995). Competition with forages produced under irrigation will 

probably continue to erode livestock production from rangelands in the Great 

Plains (Glimp, 1991). 

Genetic modification of both plants and animals has the potential to change 

plant and animal agriculture in the Great Plains (Walker, 1997). However, public 

acceptance of genetically modified plants and animals will influence how 

fast these technologies are used. 

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Grazing management in Mongolia 265 

Chapter 7 

Grazing management in Mongolia 

J.M. Suttie 

SUMMARY 

Eighty percent of Mongolia is extensive grazing and a further ten percent is forest 

or forest scrub that is also grazed. Its climate is arid to semi -arid and the frostfree 

period of most of the steppe is one hundred days; transhumant herding on 

natural pasture is the only sustainable way of using such land. Cattle , with yak in 

the higher areas, horses, camels , sheep and goats are raised; local breeds are used. 

During the past century management has changed from traditional transhumance, 

to collectives that retained herd mobility from the fifties, to private herding from 

1992. While livestock are now privately owned, grazing rights have not yet been 

allocated; this causes problems for maintenance of pastoral infrastructure and 

respect of good grazing practice. Stock numbers have risen since privatization 

and are now above the previous high of 1950; weakness of the traditional export 

market and increase in the number of herding families are contributing factors. 

Pasture condition is generally sound, although, recently, localized overgrazing 

has occurred close to urban centres and main routes. Considerable tracts are 

undergrazed because of breakdown of water supplies or remoteness from services. 

Major improvement of grazing management and pastoral production requires 

enactment of legislation appropriate to the new management system and organization 

of the herding population. Increased family hay production from natural 

herbage would improve overwintering survival. Transhumant herding of hardy, 

local stock, has proved sustainable over centuries and is still thriving. 

INTRODUCTION 

Mongolia is one of the few countries that is truly pastoral and its economy 

depends largely on livestock, with little crop production, forestry or industry. 

The cold , arid climate is only suitable for extensive grazing and transhumance 

with local, hardy breeds, which are still used, with few inputs other than the 

hard work and skill of the herders (Plate 7.1). This ancient grazing system has 

proved productive and sustainable through the political changes of the past 

century. The grazing lands are in good condition and the local breeds intact and 

thriving; this contrasts with the situation in some neighbouring countries that 

are now facing the consequences of excessive use of exotic breeds and reliance 

on bought, imported winter feed. 

Mongolia lies between 42° and 52°N and 88° and almost 120°E. About half 

the land is above 1 400 m. It is completely landlocked, bordering the Russian

266 

Figure 7.1 

Map of Mongolia . 

Plate 7.1 

Ger and sheep fold on summer pastures – Arkhangai. 


Federation and China (Figure 7.1) and with well -defined natural boundaries 

delimiting the Mongolian steppe: the Altai and Gobi Altai mountains to the 

west and southwest, the Khangai mountains in the central north, the Gobi 

J.M. SUTTIE


Figure 7.2 

Extent of grasslands in Mongolia . 

desert to the south and the taiga to the north; these facilitate neither trade nor 

transport. Access to the sea is through the Chinese port of Tianjin, 1 000 km 

from the frontier. There are very few hard-surfaced roads; the main Russia- 

China railway traverses the country, but there are few internal lines. Livestock 

move to market by droving; other commodities have to be transported over 

poor, unsurfaced roads and tracks. The pastoral and climatic situation has 

close parallels in neighbouring parts of Inner Asia: Buryatia, Tuva and some 

Chinese regions (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the northern part 

of Xinjiang Autonomous Region), although the Mongolian economy and lifestyle 

are much more pastoral and its crop sector vestigial. Under slightly different 

climatic conditions, experience in the transition from collective to private 

herding is also relevant to parts of Central Asia – Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan and 

Tajikistan. Mongolia’s pastoral industry was less drastically modified by collectivization 

than that of the CIS countries in that herder mobility was maintained 

as the key to assuring year-round feeding and risk avoidance , and hardy, local 

breeds remained the basis of the industry. Technologies and strategies developed 

in Mongolia may have relevance throughout the region. 

Grasslands and arid grazing cover 1 210 000 km 2 (80 percent of the land area 

– see Figure 7.2) and forest and forest scrub 150 000 km 2 (10 percent). Some 

90 000 km 2 are said to be used in settlement and infrastructure and 52 000 km 2 

in national parks. The arable area is under 10 000 km 2 , all mechanized , largescale 

farms , although much fell out of cultivation following the demise of the 

state farms (about 7 000 km 2 are estimated to be recoverable). About 80 percent 

of the country, therefore, is extensive grazing exploited by traditional, pastoral 

methods (Plate 7.2). The five main biogeographical zones are: 

• high mountains (70 000 km 2 );

268 

TABLE 7.1 

Land resources of Mongolia . 


Land use Proportion (%) Area (km 2 ) 

Grasslands and arid grazing 80.7 1 210 000 

Forest 6.9 104 000 

Saxaul forest in Gobi 3.1 46 000 

Arable (1) 0.5 7 000 

National parks 3.5 52 000 

Hay land (1) 1.3 20 000 

Roads, buildings and miscellaneous 4.0 61 000 

Total land area 

NOTES: (1) Figures from the early 1990s. Much of that is now fallow . 

SOURCE: Ministry of Agriculture and Food. 

100 1 500 000 

Plate 7.2 

Mountain pastures above larch forest with yak – Zaghvan. 

• mountain taiga (60 000 km 2 ); 

• forest -mountain and steppe – mixed forest and grazing (370 000 km 2 ); 

• dry steppe grassland (410 000 km 2 ); and 

• Gobi – desert steppe and desert (580 000 km 2 ). 

Extensive livestock production is, by far, the country’s major land use and 

industry, as can be seen from Table 7.1. 

The level-to-undulating topography of the Mongolian plateau is frequently 

interrupted by low mountain ranges and is surrounded by rough topography. 

Luvic xerosols associated with Orthic Solonchaks occupy the greatest part of 

the land: the steppes and the Gobi desert . Associations of Haplic Yermosols 

and Orthic Solonchaks also occur. Luvic Kastanozems associated with Orthic 

Solonchaks occupy a large area in the north and east, the best of Mongolia ’s 

J.M. SUTTIE


pasture lands. Mountain ranges are covered by Lithosols associated with Luvic 

Xerosols or Haplic Yermosols (FAO/UNESCO, 1978). 

The climate is cold , semi -arid and markedly continental. High mountain 

ranges isolate the country from the influence of the Atlantic and Pacific climates. 

The Siberian anticyclone determines the low temperature in winter and 

the low precipitation . The frost-free period at the capital is around 100 days. 

There are four distinct seasons: a windy spring with variable weather – spring 

rain is especially valuable to get the pasture growth started before the main 

summer rains; a hot summer, with the main rains falling in the earlier part; a 

cool autumn ; and a long cold winter, with temperatures as low as -30°C. The 

growing season is, therefore, generally limited to about three months. 

Precipitation is low, much falling between June and September. The largest 

grazing areas, the steppe and the mountain steppe and forest , get between 

200 mm and 300 mm annually; the desert steppe receives between 100 and 

200 mm; the desert gets below 100 mm; only the northern zone has over 

300 mm. Most of the precipitation returns to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration; 

about four percent infiltrates to the aquifer and six percent 

contributes to surface flow. Strong winds (with velocities in excess of 20 m/s) 

are common in spring and early summer , and then dust storms can bring disaster 

to people and livestock. Such storms are commonest in the drier tracts. 

The vast majority of the nation, about 80 percent, is Mongol; the extreme 

west is inhabited by Kazakhs and there are some reindeer people in the extreme 

north. Buryats, Tuvans and other Mongol-related peoples make up the rest. 

The total population has risen sharply, more rapidly than livestock numbers, 

tripling since 1950 (see Table 7.2). The degree of urbanization rose very steeply 

on collectivization. Originally urban dwellers were only 15 percent, but ten 

years on this had risen to 40 percent and by 1989, the end of the collective 

period, the urban population was 57 percent, including those in the sum centres. 

The 1997 figures show a slight decrease in the proportion (but not number) of 

town dwellers, perhaps reflecting some families returning to herding . 

The population rise since 1950 has been large and rapid: the projections for 

the next twenty years (Table 7.3) show no slowing down, but rather a near 

doubling! 

Education from 6 to 16 has been compulsory for many years and the level of 

literacy in the population is very high. There are strong training institutions to 

TABLE 7.2 

Population change, rural-urban distribution and total (‘000s). 

Year 1950 1956 1960 1963 1969 1970 1979 1980 1989 1997 1998 

Urban n.a. 183.0 n.a. 408.8 527.4 n.a. 817.0 n.a. 1 161.1 1 226.3 n.a. 

Rural n.a. 662.5 n.a. 608.3 670.2 n.a. 778.0 n.a. 877.9 1 127.0 n.a. 

Total 772.4 845.5 968.1 1 017.1 1 197.6 1 265.4 1 595.0 1 682.0 2 044.0 2 353.3 2 422.8 

Urban % 15.3 40.1 44.0 51.2 57.0 52.1 

NOTE: n.a. = information not available. 

SOURCE: State Statistics Office.

270 

TABLE 7.3 

Projected total population to 2020. 


2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 

2 781 700 3 195 000 3 612 300 3 945 500 4 284 800 

SOURCE: Development scenario for 21st century. UNDP pilot project report. Ulaanbaatar, 1998. MAP-21, MON/95-G81. 

Plate 7.3 

Migrating flock crossing the Ulan Dava pass on the way to summer pasture – Uvs. 

university level – many post-graduates have trained abroad. There are technical 

schools in each aimag (� province). More girls than boys follow secondary and 

university studies – their families do not require them for herding and there are 

adequate women to attend to dairy duties. 

The herders all practice transhumance ; this means that they must move seasonally 

(see Plate 7.3) with their livestock on the pastures. They live in gers (yurt 

in Russian ), cylindrical, domed structures (Plate 7.4) with a wooden framework 

covered with felt; They are free-standing, not held in place by guy-ropes like 

a tent. While the ger is easy to take down and erect and domestic equipment 

is designed for ease of transport, the moving of the family’s gers and baggage 

requires frequent hard work and transport. Fuel for cooking and heating is generally 

dried dung, except in the forest zone, where firewood is also used. 

Mongolia is rich in wildlife and its herds share the grazing with antelope, 

gazelle , elk and deer . Rodents are widespread and can cause much local damage 

to grassland through feeding and burrowing; control was once done through 

poisoning but this has now stopped. There are abundant predators , hawks, buzzards, 

eagles and foxes that feed on them. Wolves prey on sheep flocks and in 

the Gobi Altai the protected snow-leopard may cause damage. 

J.M. SUTTIE

ALICE CARLONI 


Plate 7.4 

Gers and autumn grass . 

Crops and industry are very minor components in the present national 

economy; mineral resources have yet to be tapped on any scale, the forest area 

is relatively small and slow-growing. Agro-industrial processing, almost entirely 

livestock-based, has contracted since economic liberalization. Traditionally, 

herders did not till the land; their economy and life-style was entirely pastoral 

and the climate gave little incentive to do so with the technology available to 

them. A little irrigated cropping, mainly wheat and barley, was done in the 

region of the Great Lakes and the grain parched and ground to a pre-cooked 

flour (similar to the tsampa of Tibet ). 

With the availability of suitable agricultural machinery during the second 

half of the twentieth century, however, it became possible to undertake largescale 

cereal production (Plate 7.5): in some of the less unfavourable areas of 

Central Mongolia over one million hectares were cultivated. The land used 

was, of course, among the best pasture . Some fodders (discussed in detail 

below) and potatoes were also grown, but the area was small compared to that 

of grain. The technology used, based on a rotation of alternating strips of crop 

and fallow , was adapted from Canadian practice. 

State farms and negdel (see Plate 7.6) in suitable sites produced enough grain 

to satisfy the population’s needs – more cereals were eaten during the collective 

period than previously or nowadays. FAO (1996) quotes a 40 percent reduction 

in the consumption of flour. In a semi -arid area with a very short thermal 

growing season, all agricultural operations must be carried out very rapidly, 

especially seed-bed preparation and sowing; yield potential is low, so production 

methods have, therefore, to be extensive . Considerable seasonal risk is

272 

Plate 7.5 

Wheat was once grown over much larger areas in Mongolia . 

Plate 7.6 

Mountain and steppe with negdel complex in background – Tuv. 


involved and harvest can be difficult if a dull summer delays ripening or there is 

early frost or snow. Cropping is not attractive to smallholders. Production was 

highly mechanized , and field sizes large – over a square kilometre. Harvesting 

was by combine harvester, often with assisted drying. Straw was recovered as 

feed and handled mechanically – some straw was ground up as a component of 

S.G. REYNOLDS 

J.M. SUTTIE


“concentrate” feed. The fallow strips had to be cultivated in summer to control 

weeds and prepared for the coming year’s crop. 

With the collapse of the former producing organizations, the crop area is 

greatly reduced, although some companies are still active. There are many 

financial as well as technical problems, including seed supply and competition 

from imported flour. The country is now very much dependent on its 

neighbours for grain supplies, a problem for national food security. Much of 

the former crop land is in tumble-down fallow , the area is not known but it is 

estimated that 700 000 hectares could be recovered for cropping; this provides 

some grazing but would require continual weed-control work were it to be 

cropped. Straw is not, therefore, an important source of fodder. 

Changes in administrative systems in the twentieth century 

The cold , arid climate is well suited to extensive grazing and transhumance , 

which makes best use of pastures, where forage availability in any one place can 

vary greatly from season to season and from year to year. The ancient, original 

systems were transhumance with a wide range of possible travel. According to 

Humphrey and Sneath (1996a) 

“Banners were the main administrative units of the Manchu government in Inner Mongolia and 

Mongolia. They approximated in area to the present counties (banners) in Inner Mongolia. In 

Mongolia, territories of banner size no longer exist; they were amalgamated into aimags , which 

are divided into sum (more numerous and mostly smaller units than the previous banners). 

The ‘traditional’ practice in the pre-revolutionary period in the open steppes of Inner Asia was 

based on general access to the bounded pasture territories coordinated by leaders and officials. 

In Mongol inhabited areas, along with small herder groups of a few families, there were large 

institutions, notably Buddhist monasteries and the economies of banners [administrative units] 

managed by the ruling princes. These institutions held their own property or funds (jas) consisting 

of livestock, land and money. In Mongolia and Inner Mongolia the animals were herded by 

monastery serfs (shabinar) or banner princes’ serfs (hamjilaga), while a further class of State 

subjects (albat) paid taxes and performed labour services. The large monastic foundations, with 

their own territories and people, functioned as districts equivalent to banners, but there were also 

numerous smaller monasteries located inside the princely banners.” 

Feudal land ownership was done away with on the founding of the 

Mongolian Communist State in 1921; transhumance continued with government, 

instead of feudal, supervision. 

In the late thirteenth century, Marco Polo described the Mongol transhumance 

and their gers (Latham, 1958: 67). 

“They spend the winter in steppes and warm regions where there is good grazing and pasturage 

for their beasts. In summer they live in cool regions, among mountains and valleys, where 

they find water and pasturage. A further advantage is that in the cooler regions there are no 

horse flies and gad flies or similar pests to annoy them and their beasts. They spend two or three 

months climbing steadily and grazing as they go, because if they confined their grazing to one 

spot there would not be grass enough for the multitude of their flocks. They have circular houses

274 


made of wood that they carry about with them on four-wheeled wagons wherever they go. The 

framework of rods is so neatly and lightly constructed that it is light to carry. And every time 

they unfold the house and set it up the door is always facing south. They also have excellent twowheeled 

carts – these are drawn by oxen and camels . And in these carts they carry their wives and 

children and all they need in the way of utensils.” Polo continues with more that is still apposite: 

“And I assure you that the womenfolk buy and sell and do all that is needful for their husbands 

and households. For the men do not bother themselves about anything but hunting and warfare 

and falconry.” 

The country’s pastures have probably always been heavily stocked – hard 

grazing is a historical phenomenon, not something of recent development . 

Kharin, Takahashi and Harahshesh (1999) quote Przevalsky (1883) who “said 

that all suitable agricultural lands were reclaimed and all grazing lands were 

overloaded by livestock.” 

A fundamental change took place in 1950 with the collectivization of the 

livestock industry; while this facilitated the provision of government services 

and marketing (and probably control of a nomadic population), it decreased 

the range over which herds could travel and thus reduced opportunities for 

risk -avoidance in times of feed scarcity. The unit of management during the 

collective period was the negdel covering the same area as a single district 

(sum ); it was primarily an economic unit responsible for marketing livestock 

products, supplying inputs and consumer goods as well as fodder and transport 

services to members; it provided health, education and veterinary services. 

Although livestock was collectivized, each family was allowed to keep two 

livestock units (bod 1 ) per person so about a quarter of the herd was under 

private control. Collectivization , as noted above, led to a very large rise in the 

proportion of urban population. 

During the collective period, the government was heavily involved in 

livestock production through the provision of breeding stock, fodder, 

marketing, transport and services. It was a heavily subsidized production 

system that did not allocate resources efficiently. The loss of mobility through 

collectivization was compensated by the production of supplementary forage 

and a State Emergency Fodder Fund was established as a mechanism to provide 

feed during weather conditions that would threaten survival, but, with heavily 

subsidized transport and undervalued prices, herders soon became dependent 

on it as a regular source of feed. By 1991, the State Emergency Fodder Fund 

was handling 157 600 t/yr and had become a major component of the state 

budget. A network of stock-routes was maintained that allowed slaughter 

stock to be trekked to market, fattening en route. There were marketing and 

primary processing facilities for hides, skins, wool and cashmere . 

Eighteen aimags were subdivided into 225 districts – sum – that in turn 

were divided into brigades . Negdel headquarters had administration, schools 

1 A large-animal unit: a camel = 1.5 bod ; cattle and horses = 1; 7 sheep or 10 goats = 1 bod.

ALICE CARLONI 

ALICE CARLONI 


Plate 7.7 

Hay reserves for feed provision under the State Emergency Fodder Fund 

Plate 7.8 

Trucks distributing winter feed 

(boarding), medical facilities, a veterinary unit, communications, recreational 

facilities and shops. Negdels were set production quotas and paid accordingly 

with bonuses – the system was production driven. A vast number of salaried 

administrators and specialist staff was built up at all levels, especially in the 

capital. 

Negdels were divided into production herding brigades or teams, which 

were further sub-divider into suuri – individual units made up of one to

276 


four households (sur ). There were other, salaried, brigades for haymaking , 

mechanization, etc. Brigades had production targets for each sur, determining 

the quantity of meat , wool and other products to be delivered according 

to the annual state procurement order. A sur was generally involved in the 

production of single-species herds for which a monthly salary was paid (each 

household, however, had some private livestock for subsistence). Pasture 

management was organized along rational lines and the seasonal movement 

of herds (and resting of grazing land ) planned and the plans followed by the 

sur. Emphasis was on animal output rather than pasture improvement but 

the system did assure better pasture management than today’s anarchy. Hay 

lands were reserved and managed separately from grazing. 

The negdels were privatized in 1991; this was meant to take place in two 

stages. Thirty percent of negdels’ assets were distributed between members; 

a further 10 percent of the livestock was distributed to sum inhabitants 

(administrative and health workers, etc.). The remaining 60 percent of assets 

was formed into a limited liability company; these companies were generally 

unsuccessful and the livestock industry reverted towards its earlier familybased 

transhumance . In some cases the livestock were distributed without the 

formation of a company. 

Grazing lands , pasture and fodder 

The natural grazing has a very short growing season, limited by low 

temperatures. Pasture growth begins in mid-May and usually ceases after mid- 

August because of drought . Frosts can occur at the end of August; the thermal 

growing season is shorter in the mountains and longer in the Gobi . The grazing 

lands were surveyed in detail and pasture maps covering the country produced 

about twenty years ago. Under negdel management , pastures were monitored 

and seasonal movements of livestock respected. The monitoring of pasture 

condition needs updating so that the present situation can be defined and 

policies formulated on a basis of fact rather than opinion. The dichotomy of 

interests between the grazers and the grazed is recognized at government level: 

livestock are under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food while the grazing lands 

and the monitoring of their vegetation are the responsibility of the Ministry of 

the Environment and Natural Resources; close inter-ministerial collaboration is 

essential in any work on pasture management at national level. 

Opinions on the present state of Mongolia ’s pastures vary widely, especially 

those of external missions. There is general agreement that overstocking now 

occurs close to agglomerations, especially the capital and along roads. Damage 

through random track-making by vehicles, particularly in valley-bottoms, 

is also widespread. Thereafter opinions have varied from declaring that the 

nation’s pastures are seriously degraded, risking an ecological disaster, to the 

view that overstocking is a localized phenomenon and labour availability, not 

pasture production is the main constraint to herding . While stock numbers are


at an all-time high since recording began in 1918, the 1996 levels are only marginally 

higher than those of 1950. The consensus is that problems vary from 

place to place and that outlying (summer and autumn ) pastures are underutilized, 

while winter -spring pastures are often being abused. Natural control 

of stock numbers is the traditional way to correct overstocking. Periodic zud 

[winter natural disaster – discussed later] or prolonged drought kills large numbers, 

and puts the grazing stock back in equilibrium with the forage supply, 

but however effective natural disasters are in protecting the grazing vegetation , 

they inevitably lead to poverty and suffering among the herders. 

The vast grasslands of Mongolia are part of the steppe, a prominent transition 

belt in Inner Asia and Central Asia between their forest and desert belts. 

Steppe vegetation is characterized by a predominance of grasses, especially 

species of Stipa and Festuca . Legumes are scarce; the commonest are Medicago 

sativa subsp. falcata and Astragalus spp. Artemisia frigida is frequent and is the 

main steppe-forming plant of the desert steppe . The montane forest steppe has 

Festuca spp. and Artemisia spp. as dominants. 

There are typical plants associated with the main pasture zones . High 

mountain pasture is dominated by Kobresia bellardii , Ptilagrostis mongolica , 

Arenaria, Formosa and Potentilla nivea ; Forest steppe is dominated by Festuca 

lenensis , Carex pediformis , Aster alpinus and Androsace villosa ; the steppe 

zone is dominated by Stipa capillata , Elymus chinensis , Cleistogenes squarrosa 

, Koeleria macrantha , Agropyron cristatum , Carex duriuscula , Artemisia 

frigida and Potentilla acaulis ; the desert steppe is dominated by Stipa gobica , 

S. glareosa , Allium polyrhizum , Artemisia xerophytica , A. caespitosa , Anabasis 

brevifolia and Eurotia ceratoides ; and the desert zone is dominated by shrubs 

and semi -shrubs like Anabasis brevifolia, Salsola passerina , Sympegma regeli i 

and Nanophyton erinaceum . 

The steppe has five major zones with different livestock production capacities. 

The Khangai-Khosvol region in the northwest is mountainous with scattered 

larch forest . It includes Arkhangai, Khovsgol and part of Bulgan and 

Zhagvan aimags ; this is mixed grazing , with yaks replacing cattle at the higher 

altitudes. Selenge-Onon in the north central area (Tuv, Selenge and parts of 

Bulgan) is the main area of agricultural production. These two regions drain 

to Lake Baikal. Altai (covering Uvs, Bayangol, Khovd and parts of Zhavakan 

and Gobi -Altai aimags ) is a high, mountainous, area with internal drainage 

and contains large lakes. In the northern part of the region this again is grazed 

by the main types of livestock with yaks; there is some localized fodder and 

horticultural production under irrigation in the lower parts. The Central and 

Eastern steppes (comprising Dornod, Hentii – see Plate 7.9, Sukhbaatar and 

parts of Dorongobi and Dungovi) are characterized by broad, treeless plains; 

the Herlen river traverses part of the region; the primary activity is herding of 

horses, cattle, sheep , goats and camels . Gobi (mainly Bayankhongor, Omnogobi, 

much of Ovorkhangai and parts of Dungobi and Gobi-Altai) is desert steppe

278 

Plate 7.9 

Saddle horses on hitching line in the eastern steppe – Hentii. 


and desert, used for grazing camels, horses, cattle and goats, with very limited 

hay harvesting; drainage is internal; oases produce vegetables and fruit. 

Sown fodder 

Some fodder was grown during the collective period, for hay , by negdels and 

State Farms in the higher rainfall areas. Some silage was made by “mechanized 

dairies”. The area dropped dramatically with the change of system, from 

147 000 ha in 1989 (Table 7.4) to 25 000 ha in 1993 and is probably much 

lower now. Oat (Avena sativa ) was the main hay crop; its cultivation suited 

the wheat-growing equipment already available, a crop could be grown to the 

hay stage in the short season available, and harvesting and curing was easy. All 

operations were, of course, mechanized. Locally-saved seed was mainly used. 

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) was a common silage crop; in the main crop 

producing areas it can develop to the full heading stage with seed set, suitable 

for ensiling, before low temperatures affect growth; it is very drought tolerant. 

Sunflower seed cannot, however, be successfully ripened in the main silagemaking 

zone; some farms arranged for seed production at lower, warmer sites 

in Eastern Mongolia , but much of the seed was imported from Central Asia . 

Alfalfa (Medicago spp.) has been cultivated on a small scale, under irrigation, 

in the area of the Great Lakes in the northwest for a very long time. This was 

expanded greatly during the collective period but is now on a lesser scale. Local 

landraces are grown, probably M. media types , their seed set and production 

is good in that area; the conditions of western Mongolia are excellent for haymaking 

. Yellow-flowered alfalfa (M. sativa subsp. falcata ), has been grown 

J.M. SUTTIE


TABLE 7.4 

Fodder and straw production 1989-1993. 

Fodder type 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 

Area of fodder ha 147 700 117 800 79 900 52 900 25 600 

Hay harvest tonne 1 166 400 866 400 885 500 668 800 698 400 

Straw used tonne 99 500 58 300 54 600 31 900 26 500 

SOURCE: State Statistical Office, 1994, quoted by FAO, 1996. 

under irrigation on some State Farms, including Khar Horin. It was also grown 

on several small irrigated areas in the Gobi . Gobi sites have generally been converted 

to the more popular and profitable melons and vegetables. 

Sown fodder does not have a high priority under the present economic and 

social conditions but could play a role in supplementing low quality winter and 

spring feed in favoured sites. Oat hay could be developed as a cash crop on cereal 

farms once the crop industry is re-established. Screening and selection of cultivars 

will, however, be necessary, as will development of a seed supply chain. 

Because of the 1944 zud the government decided to encourage the creation 

of reserves of fodder by private herders, but this really developed during the 

collective period. The State Emergency Fodder Fund was set up in 1971, operating 

twelve centres and forty-one distribution points , but its origins date from 

the 1930s, when haymaking stations were started with horse-drawn technology 

brought in from Russia . By 1991, the State Emergency Fodder Fund operated 

22 centres; because of financial problems, most were transferred to aimag 

administrations. The State Emergency Fodder Fund played an important part 

in reducing the impact of weather emergencies but, as economic liberalization 

progressed, its ability to continue its role became doubtful since central government 

could not provide the previous level of subsidy. 

In 1997 total fodder production was estimated at 340 000 fodder units; the 

national average was 4.9 forage units per sheep , less than a tenth of the average 

of 1980. Hay production data for the 1960–1985 period are shown in Table 7.5. 

In 2000, hay production was estimated at 689 000 tonne. Problems of land use 

rights are a serious hindrance to herder haymaking ; a further problem in some 

systems is the location of the hay lands: sometimes they are far from the summer 

pastures (Plate 7.10) and the herders are absent at the haymaking season; sometimes 

they are far from the spring and winter pastures where the hay is needed. 

The biggest bottleneck in haymaking by herders is the amount of labour 

involved and the lack of machinery. Herbage reaches its maximum yield and 

feeding quality in the second half of August in most ecological zones ; this is 

a season of relatively heavy rainfall and it is laborious to mow and turn lowyielding 

crops of hay to give a quality product. 

HAY FROM NATURAL PASTURE IN ARKHANGAI 

FAO has provided some support for work on haymaking in Arkhangai by the 

High Mountain Research Station, based in Ihk Tamir sum , which concentrates

280 

TABLE 7.5 

Haymaking by producer and year (‘000 tonne). 

Plate 7.10 

Haylands – Arkhangai. 


Year State farms Cooperatives Other statal Private 

1960 49.8 728.8 12.5 – 

1970 116.2 328.9 34.4 42.7 

1980 246.6 563.2 161.8 98.6 

1985 323.8 615.3 228.3 108.2 


on montane pasture and livestock management questions, especially yaks . 

Arkhangai aimag is in the central area of the Khangai mountains, its headquarters, 

Tsetserleg, is about 500 km west of Ulan Bator; its latitude is roughly 

47° 30� N at 103° 15� E. It covers a range of ecological zones , including high 

mountain , mountain steppe and steppe zones. 

The average elevation is 1 700–1 850 m; mean annual precipitation 363 mm, 

of which 80 percent falls in the period May to August; mean maximum temperature 

in August is around 16.0°C, falling to -16.0°C in the December to 

February period, with absolute maximum and minimum temperatures of 34.5 

and -36.5°C. The aimag covers 55 300 km 2 , of which 41 000 km 2 is pasture , 

540 km 2 hay and 8 645 km 2 forest . The steppe zone, in the east of the province, 

has the mildest climate: mean January temperature is -16°C (absolute minimum 

-38°C) and July mean is 17.5°C (absolute maximum 35°C), with 98 to 125 frostfree 

days. The main ecological zones in Arkhangai are shown in Table 7.6. 

The high mountains are summer yak pasture that is not really accessible 

to other species, although it can be used for horses. Because of the higher 

humidity in the high zone, small ruminants suffer there from foot-rot. The 

S.G. REYNOLDS


TABLE 7.6 

Ecological zones in Arkhangai. 

Ecological zone Altitude range (masl) Rainfall (mm) Frost-free days 

Steppe & Mountain steppe 1 300 – 1 700 315 – 360 130 – 165 

Mountain steppe 1 700 – 1 900 370 – 480 90 – 150 

Mid-mountain 1 900 – 2 350 440 – 470 70 – 140 

High mountain 2 350 – 2 500 450 – 550 50 – 120 

area is well -watered by mountain streams and rivers; water for livestock is 

not generally a problem in the warmer months, although it may be locally. In 

winter , stock must be watered by cutting through ice to water, or by eating 

snow, with a consequent extra energy requirement. Forests are common in 

the mountain and mountain-and-steppe zones : Larix , Betula and aspen in 

mountain forests; poplar (Populus) and willow (Salix) in riparian forests. 

Timber and firewood are readily available in much of the aimag . Generally the 

sward is dominated by grasses, but broad-leaved species, including legumes, 

are common in areas of favoured moisture status. In the higher grazing areas, 

Cyperaceae are frequent – the dominant pasture in the high mountains is a 

Carex -Kobresia community. 

At present, hay lands are not allocated to herders, so cutting is unregulated 

and competitive; maintenance or improvement of hay land is therefore impossible. 

The area of hay land is inadequate for the aimag ’s needs and yields are 

very low. The growing season is short throughout the project area and scarcity 

of winter and spring feed is a major constraint to intensification of livestock 

rearing. Herders are loath to give supplementary feed, except to special classes 

of stock (milking and pregnant animals; riding horses), because fed animals 

tend to graze less and come home early to wait for feed. 

Now almost all hay is hand-mown from natural stands. Yields are very low, 

600–700 kg/ha at 18 percent moisture, and haymaking is slow and laborious, 

and although yields are very strongly affected by rainfall it is likely that most 

hay fields are declining in yield and quality since they have been mown yearly 

over a long period without rest, manure or other fertilizer . The High Mountain 

Research Station has been working on improvement of hay yields from natural 

stands for some time (variation in cutting dates, dung and fertilizer application, 

irrigation, etc.). Traditional water-spreading methods practised in the mountain 

-and-steppe involve sporadic diversion of spring water in winter to develop 

ice-sheets over hay land, ice which will subsequently melt at the onset of the 

growing season. 

Grazing on exposed and sheltered hills is reserved for the winter ; autumn 

and spring grazing takes place on the slopes leading to the higher areas and 

tree covered areas that will be inaccessible in winter because of deeper snow. 

Haymaking “fields ” (and potential sites), often meadows, lie in these areas in 

sheltered spots along streams and where natural drainage lines favour a concentration 

of moisture, one of the keys to good grass growth. These areas would

282 

Plate 7.11 

Meadow grazing – Arkhangai. 


be grazed early in spring (Plate 7.11) and then left for haymaking (and later 

autumn and winter feed), as the livestock (horses, goats , sheep , cattle and yak 

are moved down to lower elevations. 

Haymaking has been carried out for a very long time. Historically, each 

herder is entitled to use certain land where hay has been cut for many years. 

After privatization, however, every hayfield has become a focus of disputes 

between individual herders and members within social groups, as well as with 

people from neighbouring communities . Also, the repeated cutting of the past 

few decades has led to a serious decline in the natural productivity of hay fields 

and there is no sign, at present, that herders will invest in their improvement . 

Natural hay fields have usually been mown for a long time, so stones and 

obstructions have largely been eliminated. Further study is required on sources 

of animal-drawn equipment such as mowers and trip-rakes (carts are available), 

as well as on how to finance their acquisition and organize their management . 

Ways of raising yields will also have to be investigated if haymaking is to be 

improved – haymaking costs, other than cartage and stacking, are proportional 

to the area dealt with rather than the quantity of hay made. 

The botanical composition of the hayfields varies, of course, according to 

site. In the mountain steppe, the main grasses would be Leymus chinensis , Stipa 

krylovi , Festuca lenensis and Koeleria cristata , with Carex duriscula , Artemisia 

lacenata , A. glauca , A. commutata and Plantago adpressi as the main herbs. In 

a riparian meadow , the grasses would be Leymus chinensis, Koeleria cristata 

and Agropyron cristatum , with Carex pediformis , Artemisia lacenata, Potentilla 

tanacetifolium , P. anserina , Galium verum and Plantago adpressa . In a rainfed 

J.M. SUTTIE


mountain meadow, the grasses and grass -like species would be Agropyron 

cristatum, Poa subfastigata , Festuca spp. and Carex pediformis, and the herbs 

would be typically Artemisia lacenata, A. dracunculus , A. glauca, Thalictrum 

simplex and Galium verum. A mountain meadow on a north-facing slope 

would have Bromus inermis , Calamagrostis epidois , Elymus turczanovii , Stipa 

baicalensis and Carex pediformis as the grasses and grass-like species, with 

Artemisia lacenata, Geranium pratensis and Galium boreale as the main herbs. 

The overall proportion of plant types in hay is Carex 11–22 percent; grasses 

20–37 percent; legumes 6–18 percent; and other herbs (considered to be of 

poor feeding value) 39–58 percent. 

Haymaking trials and demonstrations were established in Ikh Tamir district 

in 1996. Initial trials focused on different rates of dung and their effects, with 

50 t/ha being selected as the rate to be used in trials with ice irrigation and mineral 

fertilizer . Ice irrigation, dung and mineral fertilizer all increased the number 

of plants per square metre, the length of vegetative shoots and dry matter yield, 

but it is unlikely that mineral fertilizer will be an economic proposition under 

present conditions. Differences were particularly significant in 1996, but less 

so in the dry year 1997. In 1997, increases ranged from 253 percent with ice 

irrigation to 407 percent with ice irrigation plus dung, and 707 percent with 

ice irrigation and fertilizer. The percentage of grass on the treated plots rose 

while that of sedges fell. Land ownership (all land is currently state owned) and 

continued access to land are key questions. Although families have traditional 

grazing rights (but not ownership), any move to invest time and resources to 

increase soil fertility and haymaking brings with it the need for some security 

of access to an area of land for a reasonable period of time. 

Herders in Arkhangai made 1 340 kg of hay per 100 head in 1995, less than 

a twelfth of the official norm. Part of this may be due to herders overestimating 

the weight of their harvest by a factor of three or four. Two families have 

recently taken up contract haymaking , with animal-drawn equipment, accepting 

payment in kind or a share of the crop. 

Grazing livestock production 

Mongolia ’s livestock are raised at pasture in traditional, extensive grazing ; this is 

the best – and in most cases the only – type of exploitation suited to the grazing 

lands . Livestock are herded on the open pasture, by mounted stockmen, and 

return to the camp each night, to be penned or tethered, although camels may 

be left at pasture. The intensive sector, which was government-run on state 

farms , has largely broken down since it could not be based on natural pasture 

and depended on large external inputs of feed. Local cattle are poor milkers 

and exotic dairy cattle require good, warm housing to survive the long winter ; 

provision of feed for housed dairy stock is expensive and forage for the eightmonth 

winter has to be saved during a three-month growing season. Some 

small semi -intensive dairying is developing in peri-urban areas and where

284 


cropping and grazing land intermingle. Swine and poultry numbers have 

fallen drastically since decollectivization. Dogs were, previously, licensed but 

are now breeding rapidly and their numbers are uncontrolled . Gid, “circling 

disease” as translated locally, of sheep is common, according to herders 

interviewed in all areas, and is related to the dogs that are intermediate hosts 

of a tapeworm, probably Taenia multiceps, the intermediate stage of which is 

known as Coenurus cerebralis. 

The major infectious diseases have been under control for many years 

through regular vaccination. Recently, veterinary services in the field have been 

privatized; the state still supplies vaccines, free of cost, for the major diseases, 

but herders now have to pay their veterinarian to deliver and carrying out the 

vaccination. 

Nowadays livestock are privately owned: over 95 percent were in private 

hands in December 1998; there were 83 600 herding households with 409 600 

herders. The average household herd was 170 head; 71 percent of the total herding 

families had herds between 51 and 500 head. 

Livestock in herding systems 

Six species are commonly raised – camels (Bactrian), horses, cattle , yaks , sheep 

and goats – with their distribution and frequency depending on ecological 

conditions and pasture type . Although small ruminants are by far the most 

numerous (Plate 7.12), large stock predominate in terms of livestock units – 

camels, horses and cattle account for about 69 percent of the total. Some data 

on liveweight are given in Table 7.9. Currently, the overall livestock population 

is estimated at over 31 million head; nation-wide statistics from 1918 to 1996 are 

given in Table 7.10 (yak are not differentiated from cattle and their hybrids , but 

see Table 7.7). In general, there has been a steady increase in numbers, except 

for camels, which have declined from a peak of 859 000 in 1960 to 358 000 in 

1995. The drop in camel numbers coincided with collectivization, when motor 

transport became available for moving camp (and probably mechanization 

of the military) – their lack may be felt by the, now unmotorized, private 

herders. 

The traditional livestock are all, of necessity, well adapted to the harsh 

climate; they can regain condition and build up fat reserves rapidly during 

the short growing season. The hump of the camel and the fat rump of the 

local sheep breeds provide energy reserves to help tide them over winter and 

spring . Yaks, camels and cashmere goats develop winter down among their 

coats, which helps reduce heat loss. All can survive outdoors throughout 

the long, cold winter with little or no shelter nor supplementary feed. The 

young are generally born in spring and their dams benefit from the fresh grass ; 

generalized breeding seasons are given in Table 7.8. The livestock are generally 

small. Table 7.9 gives the average liveweight of animals sold to the national 

abattoir, which is probably a fair indication of the general run of stock; some

ALICE CARLONI 


Plate 7.12 

Sheep and goats being rounded up for milking . 

TABLE 7.7 

Cattle , yaks and their hybrids (‘000s). 

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1994 

Total cattle and yak 2 634.9 1 950.3 1 905.5 2 107.8 2 397.1 2 848.7 3 005.2 

Yak 725.8 561.0 495.6 452.2 554.5 566.9 570.8 

Khainag (F1) 73.6 52.4 69.2 69.1 50.7 70.0 56.3 

Yak and khainag as % of total 30.3 31.5 29.7 24.7 25.2 22.4 20.9 

NOTE: khainag are yak ×cattle crosses. 

SOURCE: after Cai Li and Weiner, 1995. 

TABLE 7.8 

Livestock husbandry patterns. 

Species Mating Birth Slaughter 

Camels early Dec. – late Feb. late Feb. – mid-May December 

Mares mid-May – late Aug. mid-Apr. – late July December 

Cows mid-May – late Sep. mid-Mar. – late July December 

Yaks early June – late Sep. early Apr. – late May December 

Ewes late Sep. – late Dec. late Feb. – mid-May Nov. – Dec. 

Does 

SOURCE: Telenged, 1996. 

mid-Sep. – mid-Nov. mid-Feb. – mid-Mar. Nov. – Dec. 

TABLE 7.9 

Average liveweight (kg) of livestock sold to State Abattoirs. 

Species 1950 1960 1970 1980 1985 

Cattle 242 248 243 217 259 

Sheep 37 36 36 33 41 

Goats 28 28 28 26 32

286 

TABLE 7.10 

Evolution of stock numbers, 1918–2003 (‘000 head). 


Year Camels Horses Cattle ( 1 ) Sheep Goats 

1918 228.7 1 150.5 1 078.7 5 700.0 1 487.9 

1924 275.0 1 389.8 1 512.1 8 444.8 2 204.4 

1930 480.9 1 566.9 1 887.3 15 660.3 4 080.8 

1940 643.4 2 538.1 2 722.8 15 384.2 5 096.3 

1950 844.2 2 317.0 1 987.8 12 574.6 4 978.6 

1961 751.7 2 289.3 1 637.4 10 981.9 4 732.6 

1970 633.5 2 317.9 2 107.8 13 311.7 4 204.0 

1980 591.5 1 985.4 2 397.1 14 230.7 4 566.7 

1985 559.0 1 971.0 2 408.1 13 248.8 4 298.6 

1992 415.2 2 200.2 2 840.0 14 657.0 5 602.5 

1996 357.9 2 270.5 3 476.3 13 560.6 9 134.8 

2000 322.9 2 660.7 3 976.0 13 876.4 10 269.8 

2003 275.0 2 200.0 2 053.7 11 797.0 8 858.0 

NOTE: (1) cattle includes yaks and their hybrids . 

SOURCE: Ministry of Agriculture and Food; Data for 2003 from FAOSTAT. 

Plate 7.13 

Camels being watered in the Gobi. 

authors claim heavier weights, which are, no doubt, possible with selected or 

better managed flocks. 

Bactrian camels are important in the Gobi and other dry regions and are 

used in many other areas to pull carts or carry baggage; they are the only class 

of pastoral livestock whose numbers are falling – the decline has been steady 

from 860 000 at collectivization in 1960 (when motor transport for camp moves 

became available) to 360 000 today; there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that 

the fall has ceased and numbers may be beginning to rise. Camels are used 

for milk and meat as well as transport; camel -hair is a minor but high-priced 

ALICE CARLONI


product. Three breeds are recognized, all from the Gobi, but for moving herders’ 

camps, camels are important in most of the country. Camel as subsistence 

herds and camel breeding is mainly found in the desert and semi -desert zones . 

(Plate 7.13). 

Horses of the local breed are small but hardy; they are extremely important 

as part of the herders’ essential equipment, as well as for sport, meat and 

milk – fermented mares ’ milk (airag ) is a favourite, and highly saleable, beverage, 

although not all areas milk mares – in parts of Western Mongolia , such as 

Uvs, they are not milked. Only rough estimates of milk yields are available but 

it is an important revenue source in steppe and mountain steppe zones in places 

where there are market opportunities; herds of dairy mares are often brought 

to roadsides in the season. Mares are milked from mid-July through September, 

sometimes into October, every two to two-and-a-half hours during daylight 

– about six times daily. Yields are two to two-and-a-half litres – about 150 litres 

per lactation. In 2001, fermented mares’ milk was selling at 400 tugriks 2 per 

litre at the roadside, about 40 US cents. Horse -racing is popular and herders’ 

selection is for speed. 

The small local breed of cattle is the basis of the pastoral beef industry; in 

many areas signs of admixture with exotic blood (Alatau, Simmental and, most 

obviously, White-faced Kazakh) are obvious, but pure Mongolian prevails in 

harder areas. They are very hardy, but poor milkers, and most dairy products 

are reserved for home consumption. Cows are dried off as the feed supply 

diminishes in late autumn and those that do not get in calf may be disposed of. 

At the colder limit of the range, cattle×yak hybrids (khainag ) are also used. 

Yaks and their hybrid with cattle , the khainag , are kept in the higher areas 

(Plate 7.14). There are no named breeds, and polled animals are common and 

are preferred by herdsmen. The proportion of yak and khainag in the national 

cattle herd fell (see Table 7.7) from one-third to one-fifth between 1950 and 

1994. There is some anecdotal evidence that the proportion of yak is increasing 

again in their main areas. 

Sheep unlike the other species, have several local breeds, adapted to different 

ecological zones . These have been described in detail in an article in World 

Animal Review (Batsukh and Zagdsuren, 1990). Sheep numbers have been 

declining slowly since 1990. In 1996 there were reportedly 13 560 600 sheep , 

which was 90 percent of the 1990 figure. Mongolian sheep produce mainly 

carpet wool and average annual production from adult sheep is 2.0 to 2.4 kg 

of greasy wool . 

Mongolian goats are renowned for the quality of their cashmere ; their 

number has increased rapidly in recent years, more than doubling since 1988. 

This is partly due to the ease of commercialization of a product with a high 

price-to-weight ratio since the old meat marketing organization broke down; 

traders now purchase cashmere direct from herders. Goats were traditionally 

kept in drier areas with plentiful browse – now they are increasing in many

288 

Plate 7.14 

Polled yak in autumn – Arkhangai. 


areas where previously they were a minor herd component. Production of raw 

combed product varies from 250 g (female) to 340 g (male castrates) per head. 

Twinning is commoner in goats than in local sheep , and weaning rates of 100 

percent or more are claimed. 

Most of the dairy products of the herding sector are consumed at home. 

Cows and mares are the main milk sources, but ewes are milked for a few 

weeks after weaning in some areas. Lactations are short and all cattle are usually 

dried off by December, when feed has become scarce, to avoid strain on the 

developing calf. Much of the milk in the short season is processed domestically 

to conserve it for later use. A wide range of traditional dairy products are made, 

but clotted cream and dried curd are the main ones. Fermented mares’ milk, 

airag , is a favourite and saleable beverage; it is also distilled to produce an alcoholic 

drink, rakhi , and the residues of the distillation may be added to curd. 

Evolution of stock numbers 

The numbers of the five species between 1918 and 1996 were shown in 

Table 7.10. Since grazing pressure depends on species as well as overall 

numbers, these figures have been transformed into stock unit s (on the basis of 

the traditional bod ) in Plate 7.3. The transformation is crude and does not take 

account of the different stages of maturity of animals within the herd, but serves 

for rough comparisons. Present stock numbers are high, but those of 1996, in 

terms of livestock units, are little higher, by about 6 percent, than those of 1950 

immediately prior to the development of collective management . Historically, 

there was a very rapid rise between 1918, a time of troubles, and 1930, when the 

national herd reached levels approaching those of modern times. 

J.M. SUTTIE


TABLE 7.11 

Evolution of the national herd in terms of composition by species and overall size in terms of 

stock unit s (‘000s). 

Year Camels % Horses % Cattle % Sheep % Goats % Total SU (1) 

1918 9.7 32.5 30.5 23.0 4.2 3 535.3 

1924 8.7 29.3 31.9 25.5 4.7 4 741.2 

1930 10.6 23.0 27.7 32.8 6.0 6 820.8 

1940 9.6 25.3 27.2 30.7 7.2 10 029.0 

1950 10.8 28.4 30.5 24.6 5.7 8 933.4 

1961 16.1 29.5 25.3 22.8 6.3 7 865.3 

1970 15.9 32.2 23.1 22.1 6.7 7 096.4 

1980 12.3 30.1 27.4 24.7 5.5 7 698.0 

1985 11.1 26.1 31.9 25.1 5.7 7 540.2 

1992 7.5 26.5 34.1 25.2 6.7 8 317.1 

1996 5.9 24.9 38.6 21.2 10.0 9 134.4 

2000 4.8 26.3 39.2 19.6 10.1 10 130.3 

2003 5.7 30.4 28.4 23.3 12.2 7 372.7 

NOTE: (1) Stock units converted as “bod ” values, derived from Table 7.10. 

From 1961 until the early 1990s, the overall number of livestock units 

remained relatively stable, reflecting the organized management and marketing 

arrangements of the period. Since economic liberalization there has been 

increase in both stock numbers and livestock units, although numbers are 

rising most rapidly because of the great increase in the goat flock. The greatest 

increase is in cattle , by about a million, or 12 percent of all livestock units. 

Small ruminants account for about 30 percent of the total. Between 1950 and 

1996, in terms of livestock units, the sheep and goat population was in a very 

narrow range of between 28.8 and 31.9 million head; large ruminants and 

horses, therefore, account for by far the greater part of the grazing pressure . 

Mongolia ’s pastures have, therefore, already carried livestock populations 

equivalent to modern ones (Table 7.11); how they were distributed in space 

in the early years is not known. The number of livestock per head of population, 

however, has been declining steadily since records began, from 34 head 

(11.6 units) in 1950 to 23.6 (8.1) in 1961, to 16.1 (5.6) in 1970, to 13.4 (4.5) 

in 1980 and to 12 (3.8) in 1996; the human population, in a largely livestockbased 

economy, now has only one third of the livestock per capita that it had 

in 1950. 

The changes in overall stocking over time is shown graphically in 

Figure 7.3. 

Herd composition , of course, reflects ecological conditions and the type of 

terrain. In Table 7.12 two aimags are compared. One, Tuv, is typical steppe; 

the other, Uvs, is semi -desert and mountainous. The aimags differ considerably 

in herd composition. Uvs, being arid , has far more camels than Tuv. The 

difference in horse numbers is striking, Tuv having double the Uvs percentage; 

Tarialan, at 10 percent, has a very low horse component. The arid sums 

have far higher proportions of small ruminants.

290 

Figure 7.3 

Evolution of stock unit s 

over time. 

10 000 

9 000 

8 000 

7 000 

6000 

5 000 

4 000 

3 000 

2 000 

1 000 

TABLE 7.12 

Proportion of species in two aimags . 

0 

Stock units '000 


1918 1924 1930 1940 1950 1961 1970 1980 1985 1992 1996 

Stock U 

Camels % Horses % Cattle % Sheep % Goats % 

Uvs aimag 6.4 17.4 24.6 33.3 18.2 

Turgen sum 5.7 14.7 25.6 35.4 18.6 

Tarialan sum 6.1 10.4 25.0 37.2 21.2 

Tuv aimag 0.8 35.9 26.5 26.4 10.4 

Zaamar sum 0.0 31.1 34.0 22.2 12.7 

Lun sum 0.6 31.6 29.4 27.3 11.0 

SOURCE: Final report (September 2002) of the consultant on haymaking , pasture planning and fodder reserves , prepared 

for FAO TCP project TCP/MON/0066 – Pastoral risk management strategy. 

Plate 7.15 

Winter shelter. 

ALICE CARLONI


Intensive livestock production 

Localized intensive livestock production grew up with the collective movement; 

both state farms and some negdels were involved. The main enterprises were 

dairying, using exotic stock in “mechanized dairies”, and pig and poultry rearing. 

All were aimed at supplying the urban market. An Artificial Insemination 

Service supported the dairy industry. Keeping exotic dairy stock in such a 

climate was always difficult and expensive, since they have to be warmly 

housed in winter , and producing or procuring high-quality feed to suffice for 

the eight- to nine-month period when there is no fresh grass was expensive in 

cultivated fodder and concentrates, which often had to be imported. Likewise 

pig and poultry farms were largely dependent on imported stock and feed. 

Since Economic Liberalization, most of the “mechanized dairies” and piggeries 

have collapsed, and there is a serious scarcity of dairy products in urban areas. 

Some small-scale, semi -intensive dairying is developing in peri-urban areas 

and where cropping and grazing land intermingle, but its progress is slow and 

economic viability still unclear. 

Grazing management 

Although the first land law was enacted in 1933, the introduction of collective 

production in the 1950s was the first major change from customary practice. 

A new law in 1971 introduced a classification of land according to its use, and 

the responsibilities, the obligations and rights of economic organizations and 

the administration were defined, and land tenure arrangements introduced. 

The pasture law of 2002 takes account of the changed political situation and 

deals with factors such as: individual ownership (by herders, economic entities 

and organizations) and group owners (bag) of natural pasture and areas for 

winter and spring camps; rules for use of grazing in emergencies; stock-raising 

in settled areas; rules for contracting grazing to rights-holders; setting up of 

inter-aimag and inter-sum otor [using distant pasture for fattening] areas; and 

granting of haymaking rights to individuals and groups of herders. There are 

three major periods of otor: (i) spring otor for grazing young grass ; (ii) summer 

otor for developing enough muscle and internal fat; and (iii) autumn otor for 

consolidating fatness. There can also be emergency movement of large stock to 

grazing reserves in a hard winter. Customary grazing rights , however, remain 

powerful, and are a major factor when considering land issues. 

Transhumance 

The regular movement of herds between summer and winter pastures is a 

widespread practice in pastoral areas of Europe and Asia. The classic cycle is 

from low ground in winter to mountain pastures in summer, often associated 

with alpine herbage that is snow-covered in winter. Transhumant grazing 

systems in Temperate Asia are dealt with in detail by Suttie and Reynolds 

(2003). The pattern of transhumance in the Mongolian steppe is not usually

292 


of this classic kind; most of the precipitation is in the warmer months, windchill 

is a very serious winter hazard, and livestock are not housed in winter. 

Winter and spring camps, which are the key to transhumance, are chosen 

for availability of some shelter and access to forage and water. In the steppe, 

winter camps may be sited in valleys of suitable hills and in some areas riparian 

forests provide shelter. There are suggestions that in feudal times much of the 

transhumance in the non-desert parts of Mongolia was longer, and of the plains 

to mountains and down again type ; these movements would generally have 

been north-south; the present aimags tend to run east-west and their alignment 

may have been partially intended to change the traditional migration pattern. 

Movements may be more vertical in mountain areas, with winter camps 

generally at the hill-foot; mountain transhumance is usually over shorter horizontal 

distances than that of the steppe. Access to summer and autumn pasture 

is less contested than for winter camps and, within a sum or similar sub-unit, 

may be almost communally used. Grazing circuits cannot be firmly fixed under 

conditions of great variation in feed availability, which have many weatherrelated 

causes; transhumance must be flexible and highly mobile so that herds 

can be taken to where feed is available, which may be much further in some 

years than others – this presupposes a degree of cooperation between graziers’ 

groups insofar as one group will allow another group emergency grazing 

should weather events make it necessary. 

Feed and shelter are not the only considerations governing movement; in 

some of the mountainous, western aimags , including Uvs, severe plagues of 

biting insects force the population and their stock to seek high altitudes for the 

hotter part of summer . Topography may determine migration routes; in high 

hills, stock movements may be obliged to use passes and this can influence 

itineraries and grazing systems ; passes may only be open for limited seasons 

and this again affects timing of movements. Detailed studies on systems in Uvs 

and Khuvsgul are reported by Erdenebaatar (2003). 

Risk in herding 

Herding in Mongolia is a risky undertaking and much of the herders’ work 

and planning involves avoiding or minimizing risks. The term zud describes 

serious weather events associated with snow and cold ; the major risks can 

be classified as zud, drought , disease and others. Serious weather events, as 

defined for forecasting purposes, include: snowstorm: wind speed �12 m/s 

and visibility 3 hours; hail: �10 mm diameter, with 

no duration limit; ice cover on pastures: transformation of snow to ice by 

warming followed by sudden cold, lasting a week or longer. Risk in herding is 

discussed in detail by Baas, Erdenbaatar and Swift (2001). Zud and drought are 

traditional and effective controllers of stock numbers. From the point of view 

of pasture condition , a white zud has a double effect – it provides moisture for 

spring regrowth while reducing stock numbers. Zud takes several forms:

J.M. SUTTIE 


Plate 7.16 

Small stock grazing through snow – Tuv. 

• Black zud occurs when, in winter , there is a prolonged lack of snow and continued 

want of water because of freezing of surface sources, so both stock and 

herders suffer from lack of water to drink. This type of zud does not occur 

every year, nor does it usually affect large areas. Wells provide water in black 

zud conditions, but often a long trek would be necessary and, at the wells , 

shelter and bedding would not be available in the camping area. 

• White zud is caused by deep and prolonged snow cover (Plate 7.16). It is a 

frequent and serious disaster that has caused a great number of deaths. Opinion 

on how deep snow has to be to constitute zud varies: over 7 cm causes difficulties 

in Khangai yak pastures, while up to 10 cm leaves fodder accessible to 

small stock in the forest -steppe and steppe; in the steppe of less mountainous 

provinces, 6 cm is considered a zud. White zud is, of course, more serious if it 

follows a dry summer and herbage is short. 

• Storm zud is caused by continuous snowfall and drifting over large areas. If 

it occurs at the coldest time of year it is very dangerous; animals may run 

many kilometres before the wind and most mortality is through exhaustion 

or falling into rivers. 

• Khuiten zud is caused by extreme cold or freezing winds; when winter temperatures 

are 10°C below seasonal averages, stock can no longer graze freely, 

and expend much energy in maintaining body heat. It usually occurs when 

night temperatures drop sharply for two or more consecutive nights. Serious 

losses occur when khuiten zud follows white or storm zud. 

Drought , from the herders’ viewpoint, is a lack of rain during the warmer 

part of the year. Drought in late spring and early summer is the most serious 

since, at that season, the pasture recommences growth and the animals are in

294 


TABLE 7.13 

Stock ownership during the collective period (percentage distrbution on a per head basis). 

Species State farm % Cooperatives % Private % 

Camels 1.7 84.5 13.8 

Horses 2.4 54.8 40.8 

Cattle ( 1) 2.2 46.0 43.6 

Sheep 2.0 80.2 17.8 

Goats 0.8 74.9 24.3 

NOTES: (1) Cattle includes yaks and their hybrids . 


greatest need of good forage to rebuild body condition and provide milk for 

their young. Drought over a wide area leads to concentration of livestock 

around water-points and areas of better grazing and thus causes damage to the 

vegetation . In higher, cooler, sites, late summer rain has little effect on pasture 

growth since temperatures have already fallen too low. 

Uncontrolled fire can be serious; it rarely originates from, or near, gers or 

winter shelters since great care is taken in such flammable surroundings. In the 

mountain regions, unprotected fires of hunters and gatherers of wild fruit are a 

common cause. While accidental fire destroys standing forage and causes scarcity 

and wastes much labour in control (to protect gers and property as well as 

grazing ), controlled burning may be used to remove unpalatable old material 

and encourage a young flush. Predation, mainly from wolves, is an increasing 

risk now that the premium for wolf -killing has been removed. Protection of 

snow leopard s in the Gobi Altai raises the problem of how to recompense 

herders for stock taken by these rare and protected beasts. Stock theft is a very 

rare risk, although there have been reports recently of trans-border rustling 

in northern frontier regions. 

Grazing management on negdels 

The grazing management of the collective period was based on limited 

mobility within the bounds of the negdel , and while brigades usually handled 

monospecific herds, they might overlap in space to provide multispecies grazing 

of the same pasture for greater efficiency; further mixed grazing pressure was 

provided by the private stock of the families. The areas and seasons of grazing 

were specified by management , giving a broader coverage than at present and 

avoiding undue concentration of stock. Organized marketing avoided both 

the build up of excess stock and the congregation of camps close to roads 

and centres. Details of stock ownership in the collective period are given in 

Table 7.13. 

THE PRESENT GRAZING SITUATION 

Change to private ownership shifted the responsibility for risk avoidance and 

economic management abruptly from state to household. Herders very rapidly 

reverted to traditional mobile transhumance in small family groups. Ex-sala-


ried staff took to herding with stock allocated to them from negdel break-up, 

but not all succeeded: 100-150 head is considered to be the threshold herd size 

for a reasonable living; 50 is the poverty line. In 1995, over 40 percent of households 

had under 50 head, 45 percent had over 100, and only 15 percent owned 

over 200 animals. Controlled grazing has gone – in some areas pasture use is 

anarchic, with immigrant herders trespassing on the traditional lands of others. 

At neighbourhood and community levels, other customary institutions have 

re-emerged. Groups provide an approach to regulating access to grazing. They 

are often kinship-based and related to a natural grazing management unit, such 

as a valley, or, in dry areas, a water source. Hay and fodder are now negligible 

– overwintering survival depends on autumn condition and herding skills. 

Extensive herding , of course, continues, but the controlled grazing of the 

collective period has gone. The transition has, however, given women a far 

greater role in decision-making since under the collective all the governmental 

bodies were overwhelmingly male although many veterinarians are women; 

women now take an active role in management and especially marketing. 

Water is a determining factor in pasture use, especially in the steppe and 

Gobi regions (the mountain -steppe often has plentiful surface water); some 

areas can only be grazed in winter when snow is available as a water source; 

elsewhere wells supply, or used to provide, water; in the Gobi, herders’ 

movements are governed by watering places. Breakdown of most of the deep 

“mechanical” water points has rendered many areas inaccessible, especially in 

the eastern steppe, where gazelle numbers are increasing as they colonize the 

deserted grazing . 

Much pasture is not used or is under-used. According to studies by FAO 

project TCP/MON/0066, as much as one-third of the total may be under-used. 

These pastures include areas along the borders, where there are problems of 

stock theft ; in the eastern part, infrastructure is poorly developed and social 

problems of herders have not been solved; and in parts of western Mongolia 

there is not enough water and other living materials. In 1990–1997, about 600 

new wells were sunk, but 12 800 remained out of operation; 10 700 000 ha of 

pasture can not be used because of lack of water. Most unused land is far from 

administrative centres and many herders are increasingly loath to travel so far, 

especially when infrastructure is deficient. In western Mongolia, where there 

is shortage of pasture, there are large areas that could be used as joint pasture 

between aimags , yet they are not fully used. 

All herding families now keep multispecies herds, i.e. have at least three 

kinds of livestock that each comprise over 15 percent of the herd; subsidiary 

species are those forming under 10 percent, such as camels in many areas and 

yak in the foothills of the mountain -and-steppe zone. Multispecies herds have 

many advantages, but increase the labour needed for herding. The different 

species vary in their grazing habits and preferences, so therefore a mixture 

makes better use of the overall forage available. Yak and horses, for example,

296 


can go further into the mountains than other stock; goats and camels make 

better use of browse. There is a complementarity of species in winter grazing: 

large stock, especially horses, are used to open trails in heavy snow cover to 

facilitate grazing by sheep and cattle . A mixed herd spreads risk much more 

than a monospecific one. Part of the necessity of mixed herds is, of course, the 

herders’ needs for a range of products, including transport and traction. 

At pasture , the species (and at some seasons the sexes may be kept apart) 

are, of course, grazed in separate flocks. Breeding males may be herded out 

of season in a communal flock. The degree of attention varies with species. 

Small ruminants are usually closely supervised and brought back to the camp 

overnight as they are more prone to attacks by predators . Cattle may be left to 

graze, except those being milked. Horses often graze unsupervised. Camels are 

usually left to their own devices except when used for transport. 

The herders’ year is divided according to the seasons. The winter and spring 

camps and grazing are the key to their overall system; each must provide shelter 

as well as accessible forage through that difficult season. Rights to winter 

grazing are jealously guarded and are frequently subject to dispute; finding 

winter grazing is a major problem for many “new” herding families. In contrast 

to many transhumance systems elsewhere, herders often go to the hills in 

winter to find shelter from the cold winds that sweep the steppe; the hills frequently 

have less snow and more accessible forage than the plains. Some areas 

are used in winter because water scarcity precludes their use when there is no 

snow. Spring grazing is also critical, since it is there that most of the young are 

born, at a season when feed is very scarce. Summer and autumn pasture is usually 

grazed in common, with few problems of access or dispute. 

Taking livestock to more distant fattening pastures – otor – is an important 

part of well organized herding and, if done with skill, can greatly improve the 

condition of stock before the long winter . Going on otor, of course, requires 

effort and labour, and camping away from the main group , and may reduce 

surveillance of winter camp sites, but it is a key to better herd survival. Many 

herders now undertake much shorter transhumance circuits than previously. 

They also produce far less hay . Herders’ objectives in supplementary feeding 

are: to minimize loss of condition, ensuring better yield in the coming year and 

enable early mating, mainly for cows and camels ; to improve disease resistance 

and lessen the incidence of abortion in small stock and mares ; to support 

suckling females and their young; and to maintain working stock. The herders 

contend that supplements to weak stock, once begun, must not be withdrawn 

before both weather and pasture conditions are suitable for the stock to forage 

for themselves. 

Winter and spring shelters were a very useful innovation of the negdel ; 

they are generally simple wooden structures sited in a sheltered spot and often 

south-facing; they provide valuable protection to stock. With privatization, no 

rights to shelters have been assigned to herders, so they are often now dilapi-


dated, although little other than labour input is required to make them useable. 

Mobility is an essential part of the system; previously ger-moving was facilitated 

by the provision of motor transport; now herders often have no access to 

or funds for lorries, and their movements are restricted. Carts and camels are 

returning as a means of moving, but their number is insufficient; wheels and 

axles are scarce outside the forest zone and using them to move requires much 

more labour and time than did a motorized move. 

With state subsidies for inputs removed and services reduced or absent, 

herders have reverted to traditional risk -management (in what has always been 

a risky environment), including keeping multispecies herds and cooperating 

with other households in herding tasks to help cope with the greater labour 

needs of diversified herds. The basis of this collaboration is the khot ail, a 

traditional level of household collaboration, camping and working in a group , 

which existed before collectivization, especially for summer and autumn grazing 

. The sur of the negdels partly copied this, but avoided the kinship basis that 

is common in the khot ail. These units are often, but not necessarily, based on 

family ties, but associations between households with common interests are 

as important. The size of the khot ail varies with season and ecological zone: 

in the Gobi the khot ail often consists of a single household; in better watered 

areas up to five households may group together. 

At neighbourhood and community levels, other customary institutions have 

re-emerged. At neighbourhood level, groups provide an approach to regulating 

access to grazing . They are often kinship-based and related to a natural grazing 

management unit, such as a valley, or, in dry areas, a water source. They exist 

within the limits of a wider traditional unit, the bag, a customary institution that 

was responsible for pasture allocation and dispute settlement in the pre-collective 

era. Present bag boundaries are generally based on those of the brigades . A 

further type of cooperation is appearing, in that many herders now store their 

winter gear that is not required on migration; since winter camps are not secure, 

the storage is often with people settled at the sum centre; payment may be in 

kind or by other services. 

The socio-economic changes have had a marked effect on access to basic 

foodstuffs and the dietary pattern of the herders. FAO (1996) stated: 

“Herders are self-sufficient in meat and milk products and consumption of those products 

increased by 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively, between 1990 and 1992. In the same period 

the consumption of other food decreased, e.g. by 40 percent for flour and by more than 80 percent 

for various food grains. This was a result of the worsening of rural trading services, as herders 

could only get commodity goods in sum centres, instead of from brigade centres and travelling 

agents as previously.” 

Reforms have changed a highly organized grazing system into one where 

privately-owned livestock graze public land; this is often a certain recipe for 

pasture abuse. Although ownership of land is often a prerequisite for its good 

management , this is not the case for extensive grazing land in Mongolia (for

298 


arable , intensive livestock, residential and mining land the situation is different); 

some form of group registration of grazing rights is considered adequate and 

more desirable. The reasons quoted by Mearns and Swift (1996) and the Policy 

Alternatives for Livestock Development (PALD) team (Mearns, 1993), are: 

“There are strong arguments in favour of increasing security of tenure over pasture land in 

Mongolia ’s extensive livestock sector in order to promote sustainable land management and 

reduce conflicts over pasture. It is more likely that individualized, private ownership of pasture 

land, under Mongolian conditions, would actually increase conflict and jeopardise environmental 

stability, particularly given the lack of administrative capacity to enforce such rights . 

“While ownership often increases investment and creates a demand for and a supply of credit, 

since the land would be managed as a capital good in which investments must be made to 

promote sustainability and prevent land degradation . This assumption does not hold for most 

pasture land in Mongolia ’s extensive livestock sector in which few if any external inputs are 

required to maintain productivity . Sustainable pasture management in such an environment 

depends primarily on mobility and flexibility rather on capital investment. There are certain 

exceptions: investment may be made in winter /spring camps and shelters and in wells and other 

water resources and there may be a demand for credit to overcome transport constraints in seeking 

to maintain mobility. But it is not clear in the Mongolian case that lack of secure title is the 

principle obstacle to supply of such credit, nor that it could not be satisfied by means of certified 

possession rights at the level of a group such as the khot ail, which is the appropriate level at which 

most such investments are likely to be made. 

“In addition there are strong ecological reasons why the development of a market in pasture 

land would be undesirable. Sustainable land use under an extensive grazing system requires 

mobility of livestock between pastures suitable for use in each season. Such seasonal pastures must 

be shared between neighbouring households since their patterns of movement overlap and vary 

between years according to forage availability. The spatial arrangement of Mongolian landscapes 

vary considerably between ecological zones ; larger areas are required to encompass land suitable 

for all seasons in desert -steppe zones, while smaller areas are required in the steppe and mountain 

-forest -steppe zones. In most cases the risk of drought and/or zud , among other natural hazards, 

requires that herders have access to traditional areas of pasture for emergency use. Taken 

together these factors account for the indivisibility of pasture land in Mongolia below a certain 

spatial scale varying by ecological zone. On no account should transfers of land be permitted that 

would fragment in any way these minimum sustainable pasture resource areas.” 

Herders can obtain title to their winter camp-sites, but not to the winter 

grazing land . Winter migration from drier areas (Plate 7.17) to better watered 

sums is a serious problem. The incomers can graze all winter, by right, putting 

great pressure on already heavily used winter pasture . They then graze the 

early spring growth before returning to their home areas (Plate 7.18). 

Improving pasture management and production 

The constraints to sustainable grazing management in Mongolia have been 

discussed above. The harsh climatic conditions are not a constraint; they are 

the reason for the extensive , mobile , animal production, based exclusively

J.M. SUTTIE 

J.M. SUTTIE 


Plate 7.17 

Desert steppe near Khyargas Lake – Uvs. 

Plate 7.18 

Baggage camel beside marshland pasture by Uvs Lake. 

on natural pasture , that has proved sustainable over many centuries. Many 

constraints are organizational rather than technical, and have their roots either 

in the present economic situation of the region or changes in governmental 

policy during the twentieth century. The main organizational constraint is 

the lack of recognition, or title to, grazing rights , especially for winter camps 

and hayfields; legislation to deal with this is under consideration. Lack of

300 


regulation of grazing is becoming serious locally, with the abandonment of 

some areas and overuse of others; a revitalized monitoring system is needed to 

provide a factual basis for advice and control on the use and maintenance of 

grazing land . Herders are not organized above the family group , khot ail, level, 

which is too small for decision-making over the very large areas of land needed 

for management under extensive herding . 

Guidelines on grazing management are a necessary adjunct to any advice 

and control of use; these must be developed with herder participation , after 

organization of the herding community. National guidelines may be necessary 

as a framework, but it will be necessary to develop a series of others that take 

into account the ecological conditions, situation, topography and production 

systems of individual areas: it is at that level that very close consultation with 

the users will be necessary. While rising stock numbers are a cause for concern, 

they were up to near present-day levels during the 1950s; the rapid rise in the 

human population and the increase in the number of herding families, however, 

is likely to make control of grazing pressure even more difficult. 

Herders have been affected by a reduction in the levels of services available 

and have not yet come to terms with having to help themselves, where previously 

decisions were taken and services provided centrally. Lack of availability 

of selected breeding stock is noticeable, although that may change if markets 

and profitability improve. Lack of marketing infrastructure affects access to 

outside purchasers as well as both offtake and the quality of products on sale. 

Similarly, lack of access to consumer goods and supplies reduces the incentive 

to sell, and may lead to accumulation of non-breeding stock. The closure 

of the State Emergency Fodder Fund has thrown herders back on their own 

resources for supplementary fodder supply. Research, training and technical 

support services now operate on very reduced budgets. 

Opportunities for improving grazing management and herbage condition 

while maintaining and increasing output are many. Mongolia ’s grazing lands 

are well suited to extensive livestock raising and are generally in good condition. 

Herding has always been the main national occupation, and the people 

are highly skilled and motivated. They also have the support of a solid body of 

technical expertise and knowledge. Once legal problems associated with grazing 

rights have been resolved, coupled with the organization of the herding 

population, the industry should be able to manage its resources properly while 

improving the livelihood of the rural population. 

Many of the actions to remove or palliate these constraints require administrative 

decisions or actions: definition and granting of grazing rights , probably 

emphasizing winter camps and hay lands in the first instance; a structure for 

the organization of the herding population so that they can participate in the 

regulation of local land use as well as pasture management , development and 

maintenance, all of which must have functional user participation ; monitoring 

of pasture condition and regulation of its use, which will also require the


participation of herders’ associations, as will the establishment of guidelines 

(down to local level) on the use of grazing land . Research and training must be 

maintained and, at herder level, expanded. Rehabilitation of water supplies and 

revitalization of haymaking are two very obvious activities for better pasture 

use and stock survival; these can now only be tackled by the herding communities 

, once organized. Haymaking by individual households needs access to 

simple implements, security and training. Water development must await both 

granting of grazing rights and organization of the users before it has a realistic 

chance of success. 

Some large tracts of unused pasture were previously reserve otor areas for 

emergencies and could have been useful in recent zuds; however, to be useful, 

they require rehabilitation of the water supply and other basic infrastructure, 

and, when in use, the herders would need access to some sources of supplies 

and facilities. 

THE RECENT DROUGHTS AND ZUDS 

Stock numbers have risen sharply since decollectivization. A series of 

consecutive dry summers and the disastrously severe winters of 1999–2000 

and 2000–2001 have shown up this lack of preparedness of herders for severe 

weather. Over 2 million head of stock were lost in each year (see Table 7.14) 

and much human poverty and misery has ensued. 

Two consecutive years, 1999–2000 and 2000–2001 have had the harsh combination 

of drought followed by zud : stock suffering on thin pastures in the 

growing season and being unable to feed because of hardened snow in winter . 

This is, of course, a regular risk in herding under such climatic conditions. The 

greatest disaster was 1944–1945, when 8 million adult stock were lost. Eight 

zud winters have been recorded since then, the worst pre-2000 being in 1967. 

These zuds are defined by stock losses, not meteorological data; for much of the 

time when zud has been recorded there was a well organized system of grazing 

management , shelters were maintained and winter feed conserved – emergency 

TABLE 7.14 

Livestock losses through drought and zud (head). 

Year Type of disaster Losses of adult stock Losses of young stock 

1944–45 Drought + zud 8 100 000 1 100 000 

1954–55 Zud 1 900 000 300 000 

1956–57 Zud 1 500 000 900 000 

1967–68 Drought + zud 2 700 000 1 700 000 

1976–77 Zud 2 000 000 1 600 000 

1986–87 Zud 800 000 900 000 

1993–94 Zud 1 600 000 1 200 000 

1996–97 Zud 600 000 500 000 

1999–00 Drought + zud 3 000 000 1 200 000 

2000–01 Drought + zud 3 400 000 n. a. 

NOTE: n.a. = data not available.

302 


systems were probably better equipped as well. It is not clear, therefore, to 

what extent the recent losses are a reflection of severe weather events and how 

much is due to lack of preparedness by herders and authorities. Stock numbers 

have risen very steeply since 1990, and this may have been a contributing factor 

to the severe losses. 

Relief, once zud has struck and local reserves are inadequate, is not only 

costly, it is often ineffective, since the time taken to procure, mobilize and 

deliver feed is such that the relief fodder arrives once many stock have died and 

often spring has come and the grass is greening up. This was strikingly demonstrated 

in 2001. The quality of fodder used in relief work is another problem: 

local hay is of low feeding value and the economics of transporting such a poor 

feed over long distances is dubious. Unfortunately, since Mongolia produces 

little in the way of crops , cereals, which would be a far better emergency fodder 

and cheaper to transport, are not available. 

Following the 1993 zud , “restocking” of herders was undertaken on a fairly 

large scale in the hope that it would be an effective means of poverty alleviation, 

notably with IFAD financing in Arkhangai. Restocking is the redistribution 

of stock to herding families that have herds below the economic minimum. 

The recent zuds, however, have indicated that such restocking on its own is 

not really sustainable – restocked herders are just as prone to losses during 

zud as they were before. Unless the other faults are dealt with – preparedness 

of herders, maintenance of shelters, reconstitution of emergency services and 

resolution of the grazing rights problem – restocking is likely to be expensive 

and of transient benefit. 

SUSTAINABILITY 

Herding has been almost the sole land use of Mongolia for millennia and its 

pastures, although hard grazed, are still in reasonably good order. Extensive, 

mobile grazing systems are therefore sustainable and will continue to be the 

main economic activity of the country. During the collective period, Mongolia 

maintained a modified system of mobile grazing, using hardy local breeds of 

livestock and without external sources of feed; its pastures have remained in 

good order in contrast to most of the neighbouring countries that collectivized 

their livestock industry. 

Most of the neighbouring countries (Kyrgyzstan , Buryatya, parts of 

Northern China ) that collectivized livestock modified their grazing systems , 

often restricting movement or sedentarizing the herders. In some cases, exotic 

stock was introduced and imported feed brought in, permitting better overwintering 

but also leading to severe overstocking. Pasture condition in these countries 

is much worse than in Mongolia ; for example, the degradation of pasture 

in the Ningxia Autonomous Region of China is described by Ho (1996). In the 

case of Kyrgyzstan, the sheep industry, based on exotic fine-wool breeds and 

imported feed, collapsed after decollectivization, with stock numbers falling


from 9 500 000 in 1990 to 3 200 000 in 1999 (van Veen, 1995; Fitzherbert, 2000), 

as the exotic sheep could not survive without large, uneconomic inputs. 

REFERENCES 

Baas, S., Erdenbaatar, B. & Swift, J.J. 2001. Pastoral risk management for disaster 

prevention and preparedness in Central Asia – with special reference to 

Mongolia . In: Report of the Asia-Pacific conference on early warning, prevention, 

preparedness and management of disasters in food and agriculture. Chiangmai, 

Thailand, 12–15 June 2001. FAO RAP Publication No. 2001:4. Doc. no. 

APDC/01/REP. 

Batsukh, B. & Zagdsuren, E. 1990. Sheep Breeds of Mongolia . FAO World Animal 

Review. 

Cai Li & Weiner, J. 1995. The Yak . FAO RAP, Bangkok, Thailand. 

Erdenebaatar, B. 1996. Socio-economic aspects of the pastoral movement pattern of 

Mongolian herders. pp. 59–110, in: Humphrey and Sneath, 1996b, q.v. 

Erdenebaatar, B. 2003. Studies on long distance transhumant grazing systems in Uvs 

and Khuvsgul aimags of Mongolia , 1999–2000. pp. 31–68, in: Suttie and Reynolds, 

2003, q.v. 

FAO. 1996. Trends in pastoral development in Central Asia . Rome, Italy. 

FAO/UNESCO. 1978. Soil Map of the World. Vol. III: North and Central Asia . Paris, 

France: UNESCO. 

Fitzherbert, A.R. 2000. Pastoral resource profile for Kyrgyzstan . Available at: 

http://www.fao.org /waicent/faoinfo/agricult/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/kyrgi. 

htm 

Ho, P. 1996. Ownership and control in Chinese rangeland management : the case of 

free riding in Ningxia. ODI Pastoral Network Paper, No. 39c. 

Humphrey, C. & Sneath, D. 1996a. Pastoralism and institutional change in Inner 

Asia: comparative perspectives from the MECCIA research project. ODI Pastoral 

Network Paper, No. 39b. 

Humphrey C. & Sneath, D. (eds). 1996b. Culture and environment in inner Asia: I. 

Pastoral economy and the environment. Cambridge, UK: White Horse Press. 

Kharin, N., Takahashi, R. & Harahshesh, H. 1999. Degradation of the drylands of 

Central Asia . Center for Remote Sensing (CEReS), Chiba University, Japan. 

Latham, R.E. (translator). 1958. The Travels of Marco Polo. Harmondsworth, UK: 

Penguin. 

Mearns, R. 1993. Pastoral Institutions, Land Tenure and Land Policy Reform in Post- 

Socialist Mongolia . PALD Research Report, No. 3. University of Sussex, UK. 

Mearns, R. & Swift, J. 1996. Pasture and land management in the retreat from a centrally 

planned economy in Mongolia . pp. 96–98, in: N. West (ed). Rangelands for a 

Sustainable Biosphere. Proceedings of the 5th International Rangeland Conference, 

1995. Denver, Colorado, USA : Society for Range Management. 

Przevalsky, N.M. 1883. The third expedition in Central Asia . Sankt-Petersburg. 

Quoted by Kharin, Takahashi and Harahesh, 1999: 56.

304 


Suttie, J.M. & Reynolds, S.G. (eds). 2003. Transhumant grazing systems in Temperate 

Asia. FAO Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 31. 

Telenged, B. 1996. Livestock breeding in Mongolia . pp. 161–188, in: Humphrey and 

Sneath, 1996b, q.v. 

van Veen, T.W.S. 1995. Kyrgyz sheep herders at crossroads. ODI Pastoral Network 

Paper, No. 38d.

The Tibetan Steppe 305 

Chapter 8 

The Tibetan Steppe 

Daniel J. Miller 

SUMMARY 

The Tibet Plateau is a vast area to the north of the Himalaya between roughly 

26°50� and 39°11�N. The climate is severe continental, and most of the plateau is 

arid to semi -arid . Snow events in winter increase risk . Its high, cold grazing lands 

vary from cold deserts and semi-arid steppe and shrublands, to alpine steppe 

and moist alpine meadows. Much is above 4 000 m; some camps are as high as 

5 100 m. It is traditionally an area of transhumant herding , but has undergone 

vast changes in the past half century – from feudalism, through a collective period, 

to privatized livestock and individual grazing rights that are circumscribing the 

mobility necessary for herding risk avoidance in such a climate. Yak , sheep and 

goats are kept, with yak more important in the wetter east and sheep in the west. 

The steppe contains the headwaters of many of the major rivers of Asia and has a 

very rich flora and fauna, with many endemic species, so grazing management is 

not only important for herders’ livelihoods but also for catchment maintenance 

and in situ preservation of genetic resources and biodiversity . 

INTRODUCTION 

The Tibetan Steppe is one of the earth’s important grazing ecosystems , 

encompassing about 1.65 million km2 (Figure 8.1). The Tibetan Steppe 

ecosystem actually extends into north western Bhutan , northern Nepal and 

northwestern India , but this paper deals only with the land within the Tibet 

Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China . Grazing lands vary 

from cold deserts to semi -arid steppe and shrublands, to alpine steppe and 

moist alpine meadows. It contains the highest grasslands in the world, much 

is above 4 000 m; some herders maintain permanent camps at elevations as 

high as 5 100 m, among the highest inhabited places in the world. With a 

severe continental climate, it is one of the world’s harshest grazing environments, 

yet these pastures supply forage for an estimated 12 million yak and 

30 million sheep and goats (Plate 8.1), and provide livelihoods for about 

5 million pastoralists and agropastoralists. 

The remote, northwestern Steppe , one of the last notable examples of a grazing 

ecosystem relatively undisturbed by man, is home to a unique assemblage 

of wildlife . Wild yaks are still found in large herds, great concentrations of 

Tibetan antelope continue to migrate between their winter pastures and sum-

306 


Figure 8.1 

Location of the Tibetan Steppe and the extent of grasslands in the People’s Republic of 

China . 

Plate 8.1 

Sheep flock. 

mer fawning grounds, and troops of wild ass (Plate 8.2) run across the steppes. 

Because of its highly distinctive species, ecological processes and evolutionary 

phenomena, the Tibetan Steppe is included in the World Wildlife Fund’s list of 

Global 200 ecoregions that are priority biodiversity conservation areas (Olson 

and Dinerstein, 1997). 

DANIEL MILLER

DANIEL MILLER 


Plate 8.2 

Wild ass (Equus kiang ). 

Many major rivers originate in the Tibetan Steppe , including the Yellow, 

Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Indus, Sutlej, Ganges and Brahmaputra. The preservation 

and management of these sources have global implications, as their 

waters will be of increasing importance in the future. The challenges facing the 

sustainable development of the steppe are considerable, but its pastures offer 

numerous opportunities for achieving the twin objectives of conservation and 

development of grassland resources . Properly managed, grazing lands can 

continue to be sources of water, provide wildlife habitat , feed for livestock and 

contribute to overall economic development of the region. 

GENERAL DESCRIPTION 

The Tibetan Steppe is on the Tibet -Qinghai plateau in the People’s Republic of 

China and adjoining regions of Bhutan , Nepal and India . The Himalaya marks 

its southern boundary; the Kunlun, Arjin and Qilian Mountains delineate the 

northern boundary. The western limit is where the Himalaya, Karakoram, 

Kunlun and Pamir Mountains meet. In the east, the boundary extends along 

highlands in Qinghai, western Gansu and Sichuan and into northwestern 

Yunnan. Encompassing about a quarter of China’s land, the plateau stretches 

for almost 1 500 km north to south and for about 3 000 km from east to 

west – the largest plateau on earth. Over 80 percent is above 3 000 m and about 

half over 4 500 m (Schaller, 1998). The vegetation is mainly grazing land , which 

is floristically distinctive, one of the largest of such ecosystems in the world 

(Schaller, 1998); at about 165 million hectares, it is 42 percent of China’s grazing 

area (Miller, 1999a). This vast grassland is here termed the Tibetan Steppe; it

308 

Plate 8.3 

Harvested wheat in the Yarlung Tsangpo river valley. 


includes all grassland in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province 

(118.4 million hectares), on the northern flanks of the Kunlun Mountains in 

southern Xinjiang (15 million hectares) and in western Sichuan (14 million 

hectares), northwestern Yunnan (5 million hectares) and western Gansu 

(12 million hectares). Less than one percent of the steppe is cultivated, although 

crops have expanded in recent decades, especially in the Qaidam Basin. In the 

east of the plateau, crop land is in the lower valleys; in western Tibet, along the 

valley and tributaries of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra River). The upper 

limit of cultivation , which is as low as 3 300 m in some eastern parts, can reach 

4 400 m in the west. The major crops are barley, wheat (Plate 8.3), peas, rape 

and potatoes. 

The Tibetan Steppe has several distinct topographic regions determined 

by drainage and the parallel mountain ranges that divide it (Schaller, 1998). 

Only the east and south have outlets to the ocean; rivers originating in the 

Kunlun Mountains flow north to the Taklimakan and Qaidam Deserts. Much 

of the Steppe consists of large lake basins with no outlets, ringed by mountains. 

Forests are limited to the eastern edge in western Sichuan, northwestern 

Yunnan, southeastern Qinghai and eastern Tibet , and in some valleys on the 

northern slopes of the Himalaya . 

CLIMATE 

The Tibetan Steppe has a severe continental climate and is affected by the 

southeastern monsoon in summer and western air circulation patterns and high 

Mongol-Siberian air pressures in winter (Huang, 1987). The Steppe slopes to 

the southeast, so moisture from the southwest monsoon comes up gorges from 

S.G. REYNOLDS


the east and south and precipitation in summer decreases in a gradient from 

east to west and from south to north. The east of the Steppe is humid, the south 

is semi -arid , and far western Tibet is arid . The central Steppe, in a broad band 

from Gansu and Qinghai west through Tibet, is sub-frigid, humid in the east 

and semi-arid in the west. The northern part Steppe is frigid and arid (Schaller, 

1998). 

In Lhasa, at 3 658 m, the average January temperature is -2°C, and in July it 

is 15°C; the absolute minimum is -16°C. Lhasa has about 130 frost-free days. 

In Naqu, at 4 507 m in northern Tibet , the average temperature in January is 

-14°C, and 9°C in July; there are only 20 frost-free days. Absolute minimum 

temperature in Naqu is -41°C. Temperature rises quickly during the day, but 

drops rapidly after sunset. The diurnal temperature range is 14 to 17°C (Huang, 

1987), with an annual average of 2 500 to 3 000 sunshine hours. 

Annual precipitation varies from about 600 mm in the east to under 60 mm 

in the west, most falls from June to September, often as wet snow and hail. 

Most of the pastoral area receives less than 400 mm per annum. Winters are 

generally dry , but periodical heavy snowfalls bury forage; low temperatures 

accompanying snowstorms put additional stress on livestock. Much of the 

steppe, especially in the west, has strong winds, with 100-150 days in a year 

with wind speeds over 17 m/s. 

The eastern steppe receives enough precipitation (>400 mm) for the growth 

of forage, and the vegetation there probably exhibits characteristics of an 

equilibrium system (Schaller, 1998). Dry spells in late spring and early summer 

may delay growth, but rainfall is fairly reliable and many pastures have 

luxuriant vegetation. In the central and western Steppe , forage production is 

more variable from year to year due to fluctuating rainfall. There are even 

remarkable differences in grass growth within a small area due to local rainfall 

events. Here, non-equilibrium ecosystem dynamics may exert more influence 

on the landscape (Ellis and Swift, 1988; Laycock, 1991; Westoby, Walker and 

Noy-Meir, 1989a). Classical equilibrium theory may not be able to capture 

the uncertainty and variability in these environments, making such concepts 

as carrying capacity and stocking rate less effective in predicting ecosystem 

productivity and dynamics . 

GRASSLAND BIODIVERSITY 

Central Asia is normally divided into the Mongolian and Tibetan floristic 

provinces; the latter includes the entire Tibetan plateau with the exception of 

the Qaidam Basin, the Pamirs and southwestern Xinjiang . The Qaidam Basin 

is geographically part of Tibet , but its vegetation has more affinity with the 

Mongolian province (Walter and Box, 1983). The Tibetan floristic province 

is divided into four regions: (1) the Nan Shan and Chamdo in the northeast; 

(2) the deep river valleys in the southeast; (3) the deep longitudinal valley of 

the Yarlung Tsangpo in the south; and (4) the vast High Tibetan or Chang

310 


Tang. The steppe is a meeting ground of several floras, including Central Asian 

desert species, East Asian temperate , and Himalayan. In Tibet, over 2 000 plant 

species have been identified (Gu, 2000), mainly in the families Compositae (330 

species), Gramineae (277), Leguminosae (123), Rosaceae (102), Cyperaceae 

(102) and Polygonaceae (63). Over 1 720 species, accounting for 86 percent of 

forage plants, occur in the humid and subhumid pastures of eastern Tibet, and 

540 species, or 27 percent of forages, occur in the arid and semi -arid grasslands 

of the northwest (Gu, 2000). 

The vegetation of the Plateau and its floral elements differ strongly from 

the subtropical mountain forest vegetation of southeastern Tibet and adjoining 

regions (Chang, 1981). Plateau species have affinities with both Sino- 

Himalayan and Central Asia tic elements. Endemics comprise about 1 200, a 

quarter of all Tibetan species. Many dominants are endemics; Stipa purpurea 

is a dominant whose centre of importance is on the plateau. Aristida triseta 

, Orinus thoroldii and Trikeraia hookeri are also endemics in some of the 

drier valleys. Dominants of the steppe shrublands (Sophora moorcroftiana , 

Caragana versicolar , Ceratostigma griffithii ) and some important companion 

species (Artemisia wellbyi , Astragalus malcolmi i ) are also endemics. The 

dominant in alpine desert vegetation, Ceratoides compacta , is considered to be 

a specialized species that was formed during the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau 

(Chang, 1981). 

A number of plants found on the grasslands are valuable forage genetic 

resources . These include species such as Brachypodium sylvaticum , Bromus 

himalaicus , Dactylis glomerata , Duthiea brachypodium , Elymus nutans , 

E. tangutorum , Festuca ovina , F. rubra , Phleum alpinum , Roegneria melanthera 

and numerous species of Medicago . At least ten wild relatives of Medicago 

sativa are found there (Gu, 2000). Many forages from the steppe are of interest 

for resistance to cold , arid and saline or alkaline conditions. Collaborative 

collection expeditions have been carried out by the United States Department 

of Agriculture and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to identify and collect 

forage germplasm. 

At the junction of the Palaearctic and Indo-Malayan biogeographic realms, 

the steppe supports diverse mammalian faunas. The northwest Steppe contains 

a unique assemblage of large mammals (Miller and Schaller, 1997). Ungulates, 

a number of which are endemic, are of special significance (Harris and Miller, 

1995): species such as Tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang ) (Plate 8.2), wild yak 

(Bos grunniens ), Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni) and Tibetan gazelle 

(Procapra picticaudata) are found. The mountains provide habitat for blue 

sheep (Pseudois nayaur ) and Tibetan argali (Ovis ammon hodgsoni ). In the 

mountains of the eastern Steppe, where forests mix with grasslands, musk deer 

(Moschus sifanicus), MacNeil’s deer (Cervus elaphus macneilli), white -lipped 

deer (Cervus albirostris), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus bedford) and takin 

(Budorcas taxicolor) are found (Miller, 1998b). In southern Tibet there are still


scattered populations of Tibet red deer (Cervus elaphus wallichi). Around 

Qinghai Lake there are some Przewalski’s gazelle (Procapra przewalskii). 

Goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) are found on the northern edge of the 

Plateau. Predators such as brown bear (Ursus arctos ), wolf (Canis lupus ), snow 

leopard (Uncia uncia), lynx (Felis lynx ), Tibetan steppe fox (Vulpes ferrilata) 

and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) are found on the grasslands, and smaller mammals 

such as marmot (Marmota bobak) and pika (Ochotona spp.) are common 

(Miller and Jackson, 1994). 

In Tibet alone, over 500 species of bird have been recorded (Vaurie, 1970), 

including large predators : steppe eagles (Aquila nipalensis), upland buzzards 

(Buteo hemilasius), saker falcons (Falco cherrug), goshawks (Accipiter gentilis), 

black kites (Milvus migrans) and little owls (Athene noctua), several species of 

snow finches (Montifringilla spp.), pheasants (Crossoptilon spp., Tetraogallus 

spp.), Tibetan sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes tibetanus), as well as waterfowl such as 

black-necked cranes (Grus nigricollis), bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) and 

ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea). 

Dominant natural vegetation 

Kingdom-Ward (1948) identified six subregions: (1) the interior plateau; (2) the 

outer plateau; (3) the rainy gorge region; (4) the arid gorge region; (5) the 

Qaidam Basin; and (6) Chinese Tibet , or the northeastern part of the plateau. 

Scientific investigation of grassland resources began in the 1960s, with surveys 

(Xizang Integrated Survey Team of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1966, and 

Qinghai and Gansu Integrated Survey Team of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 

1963). Chang (1981) divided vegetation on the Tibetan plateau into five major 

regions: 

• the high-cold or alpine meadow of eastern Tibet ; 

• xeric shrubland and steppe along the valleys of the Yarlung Tsangpo and 

Indus River in southern Tibet ; 

• high-cold or alpine steppe in northern Tibet ; 

• high-cold desert in northwestern Tibet ; and 

• temperate desert in southwestern Tibet . 

Schaller (1998) followed Chang’s classification , but added a sixth region: the 

Qaidam Basin. Within each region, there is a diverse assortment of plant communities 

, varying in species composition and structure, and influenced by factors 

such as elevation, aspect, drainage and precipitation (Chang, 1983). For example, 

Chang and Gauch (1986) described 26 plant communities in western Tibet , and 

Achuff and Petocz (1988) identified 18 communities in the Arjin Shan region 

of Xinjiang on the northern edge of the Tibetan Steppe . The vegetation on the 

plains has a broad horizontal zonation and a relatively narrow vertical zonation 

on the mountain slopes, both reflecting precipitation and elevation. 

The country’s grassland resources were surveyed and mapped in the 1980s 

and classified into 17 types , based on climatic zonation, humidity index, veg-

312 

TABLE 8.1 

Grassland types of the Tibetan Steppe . 


Type Area ('000 ha) As percentage of total area 

Temperate meadowsteppe 210 0.16 

Temperate steppe 3 833 2.92 

Temperate desert - steppe 968 0.74 

Alpine meadowsteppe 5 626 4.28 

Alpine steppe 37 762 28.75 

Alpine desert - steppe 8 679 6.61 

Temperate steppe-desert 107 0.08 

Temperate desert 2 084 1.59 

Alpine desert 5 967 4.54 

Tropical tussock 9 – 

Tropical shrub tussock 28 0.02 

Temperate tussock 1 – 

Temperate shrub tussock 140 0.10 

Lowland meadow 1 168 0.88 

Temperate mountain meadow 6 067 4.61 

Alpine meadow 58 652 44.64 

Marsh 21 0.01 

Total 131 322 99.93 

SOURCE: Adapted from Chen and Fischer, 1998, and Ni, 2002. 

etation type and importance to the livestock industry (CISNR, 1995, 1996). 

Within each type, a number of formations have been identified. Table 8.1 gives 

the seventeen types found in the steppe. 

Alpine meadow 

Alpine meadow , which makes up about 45 percent of the grassland is found 

on valley floors and mountain slopes from about 3 500 to 4 500 m with annual 

precipitation over 400 mm, mainly in the east. It is widespread in southwestern 

Gansu, western Sichuan and southeastern and southern Qinghai, and extends 

into Tibet to the longitude of Lhasa. Further west, alpine meadow is primarily 

riparian and in areas receiving melt water (Cincotta et al., 1991; Schaller, 1998). 

The soil is an alpine meadow soil averaging 20–40 cm in depth, and rich in 

organic matter. The surface layer is a substantial, resilient sod (Huang, 1987). 

Ni (2002) concluded that high carbon storage in alpine meadows of China , as 

a result of the thick sod layer, could have a significant and long-term effect on 

global carbon cycles. 

Alpine meadow is dominated by sedges of the genera Kobresia (Huang, 

1987); dominant species are Kobresia pygmaea , K. humilis , K. capillifolia , 

K. setschwanensis , K. schoenoides and K. littledalei . Carex atrofusca , Polygonum 

viviparum and P. macrophyllum are the subdominant species in the alpine 

meadow, and numerous forbs are also found, including species in the genera 

Leontopodium , Anemone , Anaphalis , Polygonum, Pedicularis , Rheum , 

Androsace , Gentiana , Ranunculus , Aconitum , Astragalus , Oxytropis , Primula 

and Potentilla . Grasses include Elymus nutans , Roegneria nutans , Koeleria

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 8.4 

Elymus nutans . 

litwinowii , Helictotrichon tibeticum , Brachypodium sylvaticum , Stipa aliena , 

Festuca rubra , F. ovina and Deschampsia cespitosa . Large areas of productive 

pasture are dominated by Elymus nutans (Plate 8.4) in the alpine meadow, 

especially in northwestern Sichuan, southwestern Gansu and eastern Qinghai. 

In swampy depressions in the alpine meadow there is hummock vegetation 

dominated by Kobresia spp. (30-cm tall K. royleana and K. schoenoides). Shrub 

communities of plants such as Salix spp. , Caragana jubata , Potentilla fruticosa 

and Rhododendron spp. are common on northern aspects in alpine meadow. 

Most Tibetan pastoralists and their stock are found in the alpine meadow 

region. Livestock densities can be high; in eastern Qinghai, stocking rates are 

28-70 animals/km 2 , and heavy grazing and trampling, together with solifluction, 

have disturbed the sod layer, causing extensive rangeland degradation 

(Schaller, 1998). 

Alpine steppe 

The alpine steppe comprises almost 29 percent of the area and is found between 

3 500 and 4 600 m in the central and western steppe. Unlike the alpine meadow , 

there is no sod layer, and the soil is often gravel and coarse sandy loam; it is a 

variant of the temperate steppe under the cold conditions of the Tibetan plateau 

(Huang, 1987). Grasses of the genus Stipa dominate, often accompanied 

by cushion plants, with S. purpurea and S. subsessiliflora as the dominant 

grasses. Associated species are mainly xeric and meso-xeric grasses: Poa alpina 

(Plate 8.5), P. crymophila , P. dolichachyra , Roegneria nutans , R. thoroldiana , 

Agropyron cristatum , Stipa aliena , Orinus thoroldii , Calamagrostis spp. , Festuca

314 

Plate 8.5 

Poa alpina . 

Plate 8.6 

Stock grazing on stubble after harvest. 


rubra , Kobresia spp. and Carex moorcroftii . Shrubs include Potentilla fruticosa , 

Ajana spp. , Artemisia spp. and Ceratoides compacta . Forbs include Potentilla 

bifurca , Dracocephalum heterophyllum , Heteropappus altaicus , Leontopodium 

spp. , Pedicularis spp. , Allium spp. , Oxytropis spp. and Astragalus spp. , with 

the cushion plants Androsace tapete , Arenaria musciformis and Oxytropis 

microphylla . 

A. PEETERS 

S.G. REYNOLDS

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 8.7 

Turnips are becoming a popular crop for winter feed. 

Along the drainage of the Yarlung Tsangpo, in the rain-shadow of the 

Himalaya , between 3 500 to 4 000 m on valley floors and lower mountain 

slopes, the dominant vegetation consists of xeric grasses such as Aristida 

triseta , Stipa bungeana , Pennisetum flaccidum , Elymus nutans and Orinus 

thoroldii . Shrubs such as Artemisia webbiana , Berberis spp. , Sophora 

moorcroftiana , S. viciifolia , Lonicera spinosa , Leptodermis sauranja and 

Ceratostigma griffithii are often mixed with grasses, or comprise distinct 

communities . On the upper slopes, Juniperus shrub communities are found. 

Since this central valley region is settled by farmers, most of the grasslands 

have been subjected to heavy, continual grazing for centuries, if not thousands 

of years, and are overgrazed and degraded (Meiners, 1991; Ryavec and 

Vergin, 1998). Desertification , with moving sand dunes , is a serious problem 

in many areas in the Yarlung Tsangpo valley. 

Stock graze on stubble (Plate 8.6) and fodder crops like turnips (Plate 8.7) 

are grown for winter feed. 

Many plants in the alpine steppe have distinctive adaptations to the harsh 

environment (Huang, 1987). Some have shiny hairs, possibly to retain humidity 

and reflect heat into the interior. Some have large taproots for nutrient storage, 

and cushion plants create their own micro-environment by accumulating 

windblown soil and snow. In the alpine steppe, plant canopy cover ranges 

from 10 to 30 percent and productivity is often low (

316 


precipitation (Miller and Schaller, 1996). The alpine steppe is important for 

pastoral production (Miller and Bedunah, 1993). Most is still in quite good 

condition , although there are areas of overgrazing around settlements. Schaller 

(1998) estimated livestock density in the alpine steppe in northern Tibet at 

8.7 animals/km 2 (comprising sheep , 5.71/km 2 ; goats , 2.60/km 2 ; yak , 0.36/km 2 ; 

and horses, 0.07/km 2 ). 

Alpine desert steppe 

The alpine desert steppe , which extends out of north Tibet into southern 

Xinjiang , is a bleak and arid landscape with large areas almost devoid of 

vegetation (Schaller, 1998). It makes up about 6 percent of the total grassland 

of the Steppe . Vegetation is similar to the alpine steppe, but plant cover is less. 

The dwarf shrub Ceratoides compacta and the sedge Carex moorcroftii are the 

dominant plants. There is little livestock in this cold , high desert, and even wild 

ungulates are limited in number (Miller and Schaller, 1998). 

Temperate mountain meadow 

The temperate mountain meadow is mainly in western Sichuan, southeastern 

Qinghai and east Tibet , and often found as meadows within forest between 

3 330 and 4 200 m. It makes up 4.6 percent of the area. Forests are primarily of 

spruce (Picea spp.). Important grass genera include Festuca , Ptilagrostis , Poa , 

Helictotrichon , Agrostis , Bromus , Elymus , Roegneria and Deyeuxia . Common 

forbs are of the genera Polygonum , Aconitum , Delphinium , Rheum and 

Ligularia . Shrubs include Rhododendron , Philadelphus , Sorbus , Salix , Spiraea , 

Prunus and Lonicera . 

Temperate desert 

The temperate desert found in the Qaidam Basin is a transition zone between 

the Mongolian desert and the alpine steppe of the Tibetan plateau. It is orogenically 

part of Tibet , but belongs floristically to the Mongolian province (Walter 

and Box, 1983). The Qaidam basin is 100–200 km wide and 600 km long, once 

filled by a sea, with mean elevation around 3 000 m, about 1 500 m higher than 

the Mongolian Plateau and about the same below the Tibetan plateau. Shrubs 

of the genera Calligonum , Haloxylon , Nitraria , Reaumuria , Salsola , Artemisia , 

Tamarix , Ephedra , Kalidium and Sympegma dominate. There are large salt flats 

scattered across much of the Basin, and marshy areas support communities of 

Phragmites . 

Classification of grassland types and plant communities 

The rangelands of the Tibetan Autonomous Region have been classified into 

12 different types (Mou, Deng and Gu, 1992; Deng, 1981; Gu, 2000). Table 8.2 

lists these different types and the dominant groups within each type for the 

Tibetan Autonomous Region.


TABLE 8.2 

Grassland types and plant communities in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. 

Formation Community 

Alpine meadow Kobresia spp. 

Alpine shrub meadow Rhododendron – Kobresia 

Subalpine shrub meadow Sabina – Kobresia bellardii 

Picea – Kobresia bellardii 

Quercus semicarpifolia – Kobresia bellardii 

Salix – Spiraea – Berberis 

Mountain shrub steppe Sophora viciifolia – Pennisetum flaccidum 

Sophora viciifolia – Orinus thoroldii 

Mountain steppe Artemisia stracheyi – Kobresia bellardii 

Artemisia stracheyi – Stipa sp. 

Artemisia stracheyi – Orinus thoroldii 

Orinus thoroldii 

Achnatherum hookeri 

Stipa bungeana – Pennisetum flaccidum 

Alpine steppe Stipa purpurea 

Stipa purpurea – Kobresia sp. 

Stipa purpurea – Caragana versicolar 

Stipa purpurea – Festuca ovina 

Mountain desert steppe Stipa glareosa 

Stipa glareosa – Ceratoides latens 

Caragana versicolar – Stipa glareosa 

Caragana versicolar – Ceratoides latens 

Ajania fruticulosa – Stipa glareosa 

Mountain desert Ceratoides latens – Stipa sp. 

Ceratoides latens 

Alpine desert Carex moorcroftii 

Ceratoides compacta – Carex moorcroftii 

Ceratoides compacta 

Alpine cushion vegetation 

Lake basin and valley meadow grassland 

Woodland meadow 

SOURCE: Adapted from Mou, Deng and Gu, 1992, and Gu, 2000. 

Vegetational attributes 

Vegetational attributes of the Tibetan Steppe vary greatly depending on the 

particular type , topography, soils, precipitation and grazing history. Some of the 

important vegetation characteristics that can help elucidate rangeland dynamics 

on the Steppe are botanical composition , productivity and nutritional content 

of rangeland herbage. 

BOTANICAL COMPOSITION 

Table 8.3 shows average botanical composition for alpine steppe and alpine 

desert in the Chang Tang Wildlife Reserve of northern Tibet , where the average 

elevation is 4 800 m and annual precipitation about 250 mm. Much of the 

grass is one species, Stipa purpurea . On mountain slopes in the alpine steppe, 

grasses decrease and forbs increase. In the alpine desert, sedges become more 

important, making up from 48 to almost 70 percent of vegetation ; the primary 

sedge is Carex moorcroftii . Table 8.4 depicts average botanical composition

318 


TABLE 8.3 

Botanical composition in the Chang Tang Wildlife Reserve, northern Tibet (percentage basis). 

Alpine Steppe Alpine Desert Steppe 

plains plains mountain 

Grasses 61.9 58.8 29.8 42.7 17.5 

Sedges 15.2 28.5 22.8 48.5 69.8 

Forbs 17.5 10.6 35.2 6.2 9.3 

Shrubs 5.4 2.1 12.2 2.6 3.4 

SOURCE: Adapted from Miller and Schaller, 1997 

TABLE 8.4 

Botanical composition of rangeland in Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai (percentage basis). 

Alpine Meadow Temperate Meadow- Steppe 

Grasses 8.20 68.00 

Sedges 40.70 3.87 

Legumes 4.05 2.45 

Edible forbs 29.33 18.68 

Non-edible forbs 17.72 7.00 

Total 

SOURCE: Lang, Huang and Wang, 1997. 

100.00 100.00 

TABLE 8.5 

Annual dry matter production and carrying capacity for different grassland types in Hainan 

Prefecture, Qinghai Province. 

Pasture type Dry matter (kg/ha) Carrying capacity (ha/SU/yr) 

Alpine meadow 934 0.78 

Temperate meadowsteppe 623 1.17 

Alpine steppe 594 1.23 

Temperate desert steppe 345 2.11 

Temperate desert 228 3.19 

Lowland meadow 

NOTES: SU = Stock Unit. 

SOURCE: Lang, Huang and Wang, 1997. 

1 341 0.54 

in an alpine meadow and in temperate meadow-steppe in eastern Qinghai. In 

alpine meadow, grasses comprise only 8 percent of vegetation, while sedges 

comprise 40 percent, with the balance being forbs. In temperate meadowsteppe, 

a high proportion of vegetation (68 percent) is grasses. 

GRASSLAND PRODUCTIVITY 

The standing crop on the Steppe varies considerably. Alpine meadows are some 

of the most productive, as average annual dry matter (DM) production may 

reach 1 000 kg/ha. Productivity of desert pasture is low, averaging only 100– 

200 kg/DM/ha. Table 8.5 gives annual DM production and carrying capacity 

of different pasture types . Harris and Bedunah (2001), in Aksai County, Gansu 

Province, found average standing crop varied from 115 kg/DM/ha in desert 

shrub to 790 kg/DM/ha in desert sub-irrigated meadows (Table 8.6). 

Nutrient content of herbage 

On most of the steppe, natural forage is the only source of nutrients, except 

for small amounts of hay and purchased concentrates, so understanding


TABLE 8.6 

Standing crop (kg/DM/ha) for different vegetation types in Aksai County, Gansu (3 100 to 

4 400 m). 

Vegetation type Standing crop Dominant species 

Desert shrub 115 Sympegma regelii , Reaumuria soongarica 

Desert steppe 167 Oxytropis aciphylla, Leymus paboanus, Stipa glareosa 

Alpine desert shrub 141 Ceratoides compacta, Stipa glareosa 

Alpine steppe 245 Stipa purpurea, Poa spp., Festuca spp., Carex 

moorcroftii 

Desert sub-irrigated meadows 790 Carex spp., Achnatherum splendens 

Meadows and sandy grasslands 423 Carex spp., Leymus paboanus, Stipa spp., Kobresia spp. 

SOURCE: Harris and Bedunah, 2001. 

TABLE 8.7 

Crude Protein (CP) and Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) of vegetation in Guoluo Prefecture, 

Qinghai Province (as percentage of dry matter). 

Plant Form Grasses Forbs Shrubs 

CP TDN CP TDN CP TDN 

Late June 16.12 79.48 16.60 85.43 19.14 83.11 

Late July 15.02 78.21 14.95 83.93 17.76 82.56 

Mid-September 

SOURCE: Sheehy, 2000. 

10.47 79.61 10.46 83.77 9.97 80.69 

the nutrient dynamics of forage in relation to animal needs is critical. 

Understanding temporal and spatial dynamics of forage is also important, 

with regard both to plant and animal needs and to demand functions in the 

livestock production system (Sheehy, 2000). 

Investigations in an alpine meadow environment in Guoluo Prefecture, 

Qinghai, provide surprising information about the nutrient content of 

forages. Table 8.7 shows average crude protein (CP) content of three classes 

of forage and average percent total digestible nutrients (TDN) at three 

different times during the growing season. An important characteristic of 

the forage is the high protein and nutrient content of all growth forms at 

the end of the growing season. The total amount of nutrients available to 

livestock going into the autumn and winter is much higher than found in 

many other grazing ecosystems . This implies that: (1) sufficient nutrients 

remain available on the Tibetan Steppe to maintain livestock through normal 

periods when forage is not growing; (2) even degraded vegetation has 

relatively high nutrients; and (3) capacity of grasslands to support livestock 

needs to be evaluated in a nutrient context as well as a consumable biomass 

content (Sheehy, 2000). 

Grassland degradation 

About a third of the pasture of the Steppe is now considered moderately to 

severely degraded, calling into question its long-term sustainability under 

current use (Sheehy, 2001). In Tibet , the percent of degraded pasture increased 

from 18 to 30 percent of total area between 1980 and 1990. Degradation is a 

growing concern in Naqu, where degraded land makes up almost 40 percent

320 


of the total degraded rangeland in the whole of the Tibetan Autonomous 

Region (Ciwang, 2000). 

Seriously degraded alpine meadow is often termed “black beach”, since the 

Kobresia -dominated community has deteriorated to such a degree that most of 

the sedges and associated grasses have disappeared, leaving annuals and bare 

soil. The dynamics of this degradation are not well understood; it is usually 

blamed on overgrazing and the burrowing of pikas, but there is increasing 

evidence that climate change and desiccation may play a major role in vegetation 

changes (Miehe, 1988). Livestock may just accentuate natural ecological 

processes instead of being the underlying cause. 

THE TIBETAN PASTORAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM 

Tibetan pastoralism has evolved through long-term adaptation and persistence 

by herders (Ekvall, 1968; Goldstein, 1992; Goldstein and Beall, 1991; Miller, 

1999b). Pastoralists kept a mix of livestock in terms of species and class and used 

a mosaic of grazing sites, exploiting seasonal and annual variability. Herders 

bartered products (Plate 8.8) for grain and supplies; quite elaborate trade linkages 

(Plate 8.9) developed between pastoral and agricultural areas; traditional 

pastoralism was more than subsistence oriented. Tibetan pastoralism is distinct 

ecologically from that of other semi -arid regions, except Mongolia (Ekvall, 

1974), since it is separated from agricultural areas by temperature not aridity 

(Ekvall, 1968; Barfield, 1993; Goldstein and Beall, 1990; Miller, 1998a). The yak 

(Plate 8.10), which is superbly adapted to the cold Tibetan Steppe , also distinguishes 

Tibetan pastoralism (Cai and Wiener, 1995; Miller, 1997b). 

Plate 8.8 

Yaks transporting wool. 

DANIEL MILLER

DANIEL MILLER 

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 8.9 

Yak pack train. 

Plate 8.10 

The Yak (Bos grunniens ). 

Historical and cultural aspects 

Pastoralists have probably been raising stock on the Tibetan Steppe for 4 000 

years (Barfield, 1989; Lattimore, 1940). As early as the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766 

BC), nomadic Qiang were making fine woven woollen material in the Kunlun 

Mountains. In the Shang dynasty (1766-1027 BC) nomads in eastern Tibet 

were renowned for their horses. The development of Tibetan pastoralism was

322 

Plate 8.11 

Kokonor camp with the distinctive black yak -hair tents. 

Plate 8.12 

Amdo woman and tent. 


shaped by nomads from Central Asia who brought sheep , goats and horses. 

The Tibetan black , yak -hair tent (Plates 8.11 and 8.12) is strikingly similar to 

the goat -hair tents of Afghanistan , Iran and Iraq (Manderscheid, 2001). The yak, 

domesticated on the Steppe (Miller et al., 1994), enabled nomads to exploit the 

high grassland . 

DANIEL MILLER 

DANIEL MILLER

DANIEL MILLER 


Most herders are Tibetan but there are small groups of Mongols and 

Kazakhs in Qinghai. Population density across much of the Steppe is less than 

two persons per square kilometre (Ryavec and Vergin, 1998). For a distance of 

almost 3 000 km, Tibetan is spoken and has been a written language for about 

1 300 years. In recent decades, pastoralists across most of the Steppe have built 

houses and livestock shelters, on traditional winter -spring pastures where they 

spend up to 6–7 months of the year. The vast majority of herders have been 

“settled” for some time, but graze their livestock in a transhumant manner 

(Miller, 1998c). 

Livestock management 

Pastoral practices are similar across the Steppe , although the composition and 

size of herds differ. Herders keep milking (Plates 8.13 and 8.14) and dry herds 

of yak , yak-cattle crosses, sheep (Plate 8.15), goats and horses. The yak in many 

ways defines pastoralism across the plateau; they are preferred for riding in 

rough country, at extreme altitudes and in snow (Ekvall, 1974); their dung is an 

important fuel. The Tibetan term for yaks, nor, is also translated as “wealth”. 

Sheep and goats are most important in the west where they suit the vegetation 

better than do yaks; there sheep and goats are milked; in the east, yaks supply 

all the nomads’ milk needs. Mutton is the preferred meat . Goats yield cashmere 

, meat and milk; Tibetan cashmere is among the best in the world. Sheep, 

goats and camels (Plate 8.16) are also used as pack animals but, with expanding 

road access , their role for transport has diminished. Horses are used primarily 

for riding, but are also used as pack animals. Mares are not milked and Tibetans 

Plate 8.13 

Milking yak .

324 

Plate 8.14 

Milk collection. 

Plate 8.15 

Sheep grazing on the high plateau. 


do not eat horsemeat. Livestock belong to individual families since the communes 

were disbanded and the ‘household responsibility system’ introduced in 

the early 1980s. Each family is responsible for its livestock and the processing 

and marketing of livestock products. 

The proportion of species and the size of herds differs according to grassland 

factors and the suitability of the landscape for different animals. Table 8.8 

DANIEL MILLER 

S.G. REYNOLDS

DANIEL MILLER 


Plate 8.16 

Mongols and pack camels . 

TABLE 8.8 

Average livestock numbers per family in various Counties and Townships. 

Administrative unit Yak Sheep Goats Horses 

Shuanghu County, Tibet 18 282 107 4 

Nyima County, Tibet 14 220 144 2 

Amdo County, Tibet 45 189 25 4 

Takring Township, Naqu County, Tibet 31 57 13 1.5 

Tagmo Township, Naqu County, Tibet 30 54 11 1.5 

Nyerong County, Tibet 27 46 8 1.4 

Aba County, Sichuan 70 34 0 6 

Hongyuan County, Sichuan 85 7 0 5 

Maqu County, Gansu 46 48 0 6 

Marma Twp, Maqu County, Gansu 51 71 0 6 

Nyima Township, Maqu County, Gansu 46 81 0 1.8 

Luqu County, Gansu 

SOURCES: Interviews and Government Records. 

33 65 0 2 

shows herd composition for 16 counties and townships across a distance of 

1 500 km from west to east. For example, in Shuanghu County of the Tibetan 

Autonomous Region, yaks make up only 4 percent of livestock; whereas in 

Hongyuan County of Sichuan, about 1 200 km to the east, yaks comprise 85 

percent. Shuanghu is drier and the alpine steppe vegetation suits sheep and 

goats . Hongyuan is wetter and vegetation is dominated by alpine meadow . 

Herd compositions within a geographic area can also differ with the skills, 

preferences and availability of labour. Luqu County, in southwestern Gansu, is 

close to Aba and Hongyuan Counties in Sichuan and pastures are comparable, 

but in Luqu the government encouraged pastoralists to raise sheep, hence it has 

a much higher percentage of sheep than neighbouring counties.

326 


The number of animals that herder households raise also varies considerably 

across the Steppe . In Shuanghu County in Tibet , an average-income 

family of five keeps about 280 sheep , 100 goats , 18 yaks and 4 horses. In Naqu 

County a family of five would have 60–80 sheep and goats, 30–35 yaks and 

two horses. A rich family in Naqu may have 200–300 sheep and goats and 100 

yaks. In Hongyuan County in northwest Sichuan a typical family would have 

80–100 yaks, five horses and no, or a few, sheep. Of the 80–100 yaks a family 

in Hongyuan has, only 30 to 40 are milking females. In Phala in northwest 

Shigatse Prefecture of Tibet, the richest herding family with six persons in the 

household had 286 sheep, 250 goats, 77 yaks and 8 horses. 

Herd structure illustrates pastoralists’ expertise in animal husbandry. In 

Phala, almost 60 percent of the adult sheep and goats are females. Adult males, 

at 30 percent of the flock, may seem high, but a significant portion of herders’ 

income is from fibre from adult males and adult males for meat . In pastoral 

areas, livestock graze year-round. Some hay is cut for weak animals and horses 

in winter and spring . In recent years, however, some herders are sowing pastures 

for winter-spring grazing or hay. 

Herds on the move 

Traditional extensive grazing management was adapted to local conditions and 

stock were regularly moved between pastures to maintain grassland condition 

and animal productivity . Grazing lands were parcelled into seasonal pastures 

and grazed according to managerial and production objectives. Pastoralists’ 

movements were well prescribed by complex social organizations and were 

highly regulated. Mobility is still vital for most herders (Plate 8.17), although 

Plate 8.17 

Herders moving on the high plain. 

DANIEL MILLER


with escalating settlement, livestock mobility is being curtailed. The system 

was designed around the seasonal movement of livestock; herds rotated 

between pastures to use forage in summer and reserve grass for autumn and 

early winter to prepare animals for the long winter. The survival today of 

numerous, prosperous groups of Tibetan pastoralists bears witness to their 

extraordinary indigenous knowledge, resourcefulness and animal husbandry 

skills. Much of the grazing ecosystem is intact and sustains a unique flora and 

wild fauna, despite centuries of grazing, indicating its remarkable resilience. 

Now, however, traditional, proven, yet often quite sophisticated livestock and 

grazing management systems are being altered as modern development sweeps 

across the Tibetan steppes. 

Land tenure 

Before 1949 there was a feudal “estate” system with land controlled by 

religious and aristocratic elites (Goldstein and Beall, 1990:54). Wealthy, 

powerful monasteries controlled huge fiefdoms with numerous pastoral estates 

and thousands of subjects. Herders were bound to an estate and not free to 

leave it, but owned their animals and managed them as they wished; they paid 

taxes and provided corvée labour to their lord. 

Traditionally, pastoral estates were divided into numerous pastures, with 

borders recorded in a register book (Goldstein and Beall, 1990:69). Households 

received pastures according to the number of livestock owned, including 

multiple pastures for use at different seasons. Estate officials enforced pasture 

boundaries. Herding households were independent of each other regarding 

management of their pastures and animals and there was no “common” pasture 

open to all. On pastoral estates the system balanced grassland resources and 

livestock by reallocating pastures between families according to a census conducted 

every three years. Herders whose stock had increased were allocated 

more pasture and those whose herds had declined lost land, the aim being to 

maintain a specified number of livestock on each pasture (Goldstein and Beall, 

1990:70). 

In many areas herders were organized as a confederacy of separate kinbased 

groups which were of different sizes and each had customary rights to 

land of varying extent , used at different seasons. Groups were divided into 

‘encampments’ of five to ten households and each encampment had rights to a 

set of seasonal grazing areas within the wider ‘tribal’ territory. Natural features 

like ridges and streams (Levine, 1998) marked boundaries. Herders had heritable 

grazing rights within a group territory (Clarke, 1998). 

Traditionally, in areas outside the control of large pastoral estates, grazing 

rights were very insecure and depended on force (Levine, 1998). While the 

rights of tribes to certain tracts of land were fixed – unless and until other tribes 

took them by force – rights of encampments were more fluid. The camping 

sites and grazing grounds of the various groups could be changed from one

328 


part of the tribal territory to another at the discretion of tribal leaders and in 

response to changing needs of the encampment (Levine, 1998). In the Golog 

region of the northeastern Steppe winter camps had a sense of ‘ownership’ by 

specific encampment groups. Households in the encampment had ‘individual 

and exclusive rights over certain hayfields’ near winter sites (Ekvall, 1954). 

Since 1949 the state has induced profound changes in land tenure and 

social organization of pastoral communities . In the 1950s, when land reform 

was being implemented throughout China , pasture was nationalized and 

aristocratic and monastic lords lost their estates. State ownership of grassland 

was not incorporated into law until 1982 (Ho, 2000). When communes were 

established in the late 1950s and 1960s, ownership was vested in the production 

teams, which came to regard the grassland as collective property. What 

emerged was a de facto situation of state and collectively owned pasture. All 

livestock was the property of the communes. Herders were transformed to 

holders of a share in the communes’ livestock. In the commune era, however, 

mobile pastoralism continued and no attempt was made to reduce the geographic 

scope of livestock production. 

Decollectivization of the agricultural sector in China was authorized in 

1978. Institutional rural reforms began in agricultural areas of eastern China, 

where communes and state farms were dismantled and their lands redistributed 

under the family-based Household Contract Responsibility System 

(Ho, 1996). In agricultural areas farmers could lease land and land use rights 

could be subcontracted or inherited. The contract system became the orthodox 

form of land tenure for agriculture and was applied to grasslands with 

the promulgation of the Grassland Law in 1985 (Ho, 2000), which states that 

the user right of state or collective pasture may be leased to households for a 

‘long term’, although in practice lease periods extend to 30 years and in special 

circumstances to 50 years. In much of the pastoral area of Qinghai, southwest 

Gansu and northwestern Sichuan, many herders have settled and have fenced 

pastures contracted to them. There is evidence that the allocation of rangeland 

is at the community and small group level, much as in the pre-commune era 

(Goldstein and Beall, 1991). 

Transformation of the traditional pastoral production system 

The profound changes of recent decades are transforming traditional land 

use, altering pasture conditions and disrupting the lives of pastoralists. Often 

these political, social, economic and ecological transformations have altered 

previously stable relationships between pastoralists and the grasslands. 

In the mid-1980s winter grazing lands were allocated to households and 

winter pastures were fenced (Plate 8.18); this began in the Qinghai Lake region, 

but quickly spread to herding areas in Gansu and Sichuan. Exclusive usufruct 

rights to specific grazing lands for herding households, valid in most cases for 

30 years, have now been established. These rights can be inherited, but not

DANIEL MILLER 


Plate 8.18 

Fenced rangeland. 

bought or sold. There is no mechanism yet in place for the readjustment of 

grazing land to individual families when livestock numbers fluctuate. 

In the Tibetan Autonomous Region, however, grassland is not yet allocated 

to households, but is being allocated to groups of herders. One explanation for 

the difference in the privatization process in Tibet is that the grasslands are not 

as productive and the expense involved in fencing individual properties would 

be prohibitive. A new development is that summer grazing lands are also being 

privatized and fenced, except again in the Tibetan Autonomous Region where 

they are being allocated to groups instead of households. To complement the 

privatization a ‘Four-Way Programme’ is being implemented and consists of: 

• fencing about 20 to 30 ha of productive winter pasture , reserved from grazing 

in summer and autumn , to provide grazing during the late winter and/or 

spring ; 

• construction of shelters for livestock; 

• construction of homes for nomads in their winter pasture site; and 

• planting small (0.5 to 2 ha) plots of oats for hay in the corrals around winter 

settlements (Plate 8.19). 

In some areas, additional interventions include: 

• fencing about 20 ha of degraded land which is rehabilitated by reseeding ; 

and 

• fencing of an additional 20 ha which is then improved with fertilizer , chemicals 

and improved management . 

These activities are being undertaken on a large scale, with substantial 

government and donor investment, in almost all pastoral areas of Qinghai,

330 


Plate 8.19 

Oats for winter feed (as hay ) being grown in a sheep pen, Qinghai, China . 

Gansu and Sichuan. However, even in Tibet , great attention is being given to 

“scientific” animal husbandry and settling of herders. 

The heavy livestock losses experienced on the plateau in recent years has 

convinced many authorities that transhumant pastoralism needs to be restructured. 

Programmes to settle herders, privatize and fence pasture and develop 

fodder for winter are seen as ways to prevent losses in severe winters and control 

what is perceived as widespread pasture degradation . While some of these 

interventions have merit, such as the growing of annual forage for hay , the 

long-term ecological implications of privatizing pasture and reducing the spatial 

movement of herds have received little analysis (Miller, 2000). The socioeconomic 

and land-tenure ramifications of herders being settled on defined 

properties have also not been examined. 

Foggin and Smith (2000) concluded that summer -autumn pastures may be 

unintentionally degraded further as artificially high winter populations of stock 

are forced to graze on summer-autumn pasture of reduced size. Official livestock-management 

views technology as having the ability to overcome resource 

limitations but fails to consider that a greater proportion of winter-spring 

pasture means a lesser proportion of summer-autumn pasture and overgrazing 

becomes increasingly likely as more livestock graze on a continuously decreasing 

area during a short growing season (Foggin and Smith, 2000). Considerable 

investment may be misdirected or inappropriately divided between winterspring 

and summer-autumn zones and associated projects. For example, in Dari 

County of Qinghai, grassland condition has continued to deteriorate despite a 

decrease in livestock and considerable investment in “construction” projects. 

J.M. SUTTIE


The popular government development paradigm in the Tibetan Steppe , adopts 

a livestock rather than a grassland management perspective (Foggin and Smith, 

2000); stock numbers are of primary importance and attention to vegetation secondary. 

As the human pastoral population increased there was a strong tendency 

to rely more heavily on winter -spring grazing , the condition of which decreased 

as human population density – and livestock density – increased. Since winterspring 

is when most livestock die from poor nutrition , an increase in the area of 

winter-spring grazing land or the supply of feed in winter-spring is a rational 

response to ensure that more stock survive. This focus on maximizing livestock 

production detracts from promoting sustainable grassland management. 

Snowstorms and pastoral system dynamics 

Across much of the Tibetan Steppe , where there is sufficient rainfall and the 

pastoral system appears to operate in an equilibrium manner with regards to 

forage production, the continental climate and periodic weather perturbations 

in the form of sudden and brutal snowstorms add to the complexity and 

dynamic nature of the ecosystem (Goldstein, Beall and Cincotta, 1990; Miller, 

2000). Snowstorms are a fundamental component of the Tibetan Steppe and 

probably serve as an important regulatory mechanism in the pastoral system. 

Serious losses occur as a result of heavy snowfalls and severe cold weather 

(Cincotta et al., 1991; Clarke, 1998; Goldstein, Beall and Cincotta, 1990; 

Miller, 1998a; Schaller, 1998; Prejevalsky, 1876, in Schaller, 1998). From 1955 

to 1990, six severe winters with heavy snow were reported, resulting in 20 to 

30 percent losses in livestock each time. Schaller (1998) reported an unusually 

heavy snowfall of 30 cm in October 1985, followed by temperatures that 

dropped to -40°C, in southwestern Qinghai that resulted in large numbers of 

livestock and wildlife dying. Goldstein and Beall (1990) found that all lambs 

and kids died in the spring of 1988 in the Phala area of Tibet . The winter of 

1989–1990 in Tibet resulted in the loss of 20 percent of livestock in affected 

areas. The winter of 1995–1996 was severe in many parts of the plateau, with 33 

percent of livestock lost in Yushu Prefecture of Qinghai. Losses in summer are 

not uncommon; Goldstein and Beall (1990) found that after five days of snow 

in the summer of 1986, a herding area lost 30 percent of its stock. Ekvall (1974) 

mentions the effect of hail on Tibetan herds. Much of the Steppe probably 

functions as a non-equilibrium system with stock numbers frequently checked 

by climatic factors, such as snowstorms, rather than by increasing pressure of 

livestock on the pastures (Miller, 1997a). 

Another severe winter was in 1997–98, when usually early and severe 

snowfalls in September was followed by cold weather, preventing the snow 

from melting. More snow followed and by November, the pasture was buried 

under deep snow. By April 1998, more than three million head had been lost. 

Thousands of families, many of which had lost all their livestock, suddenly 

faced poverty. In Naqu prefecture, 20 percent of the pastoral population of

332 


340 000 lived in poverty prior to the severe 1997–98 winter; in the following 

year the percentage had increased to 40 percent. 

Officials label heavy snowfalls and severe winters as “disasters”; however, 

pastoralists have been herding on the Tibetan Steppe for centuries and have 

dealt with snowstorms and cold weather – those of the winter of 1997–1998 

are natural events of the pastoral system. Herding has always been a highrisk 

enterprise; pastoralists adopt strategies that minimize risk and make best 

use of the resources (Goldstein and Beall, 1990; Miller, 1998a). In contrast 

to severe droughts in semi -arid pastoral areas, heavy snowfalls do not affect 

the vegetation negatively. Unlike droughts, where the effects on livestock are 

more prolonged, severe snowstorms are sudden events, with a very short or no 

“warning” period, and often causing livestock deaths in days or weeks. 

DILEMMA ON THE TIBETAN STEPPE 

With attempts to transform pastoral livestock production towards a market 

economy the goal has been to increase off-take. This has been promoted 

through privatization of herds and land, settling herders, introduction of less 

mobile , intensive grazing management and of rainfed forage. Many of these 

interventions have been responses to political or economic objectives and while 

they have improved the delivery of social services, in many instances, they conflict 

with the goal of maintaining grassland health and stability since they limit 

the mobile nature of pastoralism (Miller, 1999a; Goldstein and Beall, 1989; Wu, 

1997a). Movements between seasonal pastures are being reduced or eliminated; 

herd composition is being restructured along commercial lines; herders are 

being compelled to become livestock farmers. The environment and the pastoral 

cultures are under threat where mobility has been eliminated or substantially 

reduced (Humphrey and Sneath, 1999; Sneath and Humphrey, 1996). 

A disproportionate amount of research is oriented to maximizing livestock 

productivity , rather than understanding how livestock fit into the ecological 

system in a socially sustainable way. There is also a problem regarding the 

effective privatization of pastoral land tenure . Transaction costs associated with 

the policy are high, including high private costs relative to the benefits and high 

public costs of monitoring and enforcing contractual provisions related to pasture 

management (World Bank, 2001). As Banks (1999) has outlined, privatization 

policy was based on the assumption that, through the better definition of 

property rights and introduction of individual land tenure, security would be 

improved and this would prevent a “tragedy of the commons” scenario which 

in turn would give herders the incentive to manage their pasture better and 

invest in improvement . It was asserted that private ownership, by combining 

interest in both land and livestock, would prevent overgrazing (Banks, 1997). 

This model has been widely rejected by most pastoral specialists, who have 

found it a very poor guide to understanding transhumant pastoralism and planning 

development of pastoral areas.


Privatization of land in semi -arid pastoral areas often leads to lower levels of 

production, decreasing numbers of people supported on equivalent land and in 

some cases unsustainable or even destructive use of natural resources (Galaty 

et al., 1994). Individualization of tenure leads to loss of flexibility in grazing 

management and consequently, a means to manage environmental risk . In 

Inner Mongolia (Sneath, 1998) found that that the highest levels of grassland 

degradation were in areas with the lowest stock mobility ; mobility indices 

were a better guide to degradation than densities of livestock. Williams 

(1996a, b) noted that grassland enclosures in Inner Mongolia compound 

grazing problems by intensifying stocking rates on highly vulnerable land, 

exacerbating wind and soil erosion across large areas only to protect small 

isolated fields dedicated to poorly financed fodder cultivation . 

The fact that many prosperous pastoral groups still populate the Tibetan 

plateau is evidence of their extensive knowledge about grasslands and 

livestock. Multi-species grazing maximizes the use of forage but requires 

complex management . Multiple species minimizes the risk of total loss from 

disease or winter storms. As McIntire (1993) found for Africa, the central 

characteristics of traditional pastoralism – low productivity , high variability 

in forage and livestock production, low production density and high market 

transaction costs – mean that conventional markets in land, labour and 

capital have not become well developed. Tibetans, nevertheless, often develop 

quite sophisticated arrangements for meeting their labour requirements, 

for managing grassland without exclusive private property rights and for 

allocating their livestock as capital in the absence of financial markets. 

There is increasing evidence that many of current policies for Tibetan pastoral 

areas may be based on flawed information about herd sizes and incorrect 

assumptions about the destructiveness of traditional pastoral systems . 

Political and donor-driven pressure to develop the hinterland of Western 

China and to alleviate poverty among pastoralists also means that many 

of the underlying ecological and socio-economic issues are not adequately 

addressed before development programmes are undertaken. As Goldstein, 

Beall and Cincotta (1990) pointed out, it would be tragic if the herding way 

of life was gradually undermined and destroyed by modern notions of conservation 

and development based on faulty evidence, negative stereotypes 

and untested assumptions. 

Mobility 

Throughout the Steppe , pastoralists who, until a few decades ago, lived in 

tents (Plate 8.20) year-round have built houses for themselves and shelters 

for their livestock and have fenced private winter pastures (Plate 8.18). 

Does a ‘home on the range’, however, have to signify the demise of mobile 

pastoralism? Or, is there still potential to engage in mobile herding and 

maintain some of the best aspects of traditional management ?

334 

Plate 8.20 

Longri summer camp. 


The emphasis on settling herders in Western-style, intensive ranching 

type of operations and a conservative approach to stocking and fencing has 

led to misguided policies and projects throughout the world. The mobility 

paradigm does not argue for the ‘good, old days’, nor try to maintain 

pastoralists in their current conditions (Niamir-Fuller, 1999); it seeks to put 

in place proper policies, legal frameworks and support systems to enable 

pastoralism to evolve towards an economically, socially and environmentally 

sustainable livelihood. It presents a framework for analysing pastoral issues 

related to their resources , the herders, their adaptive strategies and their 

common property regimes and not only gives mobile livestock production 

systems a raison d’être, but tries to redress the imbalance caused by 

emphasis on intensive production (Niamir-Fuller, 1999). 

The mobility paradigm would advocate that livestock mobility is an 

essential ingredient for sustainable development in Tibetan grasslands 

and that houses, shelters and privately fenced enclosures for hay and 

winter -spring grazing could be compatible so long as livestock are allowed 

opportunistic mobility. It would acknowledge the importance of “key 

sites”, or high-value grazing patches and the need for access to them. It 

would make the case for pooling of household livestock into larger herds 

to be herded on shared pastures and seek to revitalize common property 

regime institutions. The mobility paradigm would seek ways to manage 

uncertainty and risk better through risk minimizing and risk buffering. 

There would also have to be a commitment to decentralization and real 

participatory processes. 

DANIEL MILLER


CONCLUSION 

The economic viability and environmental sustainability of pastoral production 

on the Tibetan Steppe is under considerable scrutiny. The Tibetan Steppe has 

received little research attention from grassland ecologists and specialists in 

pastoralism. Lack of information limits proper management and sustainable 

grassland development . Pastoral ecosystem dynamics are poorly understood 

and data on ecological processes taking place are limited. Many questions 

concerning how vegetation functions and the effect of grazing on the pastoral 

system remain unanswered. There is a critical need for more in-depth studies 

of the relationship between herbivores and the vegetation resource, and the 

relationship between domestic livestock and wild herbivores. 

For the Tibetan Steppe there is need for fresh perspectives and information 

on ecosystem dynamics and pastoral development . Theories of plant succession 

leading to a single equilibrium community have been found to be inadequate 

for understanding the complex successional pathways of semi -arid and arid 

rangeland ecosystems (Stringham, Krueger and Thomas, 2001; Westoby, Walker 

and Noy-Meir, 1989a). This recognition has generated a search for an alternative 

theory that more adequately reflects the dynamics of pasture ecosystems. 

Theories involving multiple successional pathways, multiple steady states and 

state-and-transition processes are gaining in acceptance. On Tibetan Steppe 

pastures therefore, traditional measures for condition and carrying capacities 

may not be effective gauges for management . New perspectives regarding nonequilibrium 

ecosystem dynamics and concepts about plant succession processes 

in semi-arid ecosystems provide interesting frameworks for analysing Tibetan 

Steppe pastures (Cincotta, Zhang and Zhou, 1992; Fernandez-Gimenez and 

Allen-Diaz, 1999; Westoby, Walker and Noy-Meir, 1989b). 

Neither are the socio-economic dimensions of Tibetan pastoral production 

systems well known (Clarke, 1992; Goldstein and Beall, 1989; Levine, 1998); 

greater efforts need to be directed towards developing a better understanding 

of current systems and how they are changing and adapting to development 

influences. Practices vary considerably across the area and need to be analysed 

(Clarke, 1987). Why do herders in different areas maintain different herd compositions? 

What are current offtake rates and how do increasing demands for 

livestock products in the marketplace affect livestock sales? What constraints 

and opportunities for improving livestock productivity are recognized by the 

herders? What forms of social organization exist for managing livestock and 

grasslands? How have these practices changed in recent years and what are the 

implications of these transformations? Answers to these and related questions, 

will help unravel many of the complexities of Tibetan pastoralism. Analyses 

of the socio-economic processes at work are a key challenge for researchers. 

It will also be important to determine which aspects of indigenous knowledge 

systems and traditional pastoral strategies can be used in the design of new 

development interventions on the Tibetan Steppe (Miller, 2002; Wu, 1998).

336 


There is growing appreciation of the complexity and ecological and economic 

efficacy of traditional pastoralism (Wu, 1997b) which provides hope that the 

knowledge that pastoralists possess will be used in designing development 

interventions. It also gives a prospect that the pastoralists will be listened to and 

involved in the planning and implementation of pastoral development. Herders 

must be involved in the initial design of interventions, their needs and desires must 

be heard and their knowledge put to use. An important message for policy-makers 

is the need for active participation by the herders in all aspects of the development 

process and for empowered herders to manage their own development. 

Given the generally poor experience with settling herders in other pastoral 

areas of the world, it will be interesting to watch the attempts to foster more 

sedentary livestock production systems on Tibetan grasslands. What effects 

will the privatization of the grazing lands have on pasture condition ? Will 

herders overgraze pastures which they now view as their own property? What 

kinds of monitoring programmes are needed to look after the privatized pastures? 

What effect will private land and fences have on traditional mechanisms 

for pooling livestock into group herds and group herding ? 

There is a need to re-orient policy objectives in terms of grassland management 

and livestock production, and in the management of rural development . 

Maximizing agricultural output is not relevant to current circumstances. 

The need in the twenty-first century is for ecologically and economically 

sustainable development of pastoral areas, neither of which is consistent with 

output maximization (World Bank, 2001). Policies and development strategies 

should be based on consideration of ecological constraints, the interests and 

aspirations of the pastoralists themselves and alternative methods of meeting 

social objectives. There is a general need to invest more in grassland and 

livestock research in the Tibetan Steppe to guide policies and to help herders 

develop appropriate technologies for the range of ecological and socioeconomic 

conditions found. Research needs to be more participatory and 

herders need to play a larger role in setting priorities and in determining the 

merits of findings. 

Opportunities do exist, however, for improving the management of pastoral 

resources , increasing livestock productivity and bettering the livelihoods of the 

population. Programmes stressing multiple use, participatory development , 

sustainability , economics and biodiversity could be realized through complementary 

activities in resource management, livestock production and wildlife 

conservation . Sustainable land use on the Tibetan Steppe depends heavily on 

the local-level users of the resources – the Tibetan herders. It is at this level that 

pastoral resource use decisions are made on a daily basis. It is also at this local 

level that awareness, incentives and institutional and infrastructure conditions 

must be appropriate in order to secure sustainable grassland management. 

Sustainable grassland management and pastoral development on the Tibetan 

Steppe requires: (1) greater concern about the welfare of herders; (2) increased


concern about grassland degradation and ecosystem processes; and (3) the 

political will to address the problems. Concern and political will are not 

enough: there also has to be improved human resource capability to design and 

implement policies and actions. Lack of capacity at the local level is one of the 

main constraints to more sustainable pastoral development and pasture management 

in the Tibetan Steppe. It is necessary, therefore, to foster an enabling 

environment for local-level capacity building. This must take into account the 

local variability and site-specific conditions related to climate, soils, ecology, 

livestock production and socio-economic factors. 

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Williams, D. 1996a. The barbed walls of China : A contemporary grassland drama. 

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Australian grasslands 343 

Chapter 9 

Australian grasslands 

John G. McIvor 

SUMMARY 

Australia has a latitudinal range of 11°S to 44°S, which, coupled with precipitation 

from 100 mm to 4 000 mm, generates a wide range of grassland environments. 

The landscape is characterized by vast plains with only limited elevated areas. 

Native herbage remains the basis for a significant portion of the grazing industry. 

Europeans settled in Australia two hundred years ago, and have had a massive 

impact on vegetation through agricultural development and introduction of 

exotic plants and animals. Most farms rely on animal products from grasslands. 

Grazing land tenure is a mix of freehold and leasehold from government. Family 

owned and operated farms remain the dominant unit. Most grassland products are 

exported. Arid and semi- arid tropical areas are used for extensive cattle grazing; 

water from artesian wells and bores is necessary. Pasture growth is very seasonal 

and stock lose weight in the dry season. The intermediate rainfall zone extends 

from south eastern Queensland through New South Wales, northern Victoria and 

southern South Australia, and includes part of south western Australia. Crops are 

combined with sheep rearing; ley farming systems , where a legume-based pasture 

phase of two to five years is alternated with crops for one to three years, were 

widely adopted in southern areas. This high-rainfall zone forms the greater part of 

the coastal belt and adjacent tablelands of the three eastern mainland states; sown 

pastures are widely used. Sheep and cattle dominate livestock numbers; wool 

sheep and beef cattle predominate, but dairying is locally important. Animals 

that compete for grazing include a range of macropods and feral domestic species. 

Sown pasture technology is well developed in the temperate zone, based on the 

use of selected, exotic species, with emphasis on legumes. Development of sown 

pastures was slower in the tropical areas and suffered a set-back when disease 

affected Stylosanthes stands. 

INTRODUCTION 

Grasslands and grazing have been important over much of Australia since 

human colonization and grazing remains the most widespread land use, 

covering approximately 70 percent of the continent. Grasslands support the 

native game hunted by the original Aboriginal colonists and the domestic 

grazing animals introduced by European colonists in the late eighteenth 

century. Native herbs (particularly grasses) and shrubs provided the initial

344 


grazing but these have been supplemented – and in some cases replaced – by 

exotic species. 

There are a number of descriptions of Australian grasslands (e.g. McTaggart, 

1936; Moore, 1970, 1993; Groves and Williams, 1981) that have been drawn 

on in preparing this paper. Following Moore (1970), all herbaceous communities 

used for livestock production are considered grasslands, and include both 

native communities that are grazed and pastures composed of mainly introduced 

plants, either sown or volunteer. This paper concentrates on dryland or 

rainfed pastures, but irrigated pastures are important (approximately one million 

hectares), particularly in some dairying areas in southern Australia (about 

half of all irrigation water in Australia is used on pastures). 

LOCATION 

Australia covers an area of 7.68 million km 2 , from 11°S to 44°S, and this 

latitudinal range, coupled with annual rainfalls ranging from 100 mm to more 

than 4 000 mm, both coastal and inland areas, and a variety of soils, generates a 

wide range of grassland environments. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES 

The Australian landscape is characterized by vast plains and plateaux (threequarters 

lie between 180 and 460 m above sea level) with only limited elevated 

areas. The continent can be divided into three major structural components – 

the stable Western Shield, the gently warped Central Basin, and the Eastern 

Uplands (from Tasmania to north Queensland), which are of ancient origin 

but have been rejuvenated to some degree. These components determine 

the pattern of relief and drainage. The Eastern Uplands contain the highest 

mountains in Australia (including Mt Kosciusko, 2 200 m) and the only area 

with snow. They form the divide between the steep eastern-flowing rivers and 

those draining west. The Central Basin has two major drainage systems – the 

Murray-Darling system, which includes runoff from the southeastern rim, and 

one draining internally to Lake Eyre. The Great Artesian Basin lies to the west 

of the Eastern Uplands in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia, 

and water from this Basin has enabled grazing industries to establish and 

persist over a wide area of arid and semi -arid inland Australia. 

CLIMATE 

Rainfall 

Total annual precipitation varies from more than 4 000 mm in the mountainous 

areas of northeast Queensland to approximately 100 mm in the north of 

South Australia . Approximately one-third of Australia receives over 500 mm 

of rain, one-third has 250 to 500 mm and one-third has less than 250 mm; 

rainfall is greatest in coastal areas and lower inland. Seasonal distribution varies 

markedly over the continent, from strong summer dominance in the north


TABLE 9.1 

Climate data for selected stations. Rainfall periods are October–March (summer ) and April– 

September (winter ). Maximum temperature is the average daily maximum temperature during the 

hottest month and minimum temperature is the average daily minimum temperature during the 

coldest month. 

Location Lat. Long. 

Rainfall (mm) 

Summer Winter 

Temperature (°C) 

Max. Min. 

Evaporation 

(mm) 

Daly Waters 16.26°S 133.37°E 625 43 38.5 11.7 2 508 

Cairns 16.89°S 145.76°E 1 567 440 31.5 17.0 2 254 

Gayndah 25.66°S 151.75°E 510 196 32.4 6.9 2 035 

Charleville 26.41°S 146.26°E 326 156 34.9 4.1 2 583 

Narrogin 32.94°S 118.18°E 113 391 30.9 5.6 1 646 

Wagga Wagga 35.16°S 147.46°E 276 309 31.2 2.7 1 830 

Hamilton 37.83°S 142.06°E 268 432 25.9 4.2 1 311 

SOURCE: Data from the Bureau of Meteorology Climate Averages. 

(e.g. Daly Waters in Table 9.1) to strong winter dominance in the southwest 

(e.g. Narrogin in Table 9.1). The total amounts and distribution reflect the 

continental weather systems . Monsoonal rains fall in the extreme north 

between November and March; tropical cyclones can affect most of northern 

Australia during this time but they are very erratic; and trade winds provide 

orographic rains to the northeast Queensland coast. In southern Australia, in 

contrast, the most precipitation comes from frontal rains occurring from May 

to September. 

Erratic rainfall , disastrous droughts and occasional floods are a feature of 

the Australian climate. When variability is expressed in terms of the mean 

deviation as a percentage of the annual mean, the most reliable areas are the 

northwest coast near Darwin, the southwest of Western Australia , coastal areas 

in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, and Tasmania. Variability 

increases inland, and the great bulk of Australian rangelands have highly erratic 

rainfall. Maximum variability is found on the western coast near the Tropic 

of Capricorn and in central Australia. Much of the variation in rainfall in 

eastern Australia can be related to the ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) 

phenomenon of sea surface temperatures and atmospheric pressures over the 

Pacific Ocean. 

Temperature and evaporation 

Summers are warm to hot (Table 9.1). Maximum temperatures above 38°C are 

common in inland areas and, apart from the mountains of the southeast, can 

occur occasionally in other areas. Winters are warm in northern Australia and 

cold in the south, with occasional snow above 600 m. Frosts occur in all regions 

except the extreme north, and coastal areas in other tropical and subtropical 

regions. Evaporation is lowest in the Tasmanian highlands. On the mainland, 

evaporation is lowest in coastal areas and increases inland to maximum values 

exceeding 3 000 mm in central Australia. The generally mild conditions make 

it unnecessary to house animals during winter .

346 


Growing seasons 

Given the variation in amount and distribution of rainfall and the temperature 

range over the continent, it is not surprising there is a wide range in growing 

seasons – from no reliable season in arid inland areas, to almost year-long 

seasons in some coastal areas. Fitzpatrick and Nix (1970) described a method 

for estimating growing seasons from climatic data. They developed indices 

varying in value from zero to one for light, temperature and moisture. A value 

of zero means that the level of that factor is so low that all growth is prevented; 

a value of one means that there is no limitation to growth by that factor. The 

three indices are then combined to produce a growth index that measures the 

combined impact of all factors. Figure 9.1 shows the average weekly values of 

the temperature and moisture indices for four sites in Table 9.1 and demonstrates 

a range of growing seasons (the light index has been omitted as radiation is 

usually not limiting to growth). At Hamilton (in the high rainfall zone of the 

section on “pastoral and agricultural systems ”, below), moisture limits growth 

in summer but there is often sufficient for some growth. Moisture availability 

increases rapidly in autumn and there is a period of increased growth until 

low temperatures limit growth in winter , followed by a spring “flush” before 

water again becomes limiting in summer. At Narrogin (wheat-sheep zone) 

Index 

Index 

1.0 

0.8 

0.6 

0.4 

0.2 

0.0 

1.0 

0.8 

0.6 

0.4 

0.2 

0.0 

Hamilton 

J M M J S N 

Water 

Cairns 

Temperature 

J M M J S N 

Index 

Index 

Narrogin 

Figure 9.1 

Average weekly water and temperature indices for selected Australian locations. 

SOURCE: Fitzpatrick and Nix, 1970. 

NOTES: Water indices were calculated using the WATBAL model (Keig and McAlpine, 1974) and temperature 

indices were estimated from the relationships of Fitzpatrick and Nix (1970) for tropical legumes (Cairns and 

Charleville) and temperate species (Hamilton and Narrogin). A value of 0 means that the level of that factor is 

so low that all growth is prevented, and a value of 1 means that there is no limitation to growth by that factor. 

1.0 

0.8 

0.6 

0.4 

0.2 

0.0 

1.0 

0.8 

0.6 

0.4 

0.2 

0.0 

J M M J S N 

Charleville 

J M M J S N


there is almost no summer moisture and growth occurs mainly in autumn 

and spring although the temperature limitations in winter are not as severe 

as those at Hamilton. At Cairns, in the wet tropics of northeast Queensland, 

both temperature and moisture levels are high during the wet season and the 

major limit to growth is moisture during the dry season . At Charleville (in 

the pastoral zone), average moisture levels are low throughout the whole year 

(although they can be high at any time of the year in a particular year) and 

temperatures are severely limiting for tropical species in winter. 

SOILS 

Hubble (1970) identified three important features of Australian soils. First, 

the generally low nutrient status, with widespread and severe deficiencies of 

nitrogen and phosphorus (and sometimes sulphur), and varying deficiencies 

of trace elements (copper, zinc, molybdenum, cobalt, manganese, boron). 

Multiple deficiencies are common and, as Morley (1961) remarked, “Australian 

soils are rich only in the diversity and intensity of their deficiencies.” Second, 

the poor physical condition of surface soils, which, over large areas, are massive 

or weakly structured with low macroporosity, set hard on drying and tend to 

surface sealing. As a result, water infiltration is often poor and water storage 

low. Third, over large areas, the soils have strongly weathered or differentiated 

profiles, including those with strong texture contrast. Good soils (deep, fertile, 

well drained) are not common and are used for cropping if the climate is 

suitable, leaving the poorer soils for pastures. 

LIVESTOCK 

Sheep and cattle dominate the Australian livestock numbers, but there have 

been marked changes in their relative importance over the past 30 years. The 

majority of the sheep are Merinos for wool, but British breeds and their 

crosses with Merinos are important for lamb production. Sheep numbers 

peaked at 180 million in 1970, then declined, but rose again to 170 million 

in 1990. Market prospects for wool have been poor since then and numbers 

declined to 119 million in 2000. Most of the cattle are beef animals but 

dairying is important in wetter coastal areas and some irrigation districts, 

particularly in Victoria. Cattle numbers reached a peak of 33 million in 1976, 

then fell until the mid -1980s, but have since increased to 24 million beef cattle 

and 3 million dairy cattle in 2000. There are important goat herds in some 

inland areas, and an estimated feral goat population of 4.5 million and a small 

deer industry with approximately 200 000 animals. 

WILDLIFE 

Australia has large populations of wildlife , including both native species and 

feral populations of exotic animals. There are a number of important predators 

(dingo , fox , wild pig , raven or crow , eagle ), and also a range of animals

348 


that compete for grazing . These include a range of macropods (kangaroos , 

wallabies ) and also domestic species (rabbits , donkeys, horses, camels ). Rabbits 

have been and continue to be large competitors with domestic stock, although 

their numbers have been reduced by myxoma virus since the 1950s, and more 

recently by rabbit calicivirus. Australia had no equivalent of the huge herds of 

herbivores in parts of Africa or America, and the native plants evolved under 

conditions of generally light grazing, which has had serious consequences for 

their survival under increased grazing pressures since European settlement. 

SOCIAL ASPECTS AND INSTITUTIONS 

People 

The date of settlement of Australia by humans is debated, but there have been 

Aborigines in Australia for over 60 000 years; they were primarily hunters and 

their major influence on the grasslands would have been through widespread 

use of fire , to encourage feed for their prey and to assist with hunting. 

In contrast to this long period of Aboriginal occupation, Europeans only 

settled in Australia a little over 200 years ago, but in this time they have had 

massive impacts on the vegetation , both intentional (tree clearing , cropping and 

sown pasture introductions, fertilizer application, domestic grazing animals, 

etc.) and accidental (weeds, pest animals). Settlement was rapid and almost all 

suitable lands were occupied by the end of the nineteenth century. Despite this 

rapid spread, the population remains concentrated in major cities and coastal 

urban areas, with only a sparse population in the interior. Approximately 

80 percent of Australia, including all the pastoral zone (see section below), has 

a population density of less than 1 person/km 2 . For example, the Diamantina 

Shire in southwest Queeensland has an area of 94 832 km 2 and had a resident 

population of 319 in the 2001 Census. 

Political system 

Until 1901, Australia consisted of six self-governing British colonies, which 

federated in 1901 to become states of the Commonwealth of Australia, with 

democratically elected governments at national, state and local levels. Specific 

powers were transferred to the Commonwealth government (e.g. defence, 

immigration, social welfare) but many important powers affecting agriculture 

remain State responsibilities, including land use and ownership, water supplies, 

and control of pests and noxious weeds. 

Land tenure and ownership 

Grazing land tenure in Australia is a mix of freehold and leasehold from 

government. Freehold is commonest in the higher rainfall areas, with leasehold 

most important in the extensive grazing lands in the tropics and arid inland 

Australia. Overall, only approximately 10 percent of land is privately owned, 

but the proportion varies widely between states and territories, from less than


1 percent in the Northern Territory to approximately 60 percent in Victoria. 

Leases vary from state to state, from annual to perpetual, although the 

majority are for long periods, and the conditions also vary, e.g. improvements 

(buildings, fences , water supplies) to be made, and stock numbers to be carried. 

There have been some important changes in the last decade: Aboriginal land 

rights have raised uncertainties concerning the rights of pastoral lessees; 

increasing emphasis on land condition in pastoral leases; and increasingly 

restrictive conditions on the use and management of freehold land in relation 

to vegetation management, particularly tree clearing . 

Approximately 90 000 of Australia ’s 145 000 agricultural properties rely on 

animal products from pastures and grasslands (Anon., 1999). Family owned and 

operated farms have been, and remain, the dominant structural unit in Australian 

agriculture. In a 1994–95 survey by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and 

Resource Economics (ABARE), 99.6 percent of all broadacre (grazing , cropping) 

and dairy farms were family owned and only 0.4 percent were corporately 

operated (i.e. at least partially owned by a publicly listed company) (Martin, 

1996). Corporate ownership is most significant in the beef industry, particularly 

in northern Australia. However, even in the beef industry in 1996–97, only 

1.1 percent of specialist beef properties were corporately owned (Martin et al., 

1998). The corporate properties were much larger (47 percent of the total property 

area) and owned more cattle (19 percent of total numbers). The majority 

of family-owned properties are in New South Wales (31 percent of all family-owned 

farms), Queensland (28 percent) and Victoria (26 percent), whereas 

the corporate properties are mainly in Queensland (40 percent of all corporate 

properties) and the Northern Territory (32 percent). Farm numbers are declining 

as properties amalgamate, and numbers have halved in the last forty years. 

Authorities responsible for land management 

Land is a State government responsibility under the Australian Constitution. 

All states and territories have lands departments responsible for titles and 

some aspects of management . During the early years of European settlement 

emphasis was placed on the occupation of land and establishing and maintaining 

agricultural production. After the gold rushes in the 1850s, there were demands 

for large numbers of small farms to develop the country and stimulate economic 

development . Closer Settlement Acts were passed in the 1860s and Government 

sponsored closer settlement schemes to promote rural development remained 

important until the 1970s, especially after both World Wars. This emphasis on 

agricultural production continued until recently; now increased stress has been 

placed on land management issues. 

Market systems 

Agricultural production is privately controlled , but Australia has had a 

variety of marketing mechanisms for agricultural products. However, with the

350 


cessation of the wool reserve price scheme in 1992, these mechanisms are no 

longer important for products from grasslands. 

Most of the production from grasslands is exported. For the three years from 

1994 to 1997 (ABARE, 1998) Australia produced an average of 1 800 000 t of 

beef and veal and 582 000 t of mutton and lamb – 42 percent and 56 percent, 

respectively, of which was exported, together with 628 000 live cattle and 5.6 

million live sheep . Whole milk production averaged 8 650 million litres, and 

although only a small amount was exported as whole milk (71 million litres), 

64 percent of the 739 000 t of dairy products (butter, cheese, whole milk 

powder, skim milk powder, casein) were exported. Average wool production 

during this period was 718 000 t and the amount exported exceeded this figure 

with the sell-off of accumulated supplies. This dependence on exports means 

that international prices have a large impact on returns to producers. 

Pastoral and agricultural systems 

Many factors affect the agricultural system adopted in an area – climate and 

growing conditions, soil type , topography, markets, distance to markets, labour 

availability, etc. Animal production systems can be conveniently considered in 

the three zones used by ABARE – the pastoral zone, the wheat-sheep zone and 

the high rainfall zone. These differ in the manner in which land and resources 

are used and the commodities produced. 

Pastoral zone 

This zone includes the arid and semi -arid regions and most of the northern tropical 

areas. Agricultural land use in this zone is characterized by extensive grazing 

of native vegetation . Although some cropping is undertaken, it is impractical on 

most properties because of inadequate rainfall . Corporate property ownership is 

more important than in the other two zones . 

The native vegetation in the arid interior has been used since the mid -nineteenth 

century, with wool production most important in southern Australia 

and beef most important in central and northern Australia. Sown pastures are 

of very restricted and minor importance. The zone has no reliable growing 

season, droughts occur frequently and production and financial returns vary 

from year to year. Water supplies from artesian and sub-artesian bores are 

critical for continued animal production over wide areas. The beef industry is 

based on breeding, with some animals grown and fattened locally, but many 

sent elsewhere for fattening, including to the flooded natural pastures of the 

Channel country in western Queensland. 

The wool industry is based almost entirely on grazing Merinos on native 

pastures for medium quality wool. Properties are large (5 000 to more than 

100 000 ha, with 5 000 to 20 000 sheep ) and, due to wide fluctuations in pasture 

yield and quality, stocking rates are low (one sheep to 2–40 ha). Wool production 

levels are satisfactory, but lambing percentages are often low in the harsh


environment. Despite this, most operations are breeding flocks. In times of 

high cereal prices there is some cropping on the higher rainfall margins of the 

zone, but animal products are the major source of income. 

The tropical grazing lands have a reliable summer growing season and 

winter dry season . Pasture growth is rapid during the early growing season 

and herbage quality is high, but later drops to low levels; animals gain weight 

during the growing season and lose in the dry season. Beef production is the 

only major land use. Initially all cattle were Bos taurus breeds (especially 

Shorthorn); now almost all are Bos indicus or their crosses, which are better 

adapted, with greater resistance to heat stress, stronger resistance to ticks , 

increased foraging ability and a higher forage intake (Frisch and Vercoe, 

1977; Siebert, 1982), leading to superior growth, breeding performance and 

survival. 

The zone is an important source of stores for fattening elsewhere, and production 

of grade beef for the United States of America market has been a major 

outlet. In the past decade, an important trade in live cattle to southeast Asia has 

developed. This has been particularly important for beef producers in northwestern 

Australia , who are close to these markets but remote from markets in 

Australia and also from abattoirs. 

The tropical grazing lands range from the more productive areas of coastal 

and central Queensland to the remote parts of the Kimberley and Cape York 

Peninsula. There are major differences between these regions. In coastal and 

central Queensland, the properties and herds are smaller (typically less than 

10 000 ha and carrying 500 to 2 000 cattle ), animal husbandry and management 

inputs are greater, animal productivity is higher and the north Asian markets 

are important. In the remote areas, properties and herds are much larger 

(200 000 to 500 000 ha, with 6 000 to 8 000 cattle), animal productivity is lower 

and the live export, store and American markets are most important. 

Sown pastures are important in eastern and central Queensland, but, apart 

from limited areas in the “Top End” of the Northern Territory, they are of 

minor importance elsewhere, and cattle depend on native pastures. A number 

of introduced species are now naturalized (e.g. Stylosanthes spp., Cenchrus ciliaris 

). The use of feed supplements (particularly urea-based ones) is widespread. 

Cereal cropping is important in central and southern Queensland and is sometimes 

integrated with animal production in ley pasture rotation s. 

Wheat-sheep zone 

The wheat-sheep zone has a climate and topography that generally allows 

regular cropping of grains in addition to the grazing of sheep and cattle on a 

more intensive basis than in the pastoral zone. Rainfall is generally adequate 

for a range of pasture species, usually in a crop-pasture rotation . Farms are 

much smaller than those in the pastoral zone but larger than those in the high 

rainfall zone.

352 


This zone of intermediate rainfall extends from southeastern Queensland 

(500–750 mm annual rainfall) through the slopes and plains of New South 

Wales (300–600 mm), northern Victoria (300–550 mm) and southern South 

Australia (250–500 mm), and includes part of southwestern Australia (250– 

700 mm). The most important crops are wheat, barley, oats, grain legumes, 

pulses and oilseeds, with sorghum important in the northern areas. Merino 

wool growing (medium fibre diameter), fat lamb and beef production are the 

major animal industries. Both crop and animal products are important income 

sources and the balance between land uses depends largely on relative financial 

returns; in recent years there has been an increase in crops and a large decrease 

in wool. The more reliable seasonal conditions than in the pastoral zone and 

the flexibility of multiple income sources leads to more stable income. Family 

owned farms dominate in this zone. 

Ley farming systems , where a pasture phase of two to five years is alternated 

with a crop phase of one to three years, were widely adopted in southern 

areas after the Second World War. The short -term pastures are important for 

improving soil fertility and providing disease breaks for subsequent crops , as 

well as animal production. Almost all pasture plants are annuals, reflecting 

both the length of the growing season and the ease of removing them for the 

cropping phase. Subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum ) is widely used 

on the acidic soils and annual medics (Medicago spp.) on more alkaline soils 

in drier areas. These pastures provide both high quality grazing for animals 

and improved soil structure and increased soil nitrogen for utilization by 

crops. However, as discussed later, productivity of these legume pastures has 

declined. This has led to some farmers switching to continuous cropping using 

grain legumes and fertilizer to supply nitrogen, minimum tillage to maintain 

soil physical conditions, alternation of cereals with grain legumes, pulses and 

oilseeds for disease control , and herbicides for weed control. 

Feedlots (where cattle are confined in yards and completely hand or mechanically 

fed to attain high levels of production) has become important in Australia 

in the last 30 years. There are about 800 accredited feedlots with a capacity of 

900 000 head. They are mostly in Queensland and New South Wales and serve 

both the domestic and export markets (especially Japan). Cattle which previously 

would have been grass fed are finished on a diet of grain for 30 to 300 

days (but most commonly 90–120 days) depending on the market. 

High rainfall zone 

This zone forms the greater part of the coastal belt and adjacent tablelands of 

the three eastern mainland states, small areas in southeastern South Australia 

and southwestern Western Australia, and the whole of Tasmania. Rainfall is 

summer -dominant or spread throughout the year in Queensland and northern 

New South Wales, and winter -dominant in southern areas. Higher rainfall , 

steeper topography, more adequate surface water and greater humidity make


this zone less suitable than the wheat-sheep zone for grain-based cropping, 

but more suitable for grazing and growing other crops , but there has been an 

increase in cereal growing with new cultivars in recent years. These wetter areas 

have a longer growing season than the other zones and pasture improvement 

is widespread, with Trifolium subterraneum and, in the wetter areas, T. repens 

and Lolium perenne as important species. 

Production of wool, prime lambs and beef are important, and all three are 

carried out on some properties, giving increased stability of income. Farm sizes 

range from small, often part-time operations, to large enterprises of more than 

5 000 ha. In contrast to the pastoral and wheat belt farms , where medium quality 

wool dominates, fine wool production is more important in these wetter areas. 

Dairying is limited to areas with a long growing season (or irrigation) for 

the production of high quality pastures. Victoria and New South Wales are the 

major dairy producing states. Although the feeding of concentrates is increasing, 

production is pasture -based and farms consist almost entirely of sown 

pastures. Income is derived from milk sales for whole milk consumption and 

manufacturing and sales of surplus cattle . Most dairy farms are operated by 

their owners, with the family providing most of the labour. There have been 

massive changes in the dairy industry during the past 30 years, with fewer 

farms and farmers and large increases in production per cow and per hectare. 

Average herd size has increased to 150 head, with some herds of more than 

1 000 cows. 

NATURAL VEGETATION 

Despite the amount of pasture development , native herbage remains the base 

of a significant portion of the grazing industry. There have been a number of 

classifications and descriptions of the Australian vegetation (e.g. Leeper, 1970; 

Carnahan, 1989; Thackway and Cresswell, 1995). Moore (1970) classified 

the Australian grazing lands into 13 groups on the basis of climate, the 

characteristics and height of the major grasses (tall : >90 cm; mid : 45–90 cm; 

short :

354 

Figure 9.2 

Natural vegetation zones of Australia . 

SOURCE: Adapted from Moore, 1970. 


Plate 9.1 

Tropical tall -grass community dominated by Themeda triandra in northeast 

Queensland. 

J.G. McIVOR


Figure 9.3 

Extent of grasslands in Australia . 

in the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia, the “Top End” of the 

Northern Territory, and northern Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. In 

contrast, the tropical (northeastern Queensland) and subtropical (southeastern 

Queensland) tall -grass communities have a less defined and more unreliable 

rainfall pattern, and usually less than 750 mm annual rainfall. 

Within the monsoon tall -grass communities , those dominated by perennial 

grasses (Themeda triandra (Plate 9.1), Chrysopogon fallax , Sorghum plumosum , 

Sehima nervosum , Heteropogon contortus and Aristida spp. ) occur on texture 

contrast and earth soils, and communities dominated by annuals (Sorghum spp. , 

Schizachyrium fragile ) grow on sands and skeletal soils. Heteropogon contortus 

is an important species in the tropical and subtropical tall -grass communities 

in eastern Queensland. Originally, Themeda triandra was commoner, and in 

some areas Heteropogon contortus is decreasing and the stoloniferous grasses 

Bothriochloa pertusa and Digitaria didactyla are increasing. Other important 

genera are Bothriochloa, Dichanthium , Chrysopogon and Aristida. Treeless 

grasslands dominated by Dichanthium and Bothriochloa spp. occur on 

cracking clays. Tree clearing to increase herbage growth has been widespread in 

the subtropical tall -grass, but less important in the tropical and monsoon areas, 

where the yield responses are less (Mott et al., 1985). 

Brigalow 

Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla ) forest and woodlands extend from central 

Queensland to northern New South Wales on medium to high fertility clays

356 


or loams. A variety of other woody species also occur (Eucalyptus , Acacia, 

Casuarina , Terminalia ). The native understoreys are sparse and unproductive, 

with major grasses being species of Paspalidium , Bothriochloa , Aristida and 

Chloris . These communities have been extensively cleared for development 

to exploit their natural fertility by sown introduced pastures (mainly based 

on the grasses Cenchrus ciliaris , Chloris gayana and Panicum maximum var. 

trichoglume ) and cropping. 

Xerophytic mid-grass 

These grasslands form the herbaceous layer of semi -arid low woodlands 

on a wide range of light soils of poor to moderate fertility in both northern 

and southern Australia . In northern Australia they occur in a subcoastal arc 

inland from the tropical tall -grass communities , in Western Australia, the 

Northern Territory and Queensland in areas with 350–750 mm annual rainfall . 

They have variable composition, with a range of dominant species including 

Aristida spp. , Chloris spp., Bothriochloa decipiens , B. ewartiana , Eriachne spp. , 

Digitaria spp. and Chrysopogon fallax . Annuals are also important (Sporobolus 

australasicus, Aristida spp., Dactyloctenium radulans ). The southern component 

is widespread in western New South Wales, where Danthonia spp., Chloris 

truncata , C. acicularis , Stipa variabilis , S. setacea , S. aristiglumis and species of 

Eragrostis , Aristida, Enneapogon and Enteropogon are important. 

These woodlands have variable tree and shrub layers. Tree clearing has been 

important in central and southern Queensland and New South Wales. Major 

increases in the density of the shrub layer (species of Eremophila , Cassia , 

Dodonaea and Acacia ) have reduced grass production and threaten the viability 

of grazing in some areas. 

Temperate tall -grass 

Dichelachne spp. , Poa labillardieri and Themeda triandra give sparse grazing 

in the wetter forest and heath areas of eastern New South Wales, Victoria and 

Tasmania, and also in the dry sclerophyllous forests, where Danthonia pallida is 

also important. These pastures are of low grazing value and animal production 

in these areas depends on clearing and the development of sown pastures. 

Temperate short -grass 

Apart from small areas of treeless grassland , these communities form the 

herbaceous layer of temperate woodlands growing on a range of soils 

extending from southern Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria 

to southeast South Australia , with other areas near Adelaide, in Tasmania 

and in the southwest of Western Australia. Annual rainfall varies from 400 to 

650 mm, with summer dominance in the north and winter dominance in the 

south. These woodlands were among the first areas used for domestic livestock 

and have been extensively modified by clearing , grazing , fertilizer application

J.G. McIVOR 


and the introduction of exotic species. They were originally composed of 

taller, warm-season grasses (Themeda triandra , T. avenacea , Stipa bigeniculata , 

S. aristiglumis , Poa labillardieri ) but with higher grazing pressures since 

European settlement these have been replaced by short , cool-season species 

(Danthonia spp., Stipa variabilis , Chloris spp.) and exotic annuals (Hordeum 

leporinum , Bromus spp. , Trifolium spp., Medicago spp., Erodium spp. and 

Arctotheca calendula ). 

Sub-alpine sodgrass 

Small areas of this community occur as treeless grasslands or the understorey 

of subalpine woodlands on acid soils with annual rainfall above 750 mm in the 

southeastern highlands. The principal grasses are Poa spp. , Danthonia nudiflora 

and Themeda triandra . Historically, these grasslands were used for summer 

grazing , often after burning during early summer, but grazing has declined as 

emphasis is now placed on water supply, tourism and conservation . 

Saltbush-xerophytic mid -grass 

These communities are often treeless and are characterized by chenopod 

shrubs, usually less than one metre tall , from the genera Atriplex , Maireana , 

Sclerolaena , Rhagodia and Enchylaena . They are important in New South 

Wales, South Australia (Plate 9.2) and Western Australia, with smaller amounts 

in Queensland and the Northern Territory in areas with 125 to 400 mm 

rainfall . The space between the shrubs is covered with annual grasses and forbs 

Plate 9.2 

Saltbush community in South Australia .

358 


after rain – in the south they are Danthonia caespitosa , Stipa variabilis , Chloris 

truncata and species of Calandrinia , Ptilotus and Sclerolaena. In the north, 

Enneapogon spp., Eragrostis spp., Aristida spp. and Dactyloctenium radulans 

are important. Grazing animals show marked preferences for different species in 

these communities. Studies in southern New South Wales (Leigh and Mulham, 

1966a,b, 1967) showed animals prefer green grasses and forbs, then dry grass 

and forbs, followed by annual and short -lived perennial chenopods, with the 

perennial Atriplex and Maireana shrubs least preferred. The perennial saltbush 

plants confer stability to the soils and vegetation and serve as an important 

drought reserve ; during droughts , saltbush may be a major part of the diet. The 

combination of drought and overgrazing has led to loss of saltbush, with the 

palatable Atriplex and Maireana species disappearing. 

Acacia shrub–short -grass 

Acacia shrublands are widespread in arid Australia on lighter textured infertile 

soils in all states except Victoria. Mulga (Acacia aneura ) is the major shrub, 

but other Acacia, Cassia and Eremophila species are also important, plus 

chenopods in southern areas. These shrubs provide important “top feed” and 

mulga in particular is lopped or pushed over to provide feed for stock during 

droughts . The herbage layer is dominated by annual and short -lived perennial 

grasses and forbs. The principal grasses are Eragrostis spp., Monachather 

paradoxus , Eriachne spp. , Aristida contorta , Thyridolepsis mitchelliana , Stipa 

spp. , Neurachne spp. and Enneapogon spp. Common forbs are species of 

Calotis, Helipterum and Ptilotus . 

Plate 9.3 

Acacia nilotica thicket and seedlings (foreground) in a Mitchell grass 

community. 

J.G. McIVOR


Animal production depends on the herbage layer, the composition of which 

varies widely, depending on the timing of the unreliable rainfall in these arid 

areas. Winter rain produces a flush of ephemerals with forbs (particularly 

members of the Asteraceae) prominent; summer rain favours perennial and 

annual grasses and is responsible for the bulk of the herbage. 

Xerophytic tussockgrass 

Communities dominated by Mitchell grass (Astrebla species ) are widespread 

(40 million hectares) on heavy, cracking clay plains of inland northern 

Australia , particularly in Queensland. Many of these are true grasslands, 

with no trees, but large areas also have scattered trees and shrubs. Some 

areas have been invaded by the exotic tree Acacia nilotica (see Plate 9.3). 

The perennial Astrebla plants provide stability and drought reserve feed, but 

animal production is closely related to the growth of short -lived, nutritious 

inter-tussock species, mainly annual grasses (particularly Iseilema spp. , but 

also Dactyloctenium spp. and Brachyachne convergens ) and forbs (species 

of Boerhavia , Sida , Portulaca and Ipomoea ). Cattle can gain weight on dry 

annual herbage, but lose weight when depending on dry Mitchell grass . Other 

perennial grasses may also be important – Panicum decompositum , Aristida 

latifolia , Eragrostis spp., Bothriochloa spp. , Dichanthium spp. , Eulalia aurea 

and Chrysopogon fallax . 

The Mitchell grass lands are the most productive of the semi -arid and arid 

grazing lands in Australia . They have been stable, withstanding prolonged 

heavy grazing, although there is concern about invasion by Aristida latifolia 

in some areas. 

Xerophytic hummockgrass 

These communities – characterized by perennial species of Plectrachne and 

Triodia (“spinifex ”) – occupy large areas of sandy soils with annual rainfalls of 

200 to 400 mm, and shallow skeletal soils in higher rainfall areas. Plectrachne 

and Triodia plants form hummocks or mounds from 1 to 6 m in diameter, 

and there are sparse populations of shrubs and small trees (Acacia spp. and 

Eucalyptus spp.) throughout much of the area. These areas have low and erratic 

rainfall and include waterless deserts of little or no value for grazing . Although 

the spinifex grasses are generally unpalatable to stock except after fire , and 

the mature herbage is very low quality, these lands provide important grazing 

(mainly for breeding cattle ), especially if other, more palatable, perennial 

species (e.g. Chrysopogon fallax , Eragrostis spp.) are present. After rain, annual 

grasses and forbs provide valuable grazing. 

SOWN PASTURES 

Pasture improvement in Australia has been and continues to be, based on the 

use of selected, exotic species, with particular emphasis on legumes. Many

360 

6 000 

4 000 

2 000 

0 

(a) Queensland 

Area of 

pasture 

Area 

fertilized 

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 


Figure 9.4 

Changes since 1950 in the area of sown pastures and the area of pasture fertilized. 

(a) Queensland. This area is mainly tropical pastures and includes most of the tropical 

pastures sown in Australia . (b) Remainder of Australia. This area is almost all temperate 

pastures and occurs mainly in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and South 

Australia. 

SOURCE: Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and ABARE. 

30 000 

20 000 

10 000 

(b) Australia - remainder 

of these have been intentional introductions, but others are local strains of 

accidental introductions, such as many Trifolium subterraneum cultivars. 

Although the native communities described in the section on natural vegetation 

still remain important, introduction of exotic pasture species commenced 

at or soon after European settlement. The poor quality of pastures near Sydney 

was soon recognized and requests for pasture legumes and grasses were made 

before 1800, and lucerne and clovers were among the non-indigenous plants 

growing in the Colony in 1803 (Davidson and Davidson, 1993). By the early 

twentieth century, many of the pasture plants currently used were already 

being exploited, although on a much smaller scale than at present (Lolium perenne 

, L. multiflorum , Dactylis glomerata , Medicago sativa , Trifolium repens , 

T. pratense , T. fragiferum , Paspalum dilatatum , Panicum maximum ) (Davies, 

1951). In addition, there had been a number of accidental introductions that 

were to be of great importance, although their potential had not been recognized 

(e.g. Trifolium subterranean, annual Medicago spp., Cenchrus ciliaris and 

Stylosanthes humilis ). 

There have been considerable differences between the development of 

temperate and tropical pastures and these are considered separately in the following 

sections. 

Figure 9.4 shows the changes in the area of sown pastures from 1950 

onwards for Queensland (mainly tropical pastures) and the remainder of 

Australia (mainly temperate pastures). 

Temperate pastures 

During the first 50 years of the twentieth century, much information was 

gathered on temperate pasture species and their growth requirements: A.W. 

Howard had actively promoted subterranean clover; the superphosphate 

responses by pastures had been documented; and the role of trace elements 

0 

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990


had been discovered. Until the 1920s, emphasis was on identifying suitable 

species, but thereafter the search shifted to strains and cultivars within 

species. 

These developments provided the base for sown pastures but the depression 

of the 1930s and drought and war during the 1940s meant large-scale 

pasture improvement (the “sub and super” revolution based on widespread 

sowing of Trifolium subterraneum and the application of superphosphate) 

was delayed until the early 1950s (Crofts, 1997). During this period, there 

were high or record prices for wool, wheat, butter and beef; myxoma virus 

dramatically reduced the rabbit population; seasons were favourable; and a 

period of rapid and sustained pasture development commenced, which continued 

until the late 1960s (Figure 9.4). 

As Figure 9.4 shows, there has been little change in the area of temperate 

sown pastures since 1970. This decline in pasture development has had a 

number of causes – periods of unprofitable prices for wool, beef and wheat; 

continuing cost-price pressures on farmers; major widespread droughts ; 

rapid increase in the price of superphosphate during the oil crisis in the 1970s; 

removal of the superphosphate bounty; and reduced income tax deductions 

for pasture improvement (Crofts, 1997). 

Fertilizer application has been a key component of pasture development in 

temperate areas and approximately 90 percent of the fertilizer used is superphosphate. 

Superphosphate was tested on pastures in southern Australia early 

in the twentieth century and its impacts on pasture and animal production 

documented (e.g. Trumble and Donald, 1938). Figure 9.4 shows that during 

the 1950s the area of pasture treated with fertilizer was similar to the total 

sown pasture area, but the proportion fertilized then declined to 80 percent 

during the 1960s, to 56 percent in the 1970s and 46 percent in the 1980s. This 

decline has continued since, and a recent ABARE survey of grain-producing 

farms found that less than 10 percent of the pastures were fertilized (Hooper 

and Helati, 1999). 

The results of a number of surveys of commercial sown pastures were 

summarized by Wilson and Simpson (1993). There were numerous reports 

of “legume decline ” covering Trifolium subterraneum , Medicago species and 

Trifolium repens in both the high-rainfall and wheat-sheep zones . Weedy 

annual grasses and forbs were prominent in both zones. Many reasons 

have been suggested for the legume decline, including reduced phosphate 

application; other nutrient deficiencies; soil acidity and associated nutrient 

imbalances; increased nitrogen levels; insect pests; diseases; and increased 

grazing pressure (Wilson and Simpson, 1993). These changes have had serious 

consequences – herbage quantity and quality have declined, reducing animal 

production, while in the cropping areas, where the legume-based pastures 

had maintained soil fertility, soil nitrogen levels have fallen and soil structure 

deteriorated.

362 


Tropical pastures 

Development of sown pastures was slower in the tropical areas, but the success 

of introduced pastures in southern Australia during the 1950s provided a model 

for similar development in tropical Australia. A number of species had been 

introduced during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, either 

intentionally (e.g. Panicum maximum , Chloris gayana and Brachiaria mutica ) 

or accidentally (e.g. Stylosanthes humilis and Cenchrus ciliaris (Plate 9.4)). 

Plant introduction and evaluation has continued, with initial emphasis on 

grasses, but increasing attention has since been paid to legumes, especially 

after a major expansion of research in the 1950s (Eyles and Cameron, 1985). 

Most of the tropical pastures have been sown in Queensland, with smaller 

areas in northern New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Western 

Australia . Figure 9.6 shows a slow increase in the area of sown pasture in 

Queensland until 1960, followed by a rapid expansion in pasture sowings 

from the 1960s onwards, about ten years after a similar increase in temperate 

Australia. This expansion continued until the 1990s, apart from decreases in 

the late 1990s and late 1980s associated with disease outbreaks in Stylosanthes 

humilis stands, poor returns for animal products and expansion of cropping 

areas (Walker and Weston, 1990). About 70 percent of the area sown to 

pasture has been sown solely to grasses. These grass -only pastures are mainly 

on fertile soils, particularly those which previously supported brigalow 

(Acacia harpophylla ) and gidgee (A. cambagei ). In contrast, sown grass- 

Plate 9.4 

Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris ), the most widely planted grass in semi -arid tropical 

areas. Buffel grass can support high levels of animal production, but has also 

been listed as an environmental weed. 

J.G. McIVOR

J.G. McIVOR 


Plate 9.5 

Sward of Stylosanthes hamata growing under trees in the Northern Territory. 

legume pastures are more important on less fertile soils (Walker and Weston, 

1990). A special development has been the use of shallow ponds to grow 

flood -tolerant grasses (Brachiaria mutica , Hymenachne amplexicaulis and 

Echinochloa polystachya ) to provide green herbage during the dry season . 

In contrast to southern Australia , fertilizer application has been much less 

important in tropical pasture development . This partly reflects the use of 

grass -only pastures on fertile soils and also the importance of the Stylosanthes 

species (see Plate 9.5) with their low phosphorus requirements and ability to 

grow well on soils with low available phosphorus (4–8 ppm) levels (McIvor, 

1984; Jones et al., 1997). As for southern Australia, superphosphate dominates 

fertilizer usage on pasture, comprising approximately 70 percent of the 

total fertilizer applied. However, nitrogen-fertilized grasses have important 

specialized roles, including pastures based on temperate species for winter 

production on some dairy farms . 

There have been no surveys for sown tropical pastures equivalent to those 

noted above in temperate areas. However, there are problems with some 

sown pastures, with approximately 100 000 ha per year going out of production 

during the period 1986/87 to 1989/90 (Walker, 1991) due to a decline in 

sown species (Walker and Weston, 1990). Although grass -only pastures on 

fertile soils are initially very productive, this phase generally lasts only four 

to ten years then plant and animal productivity declines due to reductions 

in available nitrogen and sometimes loss of desirable species (Myers and 

Robbins, 1991; Jones, McDonald and Silvey, 1995).

364 


AVAILABLE SPECIES AND CULTIVARS 

There are currently nearly 500 cultivars registered or where applications 

for plant breeders’ rights have been granted. These include fodder crops , 

lawn-amenity grasses and shrub legumes, but most are pasture grasses and 

herbaceous legumes. The cultivars come from 70 tropical and subtropical 

species (37 grass , 33 legume) and 60 temperate (24 grass, 36 legume) species. 

Not all the cultivars are still used, and only a few are important. Almost all 

cultivars are from introduced species, except for a few native grasses (Astrebla 

spp., Danthonia spp., Themeda triandra , Microlaena stipoides ). In addition to 

the registered cultivars, there are some additional introductions that are used 

although not officially registered. 

SEED PRODUCTION 

Although pastures are grown over a wide area, seed production is restricted to 

much smaller areas, where there is a reliable growing season (or irrigation is 

available) and also a reliably dry harvesting season. Seed production of tropical 

and sub-tropical species is concentrated on the east coast of Queensland and 

northern New South Wales, with small amounts produced in the Northern 

Territory. South Australia , Victoria and Western Australia are the major states 

for the production of clovers and medics, while alfalfa and temperate perennial 

grasses are produced in all southern states. The average pasture seed production 

during the three years 1996–98 was 26 000 t, with most production in Victoria 

and South Australia (Anon., 1999). 

CURRENT GRASSLAND ISSUES 

Research 

Pasture development in Australia has drawn on research and experiences 

elsewhere, but local research has been vitally important to solve uniquely 

Australian problems, and Australia has developed a strong pasture research 

effort. Most of this research has been publicly funded. While pasture research 

continues to be important, the funding and level of activity have declined 

in recent years. Indeed, reduced funding for pasture research (by both 

government and industry) was rated the most severe constraint in a recent 

survey of threats and limitations to the use of tropical pastures (McDonald and 

Clements, 1999). 

Not only has the amount of pasture research changed in recent years, the 

research approach has also altered. Research stations now have a smaller role 

and a greater proportion of the research is conducted on private properties, 

some of it with producers participating in the design and conduct of experiments, 

and interpretation of the results. 

A major part of the research effort has been the development of new cultivars 

(plant introduction, breeding, characterization and evaluation ), and major 

national programmes were established for grasses and legumes (Pearson, 1994).


These studies have included identifying suitable species for new or difficult 

environments or for changed farming systems , and also the development of 

superior strains within existing commercial species. Although cultivar development 

has been predominantly publicly funded, private industry plays an 

important role in temperate perennial species. 

While the development of new cultivars continues, there is now increased 

research effort on pasture management and the role of pastures in farming 

systems . The importance of high quality pastures for increased animal production 

continues, but there are a number of “new” issues (see next section) that 

have become important areas for research. These include increased water use 

by deep rooted species (e.g. Medicago sativa , Phalaris aquatica ) to dry out soil 

profiles to reduce soil salinization; the role of perennial grasses for improving 

soil structure and organic matter levels; and the role of pastures in cereal rotations, 

both as sources of nitrogen and also for weed control in areas where herbicide-resistant 

weeds have become a problem. This research is complemented 

by the commercial evaluation of recently released cultivars and identification 

of the best ways to incorporate pastures into farming systems. 

Management of grasslands 

Management of grasslands aims for a desirable composition that gives 

both high production (including crop products as well as animal products) 

and maintenance of the resources . The desirable composition varies both 

temporally and spatially and, given the range of requirements, a mix of species 

is almost always needed. 

There are management problems in all pasture zones . In the high rainfall and 

wheat-sheep zones, low nutritive value of herbage over the summer dry season 

and low herbage availability in the autumn and winter are important limitations 

to animal production (Wilson and Simpson, 1993). Productive legumes 

are important both to provide nitrogen for associate grasses (and following 

crops ) and for their high herbage quality, but, as noted earlier, legume decline 

is a major issue. 

In the pastoral zone, major limitations to animal production are herbage 

quality and quantity, and, in wool-growing areas, vegetable contamination of 

wool by seeds and fruiting structures of problem species. High grazing pressures 

have led to the replacement of palatable species by species that avoid high 

grazing pressure by their unpalatable, fibrous or ephemeral nature. This leads 

to low herbage quantity (particularly in southern and central Australia , where 

grasses are replaced by inedible shrubs) and poor quality (particularly in northern 

Australia, where pastures are dominated by C4 grasses and there is a long 

dry season ). Native shrubs (e.g. species of Cassia , Dodonea and Eromophila ) 

are a major problem in southern and central Australia, while, in the northern 

areas exotic species are also important (e.g. Acacia nilotica (Plate 9.3), 

Cryptostegia grandiflora (Plate 9.6), Prosopis spp. , Parkinsonia aculeata and

366 


Plate 9.6 

Exotic woody weeds in northern Australia . Dense stand of Cryptostegia 

grandiflora , with some climbing over trees along a watercourse. 

Ziziphus mauritiana ). Tothill and Gillies (1992) made a major assessment of the 

condition of native pastures in northern Australia. They divided the pastures 

into three classes – sustainable (main desirable species maintaining >75 percent 

dominance); deteriorating (increased presence (>25 percent) of undesirable 

pasture species and/or woody weeds); and degraded (predominance of undesirable 

species). Overall, only 56 percent of pasturelands were rated sustainable, 

with 32 percent deteriorating and 12 percent degraded. 

In sown tropical pastures both legume dominance and lack of legume persistence 

are problems in different regions. In the semi -arid tropics, where some 

stylo (Stylosanthes spp.) pastures are now nearly 30 years old, stylo dominance 

(particularly Stylosanthes scabra ) is causing some concern. The problem is 

worst on infertile soils, where stylos have been over-sown into native pastures. 

In stylo-grass pastures, animal preference for grass is very strong during the 

early wet season (Gardener, 1980) leading to heavy selective grazing of the 

grasses, which are susceptible at this stage of their growth (Hodgkinson et al., 

1989; Mott et al., 1992). A number of measures have been recommended to 

reduce the stylo dominance – fire , pasture spelling, sowing grazing-tolerant 

grasses, and raising soil phosphorus levels (McIvor, Noble and Orr, 1998). 

In the drier subtropics, legume persistence remains a problem, and the success 

of legume-based pastures has been more variable. Weeds continue to be a 

problem. During the past decade, unpalatable Sporobolus species (pyramidalis, 

natalensis, indicus var. major) have increased and extended inland, and Siam 

weed (Chromolaena odorata ) has been recorded for the first time. 

J.G. McIVOR


A number of approaches to pasture management have been suggested. 

Westoby, Walker and Noy-Meir (1989) proposed a state-and-transition model 

of vegetation change, where vegetation exists in a number of more-or-less 

stable states, and moves between these under the influence of management 

and climatic factors. State-and-transition models have been developed for 

the major native grassland communities in northern Australia (McIvor and 

Scanlan, 1994; Stockwell et al., 1994; Orr, Paton and McIntyre, 1994; Hall 

et al., 1994; McArthur, Chamberlain and Phelps, 1994; Jones and Burrows, 

1994) and provide a basis for management by highlighting opportunities to 

make desirable changes, and also the risks of undesirable changes occurring if 

management is not proactive. Jones (1992) applied state-and-transition models 

to sown pastures of Macroptilium atropurpureum and Setaria sphacelata . 

These pastures can be converted to Digitaria didactyla and Axonopus affinis 

with sustained heavy grazing ; resting from grazing reverses this conversion, 

but becomes progressively less effective the longer the heavy grazing is 

maintained. 

Drawing on a model proposed by Spain, Pereira and Gauldron (1985) for 

the evaluation of tropical pastures, Kemp (1991) developed a “pasture management 

envelope”, where management aims to maintain pastures within upper 

and lower limits for productive stable pastures (proportion of key species, 

e.g. legumes) and for animal performance (forage on offer). Legume contents 

below the lower limit are unlikely to make important contributions to feed 

supply and nitrogen fixation, while, above the upper limit, pastures are likely 

to be unstable and prone to invasion by nitrophilous weeds. Above the upper 

limit to forage on offer, much of the herbage would not be utilized, while, 

below the lower limit, herbage intake (and possibly animal survival) would 

suffer, pasture growth would be reduced and reduced ground cover would 

expose the soil to erosion. Where pastures are outside this envelope of limiting 

conditions, management needs to be altered to move the pasture into the envelope. 

This will often involve changing seasonal grazing pressure (e.g. resting 

tropical pastures during the early wet season; heavy spring grazing of cloverbased 

pastures). Fire is also used in some areas. While there is little use of fire 

with sown pastures, it is important for native pastures, particularly in tropical 

areas to remove accumulated dry herbage, alter grazing behaviour and control 

woody weeds. 

In Australia in recent years there has been widespread interest in grazing 

systems , with considerable debate over the merits of systems based on short 

grazing periods and long rest periods (e.g. short-duration grazing , time-control 

grazing , cell grazing ) compared with continuous grazing . A number of producers 

have enthusiastically adopted these systems and report large benefits, 

both for financial performance and for sustainability of resources (McCosker, 

1994; McArthur, 1998; Gatenby, 1999), although other producers have not had 

positive results (e.g. Waugh, 1997). In contrast to the positive benefits reported

368 


from these grazing systems, reviews of grazing systems research conclude that 

continuous grazing is no worse than rotational grazing , and may be better for 

animal production (Norton, 1998). Norton (1998) considered reasons for this 

divergence of views, and concluded that differences were related to uniformity 

of utilization – this was constant, even in small experimental paddocks, 

irrespective of grazing system, so the experiments showed no benefit for rotational 

grazing. However, utilization is often not uniform in large commercial 

paddocks, and more even utilization is achieved when they are subdivided for 

rotational systems, leading to production benefits. 

Resource issues and rehabilitation 

Despite the success of much pasture development there are major resource issues 

in Australian grasslands. Soil degradation is estimated to cost Australian agriculture 

more than one billion dollars annually in lost rural production (Williams, 

1999). While soil erosion continues to be a problem, it is not as severe in many 

areas as during the early to mid -twentieth century, but salinity, accelerated acidification 

and tree dieback have emerged as important grassland problems in the last 

twenty years. 

Whilst some soils are naturally acid, there has been accelerated acidification 

of soils under legume pastures, both in temperate (e.g. Williams, 1980; Ridley, 

Helyar and Slattery, 1990) and in tropical areas (Noble, Cannon and Muller, 

1997). A number of processes contribute to this: removal of plant (particularly 

hay making) and animal products; net transfer of nutrients as dung and urine 

within paddocks; leaching of nitrate (and associated cations) below the root 

zone; and increases in soil organic matter and cation exchange capacity . The 

use of acid-tolerant species may provide a partial solution to the problem, but 

overcoming long-term acidification will require the use of lime. 

The removal of trees and their replacement by crops and annual pastures 

has brought about major changes to the hydrological cycle. Dryland salinity 

now affects about 2.5 million hectares of land, and there is potential for 

this to increase to more than 12 million hectares (Williams, 1999). Western 

Australia and Victoria are the states most affected, but New South Wales, South 

Australia and Queensland also have increasing areas. Reversing these changes 

to the hydrological cycle will require deeper-rooted plants to reduce recharge 

by transpiring water before it enters the groundwater, and plants to increase 

discharge and lower the watertable. Deep-rooted perennial pasture species 

(e.g. Medicago sativa and Phalaris aquatica ) have a role (e.g. Ridley et al., 1997; 

McCallum et al., 1998; Pitman, Cox and Belloti, 1998), but major tree replanting 

will probably be required, and has begun in some areas. 

Native tree dieback (progressive, usually protracted, dying back of branches, 

often ending in tree death) has become important, and is most severe in long settled, 

intensively farmed areas, such as the New England Tableland of New South 

Wales. Repeated defoliation by leaf eating insects is one of many factors involved


TABLE 9.2 

Impact of pasture development on the number of species recorded in experimental pastures near 

Charter Towers, north Queensland. The values are the means of three years (1990–92) and two 

sites where the treatments have been fully imposed for at least 4 years. 

Pasture 

% sown 

species 

Number of species 

Sown Native Exotic Total 

Lightly grazed, live trees, native pasture 0.1 1.0 27.9 1.4 30.3 

Heavily grazed, live trees, fertilized over-sown legumegrass 

pasture 

86.1 4.2 15.0 1.7 20.9 

Heavily grazed, trees cleared, fertilized legume-grass 

pasture sown on cultivated seedbed 

93.2 4.5 11.4 0.5 16.4 

SOURCE: From McIvor, 1998. 

in the tree dieback syndrome, and sown pastures are implicated in the higher 

levels of insect defoliation. Two mechanisms are suggested. Firstly, the fertilized 

improved pastures improve and increase the supply of food for insect larvae and 

support higher populations of soil invertebrates than native pastures (King and 

Hutchison, 1983). Secondly, the higher soil nutrient levels also improve the feed 

quality and attractiveness of the tree leaves for adult insects. The combination 

of larger populations and attractive foliage greatly increases the grazing of trees 

by insects. A survey of Queensland properties found increased severity of tree 

dieback symptoms on properties where more than 50 percent of the area was 

improved pasture (Wylie et al., 1993). 

Biodiversity in grasslands 

The impacts of pasture development on biodiversity are still being debated. 

While new species have been added, and become naturalized in many cases, at 

least some native species have been disadvantaged. However, as surveys show, 

many other species are present in sown pastures. 

Pasture development has a number of components, all of which may influence 

biodiversity – tree clearing , sowing introduced species, fertilizer application, 

increased grazing pressures , herbicide use, and irrigation. McIvor (1998) 

examined some of these (tree clearing, superphosphate application, sown 

species, cultivation , and stocking rates ), both separately and in combination, 

at two sites in north Queensland. The individual management treatments all 

affected diversity, but the responses varied with season, site and measurement 

scale. The density of native species decreased with pasture sowing and cultivation, 

but increased at high stocking rates, and with tree killing at one of the 

sites. When the treatments were combined, there was a decline in native species 

as intensity of development increased and the extra sown species were insufficient 

to prevent a decline in the total number of species (Table 9.2). 

Environmental management 

While much has been learned about the development and use of pastures, 

pasture management does not exist in isolation and must be combined with 

other aspects of property management if we are to have sustainable use of our

370 


grasslands. Both on- and off-farm impacts and landscape - and regional-scale 

relationships need to be considered. McIntyre, McIvor and MacLeod (2000) 

have outlined a set of principles for the grazing of eucalypt woodlands that 

provide guidelines for achieving environmental sustainability. These need 

to be combined with other aspects of property and enterprise management 

and regional planning to give both profitability and conservation of natural 

resources . Such management will not be easy with a variable and changing 

climate and variable and often low prices for products, but will be needed 

for sustainable land use. The strong development of both the Landcare 

movement and Integrated Catchment Management groups over the last decade 

provides some hope. These groups of producers and other concerned people 

have recognized that some problems are beyond the capacity of individual 

producers, and have combined their resources to conduct activities that aim to 

improve resource management. 

SUSTAINABLE PASTURE MANAGEMENT : LEARNING FROM THE PAST, 

MANAGING FOR THE FUTURE 

Pasture management will always be complex, as we are dealing with mixed 

plant populations that are defoliated to varying degrees growing in a widely 

varying climate. There have been great increases in the understanding of 

the limits to pasture growth and production under Australian conditions, 

and continuing changes to farming systems in the past and the future will 

continue to throw up new challenges requiring continuing new knowledge and 

adaptations. Higher production levels have been a major theme for research 

and commercial development , but there is an increasing realization that 

stability and optimization of production systems within an inherently variable 

environment are objectives that are preferable to an exclusive emphasis on 

maximizing productivity . 

European farming in Australia commenced with attempts to transfer 

European practices to the new environment. However, as the limitations of 

the new environment were discovered, major changes were made to farming 

systems as more was learned about the constraints and ways to overcome them. 

This can be illustrated by historical changes in the wheat industry (Donald, 1965; 

Malcolm, Sale and Egan, 1996). Initially, poorly adapted, late maturing English 

varieties were grown each year, depleting soil nutrient levels, so that by the end 

of the nineteenth century yields declined to half those originally achieved from 

virgin soils. Major changes were made early in the twentieth century: superphosphate 

began to be widely used, overcoming the widespread phosphorus 

deficiency ; long fallows (more than one year) were adopted, increasing water 

supply and nitrogen availability from the breakdown of organic matter; and the 

early maturing variety Federation was bred for Australian conditions. Yields 

returned to levels achieved from virgin soils. However, the long fallows meant 

soils were bare for long periods and erosion (by both water and wind) was a


major problem and the soil organic matter levels fell, reducing both nitrogen 

supply and soil stability, so that there was no further yield improvement after 

the 1920s. After 1950, ley -farming rotations were widely used, with legume 

pastures improving both the soil nitrogen status and physical condition . This 

resulted in spectacular yield increases, but, as mentioned elsewhere, the legumes 

have become less effective. With the decline of legume pastures and low 

prices for animal products, some farmers switched from ley-pasture rotation s 

to continuous cropping using grain legumes and nitrogen fertilizer to provide 

nitrogen, no- or minimum-tillage to maintain soil structure, and herbicides 

for weed control . Herbicide-resistant plants have developed in a number of 

troublesome weeds (e.g. Avena spp., Lolium rigidum and Raphanus raphanistrum) 

and there are doubts if such a system can maintain soil organic matter 

and physical properties (Malcolm, Sale and Egan, 1996). A pasture phase in the 

farming systems may be necessary to overcome these problems. 

Importance of legumes 

Nitrogen is a major limiting nutrient in grasslands, but nitrogen fertilizer use 

on grasslands has been low in Australia due to the high costs relative to the 

value of livestock products, and there are also problems with soil acidification 

and nitrate contamination of water supplies. Use of nitrogen fertilizers remains 

restricted to situations offering high financial returns, such as for winter feed 

supplies on dairy farms in the subtropics. 

The productive use of legumes has been a major success story of Australian 

farming. Prior to the rapid period of pasture development that commenced in 

the 1950s (Figure 9.4) many pastures were sparse, heavily infested with rabbits , 

contained inferior annual species, and soils were badly eroded. In the cereal 

growing areas, dust storms occurred regularly, removing much of the surface 

soil, and soil organic matter levels had fallen, reducing soil stability and lowering 

soil nitrogen levels (Malcolm, Sale and Egan, 1996). Temperate pastures 

based on Trifolium and Medicago species, with application of superphosphate, 

provided greatly increased animal and crop production and improved soil fertility 

from the 1950s (Donald, 1965). However, as outlined above, the effectiveness 

of this system has declined. Despite this, legume-based pastures continue 

to provide production benefits, even if at a lower level than in the past. 

The experiences in southern Australia provided a model for northern 

Australia and optimistic estimates were made of the area suitable for sown 

pastures in the tropics, such as 50–60 million hectares in Queensland (Davies 

and Eyles, 1965; Ebersohn and Lee, 1972; Weston et al., 1981), although later 

estimates reduced this to 22 million hectares (Walker and Weston, 1990). Initial 

hopes for twining legumes (e.g. Macroptilium atroprupureum and Desmodium 

spp.) were not fulfilled, although some use of these species continues. Their 

elevated growing points are sensitive to grazing (Clements, 1989) and these 

species lack persistence under heavy grazing. There are successful developments

372 


Plate 9.7 

Leucaena leucocephala , a high quality productive shrub legume capable of 

providing high levels of animal production. 

based on Stylosanthes species and Leucaena leucocephala (Plate 9.7) and the 

area sown to these species continues to increase. A number of other tropical 

legumes have smaller but still successful roles e.g. Aeschynomene americana , 

Chamaecrista rotundifolia , Centrosema pascuorum and Vigna parkeri . There 

is an increasing demand for ley legumes for cropping systems in the tropics 

and sub-tropics. The cropping industry is situated mainly on clay soils which 

previously supported grassland or brigalow . However years of continuous 

cropping has depleted soil fertility and yields and grain protein content s are 

falling. There is an urgent need to restore the fertility and legume-leys (e.g. 

Clitoria ternatea ) can play a key role (Dalal et al., 1991). 

While there have been positive changes from the use of legumes, such as 

increased production and soil improvement , legumes can also have negative 

impacts, such as accelerated soil acidification. There will be a continuing need for 

research and development to overcome problems that arise, as well as continuing 

management – using legumes is not simply a matter of selecting and sowing a 

species and expecting it to survive and produce with little management. 

Role of native pastures 

Much of the research (and commercial) activity with pastures has concentrated 

on exotic rather than native species. Although the possible value of native species 

was realized along with the need for scientific study of their characteristics and 

value (Davies, 1951), the widespread conclusion was 

J.G. McIVOR


“our native plants have neither actual or potential value as artificially sown species … they are 

incapable of high production, of response to high levels of fertility. They are adapted … to poor 

soils, to light grazing …and drier climatic conditions …” Donald, 1970. 

However, few pastures contain only sown species and some native species 

have survived – in the strongly winter dominant rainfall areas there are few, but 

where there is a summer rainfall component (Wilson and Simpson, 1993), or in 

the tropics where rainfall is summer dominant, important native species remain 

in sown pastures and many areas have not been sown. 

While the conclusion of Donald (1970) remains generally true for high fertility 

conditions, the increases in soil fertility following the widespread use of 

subterranean clover and superphosphate have not been sustained , and many 

areas have “poor soils, drier conditions” where the native species are adapted. 

Many early comparisons of native and introduced species were biased (Wilson 

and Simpson, 1993) and more recent assessments have concluded that there 

is a role for native species as they have valuable agronomic features and can 

provide good quality herbage at times of the year (Archer and Robinson, 1988; 

Robinson and Archer, 1988). The native pastures will generally not support the 

high stocking rates that fertilized, introduced pastures can support. However, 

at low to moderate rates, their presence and contribution can be exploited and 

they will have a continuing role in animal production. 

Environmental weeds 

Although exotic pasture species have provided large economic benefits to 

Australia , as a number of pasture plants have become naturalized increasing 

attention is being given to their impacts on the environment. A number have 

been listed as environmental weeds, i.e. species that invade native communities 

and cause changes to the vegetation structure (species composition and 

abundance) or the function of ecosystems , or both. Two features important 

in pasture species are common in these environmental weeds – the ability 

to invade or colonize new or unsown areas, and the ability to dominate 

vegetation where they occur. In a recent list of environmental weeds in 

Australia, 11 of the 55 major and significant ones were pasture species; of 

the top 18, six were pasture species – Brachiaria mutica , Cenchrus ciliaris , 

Echinochloa polystachya , Glyceria maxima , Hymenachne amplexicaulis 

and Pennisetum polystachyon (Humphries, Groves and Mitchell, 1991). 

Where conditions are suitable (e.g. little competing vegetation, suitable soil 

fertility and grazing regimes) all these species are capable of forming almost 

monospecific stands. Under the recently developed National Weeds Strategy , 

the import entry protocols for assessing the weed potential of all proposed 

new plant imports have been strengthened to prevent the introduction of 

plants with weed potential. However, there are a number of pasture species 

now well established or naturalized that are not currently considered weeds, 

but might well be in the future.

374 


FUTURE 

Products from pastures and grasslands have made great contributions to the 

Australian economy – during the nineteenth century the native grasslands 

supported the grazing industries (particularly wool) that, together with 

gold, made Australia prosperous. During the twentieth century, temperate 

pastures based on subterranean clover and other legumes, and to a lesser extent 

tropical pastures, raised production levels and financial returns to previously 

unachievable levels. 

Future pasture management will involve concerns for both productivity 

and the environment both on- and off-property. As a recent assessment of 

the sustainability of Australian agriculture has shown, long-term productivity 

has been increasing for all broadacre and dairy industries, but resource issues 

– sodic and acid soils, native vegetation , salinity – have also become important 

and increasing problems (SCARM, 1998). Pastures, both sown and native, will 

continue to be important for both production and environmental impacts. As 

discussed earlier, rates of pasture development are closely linked to seasonal 

conditions and the profitability of farming enterprises, and this situation is 

likely to continue. Costs of pasture development and maintenance have been 

and remain a major concern to growers. A recent survey (Clements, 1996; 

McDonald and Clements, 1999) found that of 21 possible constraints to the 

future use of tropical pasture plants, farmers rated uncertain commodity prices, 

high cost of establishment and costs of maintaining improved pastures among 

the top four. 

Agriculture is declining in relative importance in the economy and will continue 

to do so, but it will remain an important contributor to both the national 

and regional economies for many years. Grasslands and pastures will remain 

important – in many areas they provide the only means of producing a valuable 

product where there are no viable alternatives. In arable areas, grasslands will 

continue to have a role in crop rotations for increasing nitrogen supply, disease 

breaks and weed control as herbicide resistance reduces the effectiveness of 

herbicides. 

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The Russian Steppe 381 

Chapter 10 

The Russian Steppe 

Joseph G. Boonman and Sergey S. Mikhalev 

SUMMARY 

The steppe crosses the Russian plain, south of the taiga , penetrating deep into 

Siberia. It comprises three main types , which run in roughly parallel bands from 

east to west: forest steppe in the north, through steppe, to semi -desert steppe in 

the south. Within these belts, zones of temporary inundation on floodplains or in 

zones of internal drainage provide valuable hay land. The steppe was increasingly 

ploughed for crops during the twentieth century; initially crops were rotated with 

naturally regenerated grassland , but from mid-century cultivation was increasingly 

intensive. During the collective period, the emphasis was on industrial stock 

rearing, with housed cattle and high inputs; since decollectivization, intensive 

enterprises are closing for economic reasons, and systems have yet to stabilize. 

If ploughed land is left undisturbed it will return naturally to steppe vegetation 

in six to fifteen years. Hay is very important for winter feed, and much is made 

from seasonally flooded meadows. Many marginal, semi-arid areas of the steppe 

have been put under crops, but are not economically viable; much of the cereals 

so produced are fed to livestock, but grain yields are very low and yield no more 

livestock products than would natural grassland, but at far higher cost. Marginal 

cropland should return to grass . 

INTRODUCTION 

North of the Black and Caspian Seas, straddling both Don and Volga 

catchments, lies a stretch of steppe that saw some of the last horse-mounted 

nomadic tribes of Europe in action as late as the end of the fifteenth century. 

These were the Tatar of the Golden Horde. Then an equally heroic force, now 

of self-proclaimed free farmer-soldiers, whose mixed -farming with crop and 

livestock was community- and family-based, later called Cossacks, emerged to 

hold the newly acquired frontiers of Tsarist Russia . 

Throughout history, the Russian steppe had been a natural boundary that 

deterred major civilizations or migrations from entering through its southern 

gateways. Not physical obstacles – in fact both Don and Volga are major navigable 

rivers and run from north to south – but the sheer size and emptiness 

of country that had to be traversed effectively separated the north from the 

south. Although in search of new granaries, ancient Greek colonization did not 

extend much further than the coastal rims of the Black Sea. In a similar fashion,

382 

Figure 10.1 

Extent of grasslands in the Russian Federation. 


the empires of Rome and even nearby Byzantium made very few inroads into 

what would develop, at the start of this millennium, into the Russian heartland. 

The only, yet major, exceptions were invasions by the Huns in the fourth and 

by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, but these emerged from the same 

long stretch of steppe, near its far eastern fringe . 

This vast Eurasian plain – with taiga in the north, forest in the middle 

and the steppe as its southern flank – stretches over 10 000 km from west 

to (south)east, from the Baltic Sea and crosses the Dnepr, Don and Volga 

rivers, deep into Siberia across the Urals, which convention has designated 

as the border between Europe and Asia (Figure 10.1). Most of the country’s 

farm land is in the so-called “fertile triangle”, with its base along the western 

border from the Baltic to the Black Sea and that tapers eastward to the 

southern Urals, where it narrows to a strip about 400 km wide extending 

across the southwestern fringes of Siberia. 

This chapter discusses the steppe; an overall description of Russian pastures 

and ruminant production systems is given in the Country Pasture Profile 

for the Russian Federation (Blagoveshchenskii et al., 2002), to be found on 

the FAO Grassland Web site . 

THE STEPPE IN PERSPECTIVE 

Truly virgin steppe has become a rarity, especially west of the Urals. The 

last major onslaught took place in the 1950s, when huge campaigns to raise 

agricultural production led to 43 million hectares of steppe being sacrificed to 

the plough, seemingly for ever (Maslov, 1999). It virtually meant the end of the 

virgin steppe in the Volga region, in Kazakhstan and western Siberia. The land 

put to the plough rivalled in size the whole of Canada’s agricultural area. 

As part of the collateral damage, interest in and knowledge of the steppe as 

a natural resource became rare in the eyes of the authorities, and faded as the


experts themselves passed from the scene. Should active extensification and 

steppe rehabilitation , of which there is little sign at present, appear at some 

stage again on the agendas, it will have to draw on the old literature records, 

such as are being recalled in this chapter. These records are of further importance 

as they developed independently from scientific and managerial thinking 

in the West, especially in the USA , where similar vegetation types seem to have 

given rise to quite different approaches, both in science and in management . 

Recent literature from the Russian Federation on the subject is mostly related 

to satellite imagery and ecological modelling (Gilmanov, Parton and Ojima, 

1997). To avoid confusion, and because of the reliance here on older literature, 

the botanical names will be quoted as originally reported. Consequently, we 

use Euagrypyron and Agropyron repens rather than Elytrigia repens. 

Current tendencies in Russian agriculture are that the large-style arable 

units of the former Kolkhozy and Sovkhozy collective production units are 

retained as the central and collective core, mainly for cereal production, with 

only a little livestock held centrally. Livestock will be divorced further from 

the collective by the kolkhozniki themselves and become more family-based. 

Sooner or later, family herds will have to rely on family-run pastures, hayfields 

and by-products of their own arable operations. At present, communal and 

public grazing resource s are used by privately owned livestock. 

Is history repeating itself? Grazing rights shared out by or among the 

village community (mir) were typical of the pre-revolution era. While the 

grazing land – and often the grazing itself – was communal , livestock were 

family-owned. Fenced-off grazing blocks and “ranches ” were rare. Although 

large landholdings in the more prosperous agricultural regions were the rule, 

landlords invariably had to cope with large resident communities of peasants 

and with their demands for cropland, pasture and hay for their cattle in return 

for labour. Does the present-style Kolkhoze fulfil the role of the pre-revolution 

landlord? Do peasants continue to expect to be provided for as before? Is 

a Russia with family-based autonomous farms still a long way off? 

The Russian steppe, like many of the major natural grasslands of the world, 

is a formidable natural resource. With the present land-reform programmes 

following a new, often uncharted, course it may well be that the natural grassland 

and, in particular, the steppe will resume a large part of its old significance 

as a primary grazing resource . The Former Soviet Union (FSU)-industrialstyle 

Kolkhozy and Sovkhozy , with livestock housed throughout the year, 

have proved uneconomic and unsustainable . Family-based mixed farming with 

paddock grazing may develop in parallel with the current tendency of grazing 

the kolkhozniki herds on natural grassland and steppe. Permanent or temporary 

pasture as a resource of grazing and fodder may regain prominence at the 

expense of annual fodder and grain crop. Half of the cereal crop, it was claimed, 

was fed to livestock. Maize used to be grown for silage on more than 10 million 

hectares, often in areas either too cold or too dry , whether aided or not

384 


with supplementary irrigation. The agronomic, economic and environmental 

implications of these new developments for outdoor grazing, though largely 

positive on balance, provide a formidable challenge. 

SEMANTICS 

Luga, senokosy i pastbishcha [meadows, hay meadows and pastures] and 

Lugovodstvo [meadow cultivation ] are Russian terminology to emphasize 

the distinction commonly drawn between land for hay or for grazing , 

respectively, where the English language would simply refer to grassland . 

Russian terminology tends to distinguish between “meadows” as dominated 

by hay-type grasses and “pastures” as utilized through grazing, whereas this 

distinction has little meaning in contemporary English. However, in Russian 

terminology, the term “meadows” (composed of mesophytes) is often used in 

contrast to “steppe” (xerophytes), and assumes significance in dry steppe land 

crossed by rivers, which are bordered by extensive floodplains that harbour 

the meadows. Meadows have a more temperate and humid climate resonance 

(Shennikov, 1950). Meadow and steppe are used as descriptive terms away from 

the landscape or geographical zones they represent. The continued usage in 

Russian of terms such as meadow steppe, desert steppe and mountain steppe 

add to the confusion (Gilmanov, 1995). In this chapter, grassland is used in the 

general sense, including steppe, whereas pasture refers to a particular field or 

application. Maize silage is a fodder and so are Sudan grass and alfalfa, but the 

latter are called forages when grazed. 

Emphasis on hay as the principal source of fodder to see cattle through the 

winter has been typical of Russian “grassland ” terminology. Early mention 

of haymaking by the northern Slavs date back to the birth of their civilization, 

around 1000 A.D. Numerous are the references in the arts to “village 

hay-festivals” as the entire peasant community was engaged in the process 

of mowing and bringing in the hay. Hay , rather than fodder crops , was the 

rule. A high ratio of meadow to arable land was essential to sustain farming 

(Chayanov, 1926). Fodder beet, rape and turnips were much less grown than in 

more Atlantic climates further west. One reason was that most of the hay was 

derived from low-lying meadow land that had no other economic use. Second, 

the growing season for fodder crops is either too short, in the north, or too dry , 

in the east and south, or both. Even alfalfa is a late arrival; it is believed to have 

been grown in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan before the Greco-Persian wars of the 

sixth and fifth centuries BC; it is, however, unlikely to have reached the Volga 

region earlier than it did Western Europe because of the geographic northsouth 

isolation mentioned above. 

CLIMATE, VEGETATION AND SOILS 

Somewhat Atlantic in climate at its start near the Baltic Sea, on its way east 

the Eurasian plain is met by an increasing severity and length of continental


winters, precluding arable cropping at the eastern extreme. High latitudes and 

absence of moderating maritime influences determine the harsh continental 

climate prevalent in Russia . Huge mountain ranges along the southern borders 

and Central Asia preclude penetration of maritime tropical air masses. The 

Arctic Ocean acts as a snow-covered, frozen mass rather than a relatively warm 

ocean influence. As the territory lies in a westerly wind belt, warm influences 

from the Pacific Oceans do not reach far inland. In winter a large cold highpressure 

cell, centred in Mongolia , spreads over much of Siberia. 

In the low-pressure system of summer , warm and moist air pushes from the 

Atlantic Ocean well into Siberia. In many areas, however, the summer rainfall 

distribution is not always advantageous for agriculture. June and July are often 

dry , while rain may interfere with cereal harvest in August. Annual precipitation 

decreases from over 800 mm in western Russia to below 400 mm along the 

Caspian Sea. 

Climate and vegetation fuse in zones that extend across the country in 

eastern-western belts. The tundra of the Arctic coast, with its permafrost and 

vegetation of mosses, lichens and low shrubs, is too cold for trees. The next (sub- 

Arctic) zone is the boreal (coniferous) forest , the taiga , occupying two-fifths of 

European Russia and most of Siberia. Much of this region also has permafrost. 

Large areas are devoid of trees, primarily because of poor local drainage, and the 

vegetation is marshy. The soils of the taiga are podsolic and infertile. 

Further south stretches a belt of mixed forest from Saint Petersburg in 

the north to the border with Ukraine in the south. The mixed-forest grades 

through a narrow zone of forest-steppe before passing into the true steppe. 

True steppe, as distinct from the forest -steppe further north, is predominantly 

a grass vegetation with a few stunted trees only in sheltered valleys. The 

true steppe belt begins along the Black Sea coast, encompasses the western half 

of the northern Caucasian plain, and extends northeast across the lower Volga, 

the southern Urals and the southern parts of western Siberia. 

Together with the forest -steppe, the steppes form the chernozem belt, the 

agricultural heartland of Russia . The forest-steppe is black chernozem soil, 

high in organic matter (OM) and minerals, and better watered than the steppe. 

Steppe soils are somewhat lower in OM, but high in minerals, and many are 

also classified as brown-steppe (chestnut). 

ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION 

In the Russian Federation with its vast uninterrupted plains, zones delineating 

the major vegetation types agree conveniently with climatic zones and, in a 

way, also with major soil types. Typically, these zones tend to run in semi - 

parallel belts in a slightly northwesterly to southeasterly direction. 

Topography, watercourses and variation in soil conditions become relevant 

at the rayon [a small territorial administrative division] or rather at the (former) 

Kolkhoz or Sovkhoz level. It was at this unit level that grassland description

386 


was to be refined and effected for land management and, ultimately, grassland 

improvement . Both the objective and framework of the approach were prescribed. 

However, more than elsewhere in the world, classification in the country 

lost itself in attempts to be all-USSR in compass, ending up with hundreds 

of codes and numbers. Colloquial terms could have summed it all up in one 

word (e.g. mochazina – non-peaty swamp; liman – flooded steppe in the lower 

reaches of rivers). Impeded drainage means swamp in the northern forest country, 

but lush pasture in the steppe. Conversely, overgrazing can lead to bareness 

to an extent that the vegetation assumes the appearance of a drier climate than 

rainfall data suggest. Grasslands – and steppe are no exception – are an integration 

of climate, soil, animal and man-made conditions. Vegetation may often 

provide a better guide to the agricultural environment than the instruments of 

meteorologist or geologist (Whyte, 1974). “What are the main species and what 

do they tell us?” is often a most relevant question. 

Grasslands are subject to fluctuations in composition, but recurring patterns 

are recognized. The major features, physiognomy (the aspect in terms 

of height, density and cover) and species, are fairly constant or they oscillate 

around a certain equilibrium, both between and within woody and herbaceous 

species. Major changes are usually a long-term affair. Only when grassland 

is artificially drained permanently of excess water, or altered dramatically by 

repeated ploughing and cropping, can changes in the vegetation become irreversible. 

As we will see, steppe is relatively quick to restore. 

ECOLOGICAL (SITE) POTENTIAL 

Much as early classifications were based on botanical composition , awareness 

was growing that ecological potential could be related to a recognizable 

vegetation group . To many observers, however, current vegetation is a very 

poor indicator of ecological potential and possible land use. The problem is then 

how to reconcile current vegetation with ecological potential. Classification 

means one thing to the specialist in phytogeography, but quite another to the 

planner concerned with grassland improvement . Site potential – that is, the 

vegetation that ecological factors indicate should dominate – is the guiding 

factor. A climax vegetation can be reconstructed based on natural succession 

towards an equilibrium with the environment. This process may be interrupted 

and vegetation may then be described as, say, a “fire subclimax ” or a “grazing 

subclimax”. The concept of climax should relate to site potential as determined 

by physical factors of the environment: climate, soil and topography. Tundra, 

steppe and semi -desert are then ecoclimatic zones , which can be characterized 

further by plant species and associations to delineate recognizable types of 

vegetation. 

The term grassland or steppe is here used to denote a vegetation that is 

dominated by grasses and occasionally herbs, whatever the plant succession. 

The grasses used in cultivation today are those found growing in the wild


TABLE 10.1 

Important species of the Russian steppe. 

Maturity group ( 1 ) Typical species and their characteristics 

Very early 

(April/May) 

Poa bulbosa L. Tufted

388 

Plate 10.1 

Agropyron pectiniforme. 


vegetation occur. Ramenskii’s classifications are known as “phytotopological” 

with major emphasis on the habitat . First, all natural grassland is divided into 

dryland or floodplain. Second, subdivisions are based on topography and 

moisture conditions. No less than 50 categories were formulated, each with 

22 subdivisions based on moisture conditions. Within similar habitats, several 

plant associations occur. 

For instance, on dark-chestnut loamy soil of the dry steppe plains, Ramenskii 

found the following associations as grazing intensity increases: 

• in virgin steppe, a low-grass sward with Stipa lessingiana (Plate 10.2), but less 

Festuca sulcata ; 

• after a few years, predominantly Festuca sulcata ; 

• under intensive grazing , Poa bulbosa associations; and 

• finally, after excessive grazing , an association with Polygonum aviculare . 

This is typical succession-regression (see also Table 10.2). Ramenskii’s 

analysis of the constituents of the vegetation itself was not quantitative, but 

estimated by so-called vertical “projection”, by simply estimating the degree 

of cover at one particular date. No mechanical devices for ranking constituent 

species or for weighing samples were employed. Potential yields were estimated 

from empirically established standard graphs (see also section below on 

Botanical condition ). 

After ploughing and cropping steppe for several years, the following appear 

in the fallow :


TABLE 10.2 

The effect of grazing intensity on grassland changes 

Grazing 

intensity 

Oka 

floodplain meadows 

Northern Caucasus 

Common Chernozem 

Plate 10.2 

Stipa lessingiana 

Absent Stipa spp., Festuca sulcata; herbs; 

Agropyron spp. and Bromus spp. 

frequent 

Weak Phleum pratense, Agrostis alba, 

Geranium pratense 

Moderate Festuca rubra, Carum carvi, 

Bromus inermis, Alopecurus 

pratensis, Agrostis alba 

Intensive Poa pratensis, Achillea 

millefolium, Leontodon spp., 

Medicago falcata, Carex 

schreberi, Trifolium repens, 

Alopecurus pratensis 

Excessive Polygonum aviculare and a few 

of the above 

SOURCE: Larin, 1956. 

Stipa , Festuca sulcata; fewer 

herbs; Agropyron spp. and 

Bromus spp. 

Western Kazakhstan 

Dark chestnut 

Stipa lessingiana, Festuca 

sulcata, Stipa capillata, Artemisia 

austriaca 

Festuca sulcata Festuca sulcata, Koeleria gracilis, 

Stipa capillata, Artemisia 

austriaca 

Poa bulbosa, much Carex 

schreberi, Artemisia austriaca 

and Euphorbia seguieriana 

Polygonum aviculare and 

Ceratocarpus arenarius 

Artemisia austriaca, Poa bulbosa, 

Euphorbia virgata 

Polygonum aviculare, Agropyron 

spp., Ceratocarpus arenarius, 

Bassia spp. 

• First year: annuals. 

• Second and third year: biennial and perennial herbs. 

• Third and fourth year: Agropyron racemosum emerging. 

• Fifth to eighth year: Agropyron racemosum over 80 percent of the herbage, 

with Festuca sulcata (Plate 10.3) emerging. 

• Festuca sulcata predominant.

390 

Plate 10.3 

Festuca sulcata 


• To about the fifteenth year: Stipa lessingiana becomes predominant (return to 

the initial virgin steppe). 

Thus, at least five distinct associations are found. Depending on the management 

of the fallow and on the previous cropping history of the land, several 

tens of associations may be distinguished. Although each modification has significance 

for current utilization, habitat potential remains very much the same. 

Shennikov, therefore, preferred to allocate Ramenskii’s virgin low-sward grass 

stage to “herbaceous steppe”; the Agropyron fallow to “(mesophilic) meadow 

type ” and the Polygonum association to “herbaceous annual vegetation ”, all 

forming part of the Herbosa basic type of vegetation (see below). Shennikov’s 

was a commendable effort of amalgamating the elements that unite rather than 

divide. 

The emphasis at the time on terminology such as “phytocoenosis ” and 

“zoocoenosis ”, together forming the biocoenosis and interrelating with the 

biogeocoenosis , is worth noting (Sukachev, 1945). Another emphasis was the 

division into four vegetation types : 1. Lignosa – tree-shrub; 2. Herbosa – herbaceous 

plants (see above); 3. Deserta – desert plants; and 4. Errantia – various. 

Shennikov’s hierarchy for a particular situation might be: 1. Vegetation -type 

group : Herbosa. 2. Type of vegetation : meadow (humid-grassland mainly used 

for hay ). 3. Class of formations: true meadow (as against steppe or swamp). 

4. Formation group: coarse grass , coarse sedge. 5. Formation: Alopecurus


pratensis dominant. 6. Association group: various admixtures of Alopecurus 

pratensis. 7. Associations. 

Sukachev’s classification is “phytocoenological”, whereas Ramenskii’s is 

“phytotopological”, and the latter’s example was followed by Dmitriev (1948) 

and Chugunov (1951). However, the distinction is often blurred. Ramenskii’s 

seral stages of plant succession, although not coined as such by him or his successors, 

are classical examples of linear Clementsian succession. 

Conversely, bare ground is colonized by ruderals, which give place to 

seral grassland stages as organic matter accumulates and these are eventually 

replaced by taller bunch grasses. Clements (1916) ideas proved applicable not 

only in USA , but also in Canada (Coupland, 1979, whose work used to be 

quoted in Russia ) and in East and South Africa (Phillips, 1929). It is doubtful 

if it ever was Clements’ aim to apply the succession model to all situations 

liable to transition, or to claim that climax vegetation was the most desirable 

or most productive from the agricultural point of view in all situations. Plant 

succession can be studied with the aim of identifying the preferred seral stages 

with desirable composition. As we will see in Russia, many instances can also 

be found in which some of the seral stages (fallow land) are considerably more 

diverse and productive in herbage than the climax vegetation itself. It goes too 

far, however, to regard this as counter-evidence for the succession model. As in 

the Great Plains of USA, the climax grasses of the Russian steppe are productive 

and acceptable to livestock; they provide ground cover to protect soil and 

are effective plants in utilizing environmental growth factors to fix carbon and 

to cycle nutrients. 

The interplay of biotic, climatic and edaphic components of the environment 

is relevant, as these modify the dynamics of grassland communities . Efforts at 

grassland improvement are directed at manipulating the botanical composition 

to encourage the more desirable species and suppress those less desirable. A basic 

thrust in current grassland improvement has been the comparison of the current 

site condition with what it ought to be, i.e. site potential . Acknowledgement of 

various stable vegetation states at a particular site widens the scope for opportunistic 

management that is responsive to abiotic events and that is not bound 

under all circumstances by doctrines that abhor fire or that only value stocking 

rates that are moderate. 

BOTANICAL CONDITION (ECOLOGICAL MONITORING ) 

Few are the instances where ecological techniques can have such an impact 

on practical management decisions in agriculture as those developed in 

grassland science. Botanical assessment has proved a more reliable and efficient 

criterion of condition , and, therefore, of productivity of grassland, than yield 

measurements themselves. Given the enormous tasks of natural resource 

management ahead, it is appropriate here to draw attention to new techniques 

of botanical grassland surveys.

392 


The FSU had “State Institutes for Land Control” in each republic, which 

carried out surveys about every ten years on the same (grass )land. Surveys 

were and are applied with strict adherence to FSU-wide methodology that has 

seen little change over the decades. The emphasis was primarily on maximizing 

production, that is, on setting animal production levels and, ultimately, 

the levels of grants and credits extended to the agricultural enterprises to meet 

these production levels regularly. For their part, Kolkhozy and Sovkhozy were 

required to produce grassland inventories, with a denomination of vegetation , 

soil type , other physical conditions as well as details of current utilization and 

proposed improvements for each area on the map. 

The methodology in use for the measurement of yield-on-offer in quadrats 

(rope-frames) is quite complex and labour intensive. Components are separated 

by hand and analysed. The chemical analysis estimates feed units and protein 

of the edible portion, which is equated with the green material present in the 

sample. To achieve this, the technique uses a variable height of cutting, giving 

that portion of growth that is most likely to be grazed. Conversion of these 

data to animal production is not, however, flawless. True growth – not just 

yield-on-offer – can only be assessed by placing protective cages and moving 

them around at each sampling. Without reference data, carrying capacity 

cannot be assessed instantaneously. 

Botanical analysis using the current methodology provides relative proportions, 

on an air-dry basis, of the species present in the quadrat, but the data are 

not used to full ecological potential. Since the emphasis is on measuring for setting 

animal production, botanical data are not applied to monitor composition or 

succession-regression compared with the preferred composition. In fact, the said 

proportions could provide more valuable information on the successional status 

of a pasture than any other observations made. Botanical data are more powerful 

predictors of pasture condition than yield data and can be assessed in a meaningful 

and less laborious way, e.g. by the dry weight rank (DWR ) technique (‘t Mannetje 

and Jones, 2000). 

Production measurement used to be the approach in the FSU surveys. With 

the shift from being a part of the centrally planned production administration 

to agencies responsible for the resource management of the country, there has 

to be a reassessment of what technology is now relevant. The ultimate objective 

of the new-style monitoring is to rehabilitate the grasslands to acceptable 

preferred composition and to keep them at the preferred composition. 

Decentralized development and devolved management of grazing rights – at 

the level of rayon, village, if not of the individual – call for a change in methodology 

and its ultimate application, in keeping with the requirement for natural 

resource management at the national level. New technologies proposed for 

monitoring and measurement that are accurate and cost efficient are the DWR 

technique for botanical composition and, when required but not essential, the 

comparative yield estimate (CYE) technique for yield-on-offer. Additional


information to determine condition is also needed (plant size, sward density, 

soil condition). 

Monitoring involves checking changes in the condition of grassland through 

monitoring the changes in composition and the changes in soil condition. With 

the data acquired, management and stocking rates can be adjusted to prevent 

or reverse degradation . Conversely, measuring involves assessing the productivity 

of grassland through measurement of true growth rather than of yieldon-offer. 

With the data acquired, stocking rates can be adjusted to maintain 

livestock productivity. Rather than production-oriented measurement, ecological 

parameters have been found to be the most valuable and cost-effective 

approach to monitor grassland condition. An up-to-date description of grassland 

monitoring methods, approaches and tools can be found in ‘t Mannetje 

and Jones (2000). 

Husbandry should be directed towards maintaining a dynamic equilibrium 

around the preferred botanical composition that is the target pasture 

composition for sustainable development . The preferred composition differs 

from earlier, more orthodox, interpretations of Clementsian succession, 

which hold that the most desirable and only stable or sustainable composition 

is the climax . Numerous are the examples whereby climax grasses are 

found to be less productive than those at an intermediate position in the 

succession. 

STEPPE DYNAMICS IN RELATION TO BOTANICAL COMPOSITION 

Weather 

A few examples should suffice. Poa pratensis in the forest zone as well as 

Festuca sulcata and Agropyron sibiricum in the steppe preserve their green 

shoots under the snow until spring and some growth may occur, even under 

the snow. Assimilation and growth begin in spring at temperatures of 3–5°C. 

Ephemerals and “ephemeroids” (Russian term denoting perennials whose 

vegetative parts die down annually, e.g. Poa bulbosa ) flower in spring, the 

rest in early summer . Plants dry off as summer peaks, dormancy sets in, and 

tillering is not resumed until the rains return in autumn . Weather conditions of 

the preceding season have a marked effect. Without snow cover, a whole range 

of plants perish, including clovers and ryegrass . When the soil is not frozen but 

has a thick cover of 30 cm of snow for more than three months, these and other 

plants will die off (vyprevanie), probably because of continued respiration. A 

snowless winter followed by a cold spring and drought may prevent seed set 

in the surviving grasses. 

From fallow to steppe 

The following transitional stages from fallow onto virgin steppe used to be 

considered characteristic: 1. Annual weeds. 2. Perennial weeds. 3. Rhizomatous 

plants. 4. Bunch grasses. 5. Secondary virgin steppe. However, in more modern

394 


thinking, the earlier of these stages are not necessarily hierarchical but often 

run parallel, with the rhizomatous stage at times little in evidence. 

Russia ’s foremost early grassland improvement pioneer, V.R. Vil’yams, had 

repeatedly pointed out, circa 1920, that the interrelationships between plant 

and environment are such that one soil-plant complex is replaced by another. 

He even took this to the extreme that, in the sod-formation process, forests 

thin out naturally and finally give way to grassland. Shennikov (1941) repudiated 

this part of Vil’yams concept and argued that a forest -to-grassland conversion 

is not observed in nature, unless man-assisted by clearing and burning 

and, occasionally, under the influence of mass destruction by insects active in 

the forest floor. 

Vil’yams had, however, rightly drawn attention to the phenomenon of 

organic matter accumulation in grassland soil, as well as to the ageing and subsequent 

decline (“depression”) in productivity of (new) grassland (Mid-term 

depression; Soil-chemical effects of grasses). In his view, grassland that has 

reached the “densely-tufted phase” is degenerate, beyond rehabilitation and 

should be ploughed and re-sown , fertilizer at this stage not being worthwhile. 

However, as we will see below, attempts aimed at arresting and encouraging 

the fallow grass phases dominated by more desirable plants can bring about the 

improvement wanted. 

The Steppe and its types 

In 1954, of the whole territory of Russia (1 690 million hectares), some 

144 million hectares were under natural grassland (hay meadow and pasture ) 

before the crop expansion campaigns (Table 10.3). If tundra were included, 

another 206 million hectares should be added. Kazakhstan had a relatively 

small area under meadows (12 million hectares against 176 million hectares) 

while Ukraine, in contrast, had relatively little grassland as a whole. Fallow is 

usually included under arable and not under grassland. 

Data for 1998, from the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences 

(RASHN), put the total for Russia at 83.6 million hectares of grassland 

(37 percent of agricultural land), with 21.6 million hectares and 62.0 million 

hectares for hay meadows and pastures, respectively. The difference from 

1954, 60 million hectares, is estimated to be 17 million hectares, representing 

steppe that was ploughed in the 1950s (Maslov, 1999). 

TABLE 10.3 

Area under natural grass (millions of hectares), not including tundra, 1954. 

Land Hay meadows Pastures Grassland 

Total Total Fallow Total Fallow Total (1) 

Russian Federation 1 690 49 4.6 95 4.0 144 

Kazakhstan 275 12 2.2 176 2.2 188 

Ukraine 60 3.2 0.03 4.7 0.2 7.9 

FSU (USSR) 2 227 74 7.2 347 8.8 421 

NOTES: (1) Excluding fallow land. 

SOURCE: Administrativno territorialnoe delenie soyznykh respublik, 1954.

S.S. MIKHALEV 


Forest steppe 

Between the forest zone in the north and the semi -desert in the south stretches the 

steppe belt. Characteristic of forest steppe is the alternation of forest islands and 

large areas of more herbaceous vegetation . The European part is considerably 

more humid (460–560 mm) than the Asian part (315–400 mm), and warmer. 

Whereas, in the forest-steppe zone, the relief is hilly on the western side of 

the Urals, lowland plains prevail in western Siberia, with many depressions 

occupied by lakes and marshes. 

In the European forest steppe , practically all catchment areas occupied 

by chernozems are under cultivation . Small areas of forests consist of birch, 

aspen and oak. Grasslands have remained on steep slopes and near the 

riverbeds (flood meadow s). Because of intensive grazing , Poa angustifolia 

and Festuca sulcata predominate. On better preserved hayfields (Plate 10.4), 

a wide variety of grasses (Calamagrostis epigeios and species of Agropyron , 

Bromus , Festuca, Phleum and Poa) and legumes (Trifolium pratense , T. repens 

and Medicago , Vicia and Lathyrus spp.) and herbs are found. Hay yields 

of 1 000–1 500 kg/ha used to be recorded, and were considered good. In 

overgrazed areas, yields are only a third of that. 

In the Asian part of the forest steppe , forests used to occupy up to 

15 percent of the territory and consisted of birch, aspen and willow , but no 

oak. Groundwater levels are high, so swamps are common. Much less of 

the land has been ploughed than on the western side of the Urals, and then 

mostly on the ridges. On the plains, solonetzic soils and typical chernozems 

(mainly solonetzic) predominate. The predominant plant is Calamagrostis 

epigeios , which is very typical of western Siberia. Other species are Poa 

pratensis , Galatella punctata and Peucedanum ruthenicum . Hay yields are 

600–800 kg/ha. 

Plate 10.4 

Haymaking in a forest -steppe floodplain.

396 

TABLE 10.4 

Climate data of the chernozem-steppe. 

Sum of mean daily 

temperatures over 10°C 

Precipitation 

mm/year 


January, mean temperature 

(°C) 

Northern Caucasus 3 000-3 500 400-600 0 to -7 

Central Chernozem 2 600-3 200 350-500 -5 to -12 

Volga Territory 2 200-2 800 300-400 -12 to -16 

Ural 2 000-2 900 300-400 -15 to -17 

Western Siberia 1 800-2 100 300-350 -16 to -19 

Eastern Siberia 

SOURCE: Chibilev, 1998. 

1 600-2 000 200-400 down to -30 

Steppe 

The steppe zone covers an area of 143 million hectares. The climate (Table 10.4) 

is more continental but becomes more humid towards the foothills of the 

mountain ranges (Caucasus, Urals and Altai foothills). 

The principal soils of the steppe are chernozems and dark chestnut soils. 

However, in the Rostov (Salsk and Primanchy steppe) and Volgograd regions, 

as well as in Kazakhstan , solonetz and solonchaks are numerous. 

Characteristic of the steppe are treeless plains with a dominance of Stipa spp. 

and Festuca sulcata . Trees and shrubs are confined to depressions and ravines 

and include Caragana frutex , Spiraea spp. , Amygdalus nana , and Cytisus spp. 

Steppe grasses, including the xerophytic types , cease activity in summer and 

dry up entirely. With new rains in late August and early September, tillering 

recommences. In sharp contrast to the forest and forest-steppe zones , ephemerals 

and ephemeroids appear in spring and conclude their cycle of development 

in 60–70 days. From the husbandry point of view, the following subdivision 

seems useful: 1. Virgin steppe and old fallows . 2. Mid-term fallows of 2–3 to 

7–10 years. 3. Young fallows. 

Virgin steppe 

Only small isolated islands of steppe were preserved in the European part of the 

FSU: Askaniya, Starobelsk, Khrenovskaya, Streletskaya (Olikova and Sycheva, 

1996). Larger areas used to occur in Russia in the Salsk and Primanchy steppe 

in Rostov Oblast [region], in Volgograd Oblast and in Stavropol Kray. Closer 

to the Caspian Sea, in the northern parts of the Dagestan Republic, stretches 

the sandy, semi -arid Nogayskaya steppe. The largest areas are in Kazakhstan , 

but, apart from the solononetz and solonetzic soils, millions of hectares were 

sacrificed to cropping in the 1950s and 1960s. 

As pointed out earlier, the distinguishing lines between the vegetation of 

virgin steppe and old abandoned fallows are blurred, so that much of the 

uncropped land may soon return to steppe and not bear much sign of having 

been cropped for so long. The underlying processes that help to facilitate this 

return are emphasized here, with a focus on the work done in the period when 

virgin steppe still formed a formidable grazing and hay resource.


In fact, the grass swards of the steppe are – also when still green and in active 

growth – low (1 m high) is found in nearby flood -meadows. This contrast, which is 

especially evident in early summer , is simply too large to be explained away 

by limitations posed by nitrogen availability (immobilization versus silt deposition), 

drought versus flooding, or by early grazing versus late haymaking . 

The hypothesis formulated here is that the lack of vigorous growth in steppe 

vegetation is largely because – by the time of stem elongation in April/May – 

insufficient moisture (in the form of rain) is available or can be drawn upon to 

make mineralized nitrogen available. In addition, because of severe winters, 

very little of the soil organic matter has decomposed by that time. Crop nutrition 

studies have shown that, on arable land in chernozem soils, some 75 kg/ha 

nitrogen is mineralized and another 75 kg P2O5 is made available each year. 

Steppe vegetation was mainly used for extensive grazing in spring and autumn . 

Where Festuca sulcata is plentiful and snow not too heavy, winter grazing can 

be satisfactory in southern regions. 

Semi-desert 

The semi -desert stretches in a crescent along the northern shores of the 

Caspian Sea in European Russia and then covers large parts of Kazakhstan . 

Western Siberia has no typical semi-desert . The crescent begins with the 

Nogaskaya steppe in northern Dagestan, crosses Kalmykia and south of 

Volgograd towards Astrakhan, on the Volga estuary, and past Guryev, into 

Kazakhstan. In the FSU, semi-desert totalled 127 million hectares. Snow in 

winter is light enough to permit winter grazing . The climate of the semi-desert 

is, however, more continental than that of the steppe. Low moisture and high 

temperatures in summer are conducive to the development of solonchaks 

and, especially, of solonetz, although the soils are mainly light chestnut and 

brown. Small variations in microrelief, with very shallow depressions, add to 

the heterogeneity of the vegetation . Typical of the semi-desert are large sandy 

stretches (“barkhan ” dunes) and “liman ” (flood meadow s in lower reaches of 

semi-desert rivers). Flat areas (“plakor”) east of the Volga typically consist of 

sub-shrub associations: Artemisia pauciflora + Kochia prostrata (Plate 10.5) , 

interspersed with ephemerals and ephemeroids (e.g. Poa bulbosa , Tulipa spp. 

and Allium spp. ). Near shallow depressions, grasses consist of Festuca sulcata , 

predominantly, followed by Agropyron pectiniforme , Stipa lessingiana and 

Stipa capillata and a mixture of herbs. Incidentally, Festuca sulcata together 

with Stipa capillata or Stipa lessingiana are also typical of “mountain steppe” 

at 1 000–3 000 m altitude.

398 

Plate 10.5 

Kochia prostrata 

Plate 10.6 

Artemisia lercheana 

Grasslands of the world


MEADOW TYPES 

Liman 

Due to the exceptional flatness of the surrounding area, semi -desert rivers 

that spread out over enormous areas in spring often never reach the Caspian 

Sea, and form the meadow areas called limans (Mamin and Savel’eva, 

1986). Such areas can be 30–40 km wide, but shallow enough for wheeled 

transport to pass. Intense evaporation and high watertables promote the 

development of solonchaks and solonetz, with predominance of halophytes 

or tolerant plants (Artemisia spp. (Plate 10.6), Puccinellia spp. , Atriplex 

verrucifera and Agropyron repens ). Patterns of concentric rings emerge, 

with water receding from the perimeter towards the centre, a pattern that 

is reflected in the vegetation . Artemisia monogyna and Atriplex verrucifera 

are in the outer rings that are rarely flooded and then only for a few days. 

The area may be hundreds of hectares in size. Further towards the centre, 

the rings or strips flooded once in two to three months with water in a layer 

of 30–60 cm until June/July produce stands of almost pure Agropyron spp. 

that grows up to 150 cm and gives hay yields of 6 000–7 000 kg/ha. The 

centre and lowest parts of the liman may consist of reed thickets. In the 

FSU, limans used to occupy over 7 million hectares. Needless to say, limans 

are of great economic significance in the Saratov and Volgograd region, and 

may take much of the pressure off the surrounding catchment grazing areas. 

Only minor ditches need to be constructed to lead water to areas with the 

most valuable fodder plants (Agropyron repens, Agropyron pectiniforme and 

Euagropyron spp., with Medicago sativa ssp. falcata, Bromus inermis and 

Beckmannia spp. ). 

Typical plants of the favourable parts of the sandy (loam) stretches 

are Artemisia arenaria , A. astrachanica , Carex colchica , Kochia prostrata , 

Agropyron sibericum , Stipa capillata and S. joannis . In lower places, the water 

table may be at 100–200 cm. Agropyron sibericum is the most valuable grass in 

this environment, yielding up to 1 000 kg DM/ha. Heavy grazing is believed 

to pulverize the top soil and increase Agropyron sibericum at the expense of 

Artemisia astrachanica. 

Floodplain meadows 

The steppe is traversed (Plate 10.7), in a north-south direction, by some of 

Europe’s largest rivers. When in spate, large areas on either side are inundated. 

First in early spring , with the snow melting in the region itself; second, in late 

spring, when the waters of snow melting in the north arrive. Flood meadows 

are found over the whole length of the river course. The limans, in contrast, are 

confined to the lower reaches and in flat semi -desert country. 

In the FSU, the total area covered by floodplain meadows (Plate 10.8) was 

over 30 million hectares, divided equally between hay and grazing . Their value 

is rated higher the drier the nearby catchment. As with the limans described

400 

Plate 10.7 

Forest -steppe with a floodplain in the distance. 

Plate 10.8 

Forest -steppe floodplain. 


earlier, vegetation is much determined by the frequency, duration and depth of 

flooding, as well as by the degree and quality of silt sedimentation. All sorts of 

classifications have been thought out. Prolonged flooding over 40 days or more 

is withstood by Phalaris spp., Bromus inermis , Stipa pratensis and many Carex 

spp. (Table 10.5). Prolonged flooding is the rule in the floodplains of the greater 

steppe rivers (Dnepr, Don, Volga, Ural). Salination (solonchaks) is common in 

the outer reaches (upper flood meadow s). 

Three major zonal strips can be distinguished: 

S.S. MIKHALEV 

S.S. MIKHALEV


TABLE 10.5 

Distribution of flood meadow vegetation . 

Flooded for no 

more than 15–20 

days 

Flooded annually 

for 20–40 days 

Flooded annually 

for >40 days 

Woody and 

shrubby 

vegetation 

Forest Zone Steppe Zone Desert Zone 

Festuca ovina, Nardus stricta, 

Phalaris spp. 

Herbs, Agrostis alba, white 

clover and other legumes. 

Tall gramineae with Phleum 

spp., Alopecurus spp., Festuca 

pratensis. Moist Deschampsia 

spp., Agrostis spp. 

Phalaris spp., with sedges, sedge 

– Bromus spp., Deschampsia spp. 

with Carex caespitosa and reeds. 

Bogged-up alder stands, osier 

beds, tussocky swamps 

Conifers and partially deciduous 

forests, mainly in the central 

floodplains. Much willow and 

alder 

Festuca sulcata, Euagropyron 

spp., often solonetzic or 

solonchakic with Artemisia spp., 

Glycyrrhiza spp. and Puccinellia 

spp. Herbs with shrubs. 

Tall gramineae with Agropyron 

repens or Alopecurus spp., with 

a small quantity of herbs, Vicia 

cracca and Lathyrus spp. More 

rarely, Poa pratensis with herbs. 

Reeds, bulrushes, cattail, 

Agropyron spp., less often 

Alopecurus spp., Cirsium spp. and 

Carex acuta, boggy osier beds, a 

few sedge marshes. 

Deciduous forests on the 

floodplain near a river and on 

the central plain. Much willow 

and steppe shrubs. 

Poplar and Elaeagnus 

spp. forests, thorny 

shrubs, Glycyrrhiza 

spp., Alhagi spp., 

Chenopodiaceae. 

Aeluropus littoralis, 

Agropyron spp. and 

Glycyrrhiza spp. 

1. Close to the river: Artemisia dracunculus , A. pontica , A. campestris , Glycyrrhiza 

spp. (liquorice, in floodplains – a very common but high-tannin legume), 

Calamagrostis epigeios , Bromus inermis and Stipa capillata . Bromus inermis 

dominates in the lower parts. 

2. Central: Festuca sulcata , Euagropyron spp. and Agropyron spp. on the higher 

parts. Agropyron spp. dominant in the lower parts, with Carex spp. in the 

depressions. 

3. Periphery, close to the watershed: Festuca sulcata , Stipa capillata and Agropyron 

sibiricum on the more elevated and non-saline sites, together with various 

herbs and steppe shrubs. In the lower, solonetzic, parts Agropyron pectiniforme 

predominates, or Glycyrrhiza spp. with Agropyron spp. and Alopecurus spp. 

On solonchaks, Puccinellia spp. with Artemisia monogyna is most prevalent. 

Flood meadows are a principal source of hay . In the steppe itself, hay yields 

off Euagropyron and Puccinellia meadows are 1 000 kg/ha. Tall-grass associations 

(species of Bromus , Agropyron , Festuca , Alopecurus and Phleum) give hay 

yields of 5 000 kg/ha. With Phalaris spp., yields can be even higher. Inevitably, 

abuse by overexploitation occurs. Grazing hay meadows in early spring or in 

late fall should be discouraged. Alternative uses for early or late hay on the one 

hand and for grazing on the other should be encouraged. Swamps with reed, 

bulrush and sedge are common. When deciduous trees (aspen , poplar, elm, 

oak) are found in the steppe, it is mostly close to the watercourses. 

FALLOW 

Mid-term to old fallow 

From the tenth to fifteenth years of fallow , Stipa spp. and Festuca sulcata begin 

to dominate and the land resembles virgin steppe. 

Reeds. There are almost 

no sedge marshes. 

Poplars, tamarisks, 

oleaster (Elaeagnus spp.) 

forests. Few willows, 

many thorny shrubs and 

shrub-Chenopodiaceae.

402 


Young fallow 

In the first year, botanical composition is little different from the previous 

arable weed composition, which reflects preceding crops and their husbandry. 

The commonest plants are annuals such as Chenopodium album , Salsola kali , 

Setaria spp. , Artemisia absinthium , A. sieversiana , Brassica campestris , Sonchus 

arvensis , Polygonum aviculare , P. convulvulus , Avena fatua , Camel ina spp. , 

Thlaspi arvense , Lappula spp. , Sisymbrium spp. , Berteroa spp. , Lactuca spp. , 

various thistles, Erigeron canadensis , Urtica cannabina , Crepis tectorum , Bromus 

tectorum , and Cannabis sativa . Perennials develop and begin to predominate: 

Cirsium arvense , Sonchus arvensis, Artemisia campestris , A. frigida , A. austriaca , 

Melilotus alba , Gypsophila spp. , Achillea millefolium , Falcaria vulgaris , spurge 

(Euphorbiaceae) and Potentilla argentea , together with rhizomatous grasses 

such as Agropyron repens , A. racemosum , Calamagrostis epigeios and Bromus 

inermis . 

Much higher herbage yields are obtained in the fallow phase. Larin (1956) 

speaks of 4 000–8 000 kg/ha of fresh and 1 000–2 000 kg/ha of dry matter, 

whereas the steppe produces no more than 800 kg/ha of hay ! Low productivity 

of the virgin steppe itself, in comparison with high productivity of (unsown) 

green fallow on top of intermittent crop yields, has no doubt been a major 

incentive to plough virgin steppe, at least on the richer and better watered 

soils. 

However, green fallows are heterogeneous and many of the herbaceous 

weeds are ignored by the grazing animal, such as Chenopodium album , 

Artemisia spp. , Thlaspi spp., Salsola kali and other thistles. Herbs are grazed 

highly selectively, not least because of the wide range in date of flowering and 

maturity. This is an advantage in summer , when the virgin steppe itself has 

dried off. Hay is then a better alternative and many Russian authors claim that 

when the mixed herbage is turned into silage, the rate of utilization is higher 

than when grazed. Conversely, Agropyron repens , Avena fatua , Bromus spp. 

and Setaria spp. , together with herbs such as Sonchus arvensis , Polygonum 

convolvulus , Polygonum aviculare and Brassica campestris provide relatively 

good pasture , with 2 500–3 500 kg/ha of edible fresh matter. 

As the fallow period develops, rhizomatous perennials take over in about 

the fourth to fifth year: Agropyron repens on chestnut soils, A. racemosum on 

lighter soils, and Bromus inermis and Calamagrostis spp. This is the most valuable 

fallow phase from the herbage point of view. Agropyron hay is highly valued. 

Patches with Achillea spp., Artemisia austriaca and A. frigida may still be 

much in evidence. In the final stages of return to the virgin steppe, rhizomatous 

grasses and Artemisia spp. begin to give way to Festuca sulcata and Stipa spp. 

Avenues of steppe improvement 

Land and grass resources in the steppe zone are grossly underutilized. Most 

farms are overstocked, yet even on the better farms in favourable areas, yields


of both milk and cereals are not high enough. Such farming is prodigal with 

land, nutrients and labour. In the continuing debate on how to preserve the 

environmental resource base, it is high time to point out that there can be no 

excuse for the deterioration of very large areas of land in order to produce 

crops or livestock at such low efficiency (Boonman, 1993). 

Efforts towards intensification need not necessarily imply high costs. Lowinput 

strategies must optimize results from the efforts already made. Correct 

timing can double the effect of a particular input, e.g. early sowing or fertilizer 

application. Conversely, cash inputs should not be dismissed too lightly as 

“uneconomic” or “outside the reach of poor farmers” because it is well known 

that farmers recognize and adopt an improvement (e.g. using seed of a superior 

new cultivar) when they see its value. Dairy production is a profitable part of 

mixed farming since milk , if produced throughout the year, tends to command 

high prices and bring in regular cash income. Great advances are often made by 

simple measures, especially in animal nutrition . 

As for grass resources , natural grasslands may seen insignificant in their 

outward appearance and even less so in their response to improved husbandry. 

In spring their start is slow and growth ceases earlier in autumn , compared with 

elite sown grasses. However with the same amount of intelligent care, primary 

(natural or virgin ) grassland often needs no replacement at all by sown pasture 

grasses, let alone by legumes. Secondary grassland (fallow land) is not very 

static as it passes through its various stages of transition or succession, which 

differ with different husbandry systems . If the rhizomatous or Agropyron 

stages are the most productive of all, it is advantageous to extend and maintain 

that phase for as long as possible. Rotational grazing shows advantage over 

continuous grazing in situations where the quantity of available herbage is low, 

and this is the case throughout the year on most of the steppe. The proportion 

of desirable grasses, legumes or herbs can be manipulated with the aid of the 

grazing animal. Cutting can be another useful tool. Many hay meadows, in 

well -watered if not periodically flooded areas, have developed under age-long 

haymaking . Apart from providing feed for winter , cutting would seem an automatic 

tool to control many shrubs. 

MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS 

Grazing 

Grazing is the most potent of biotic factors; many palatable, annual herbs 

disappear forthwith. Russian authors at one time generally held that taller 

grasses, especially those with sizeable aftermath, maintain themselves well in 

hay meadows but much less under grazing only and are, consequently grazed 

out first. In the steppe, Stipa capillata is such an example, compared with 

Festuca sulcata , Euagropyron spp. and Koeleria gracilis . A note of caution needs 

to be sounded here. No doubt, some of the less competitive species may have 

long flowering culms. Between species, however, height of the vegetative sward

404 

Plate 10.9 

Poa bulbosa. 


and eventual height of flowering culms are poorly correlated. Lolium perenne 

and Festuca rubra are obvious contrasts. Also, it is not entirely clear what the 

confounding effects in a sward are of growth stage, palatability and residual 

leaf area of any given species in competition with others. Whether plants with 

“lower cauline-leaved rather than upper cauline-leaved foliage” are necessarily 

more competitive under grazing, is therefore doubtful. Competitiveness of 

a genotype is also poorly related with potential herbage yield in pure stands 

(Boonman and van Wijk, 1973). See also the sections on Haymaking and on 

Sown forage, below. 

Poa bulbosa (Plate 10.9) heads early in spring and is thereafter not eaten. 

Artemisia austriaca forms a rosette. As grazing intensity increases, Polygonum 

spp. and other annuals (Cruciferae, Compositae) remain and take over. The 

factors responsible are not necessarily the actual grazing itself but associated 

phenomena, such as compaction due to treading. The effects of grazing on soil 

compaction and soil moisture retention are recurrent themes. Hoof impact is 

the cause of disappearance of moss and lichen from grassland . Positive effects 

of scattered dung and urine are only evident when the pasture is sufficiently 

moist and stocked by at least 0.5 Livestock Unit (LU) per ha. In the steppe, the


effects are minimal, if not negative, because grass on and around dung pats is 

avoided by the grazing animal. The grazing animal is also believed to assist in 

plant pollination and in the distribution of seed, although volunteer seedlings 

contribute little to the productive sward (Rabotnov, 1969), and when they do 

so it is mostly in the form of annuals to make up for loss of cover. 

Grazing (stocking) management 

Russian authors generally agree about the advantage of rotational grazing . 

If the ultimate aim is to match, if not to synchronize, the supply of available 

forage with the demands of the grazing animals or to maintain the vigour 

of acceptable pastures, then various scenarios are possible. Haymaking is a 

strong Russian tradition. A lot of the debate in other countries such as USA 

and Australia on the pros and cons of rotational versus continuous grazing 

has ignored the very role and place of grass conservation . Grass conservation 

is essential to carry productive dairy stock through winter or dry season , but 

mowing is also a convenient husbandry tool to regulate the supply of fresh 

grass and put a brake on grass growing too fast in the most favourable parts 

of the season (Boonman, 1993). It is obvious that no hay can be made under 

continuous grazing, so direct comparisons with rotational grazing may be 

meaningless. However, the lines dividing the two allegedly opposite systems 

are blurred. Are fields , grazed in daytime by animals that are housed elsewhere 

at night, grazed “continuously”, or is this not rather a fixed form of “rotational” 

grazing of 12 hours on + 12 hours off? Is a field grazed continuously if for the 

greater part of the dry season it is excluded from grazing? Fields grazed only 

once every 15 days, however lightly, are also difficult to portray as being grazed 

continuously. What if animals are tethered and moved daily within the same 

field? The arguments are often largely academic, but the choice in practice is 

often one of simple convenience. 

In Europe, with emphasis on dairying, which implies daily handling of the 

animals, rotational grazing within fenced but relatively small areas is the rule. 

Rotational grazing goes hand in hand with crop-pasture rotation s in mixed 

farming, as all fields need to be protected from unwanted grazing. On large beef 

cattle estates, fencing, if any, may be reduced to the perimeter. Still, absence of 

fencing and the imposition of herding does not imply that grazing is continuous . 

On the free range, grazing rotations are naturally imposed by the presence or 

absence of water and by seasonal differences in the vegetation , so that rotation 

may take the form of a grazing procession rather than of a rotation. Seasonal 

grazing areas may develop as separate entities (Boonman, 1993). 

Haymaking 

Like grazing , cutting also has direct and indirect effects. The haymaking 

season in Russia is relatively late, in hot mid-summer (July). Soil is exposed, 

topsoil dries out and is compacted by subsequent rain. In mixed vegetation ,

406 


shade-loving species perish and this is particularly so in secondary grassland 

following forest clearing . Late-heading species are also at a disadvantage. As we 

have seen above (in Grazing), species with upper cauline-leaved foliage were 

believed to be at an advantage under haymaking regimes. It should be repeated 

that although species differ in their reaction to either grazing or cutting and, 

as a result, produce a different botanical composition , it is difficult to attribute 

this to plant stature alone. Red clover and other herbs produced distinct types 

whether under cutting or grazing regimes with early and late heading types, 

respectively (Shennikov, 1941). Variation in cutting date also has considerable 

effect on species composition. Land that is continually used for haymaking 

becomes more and more impoverished and yields decline. In the forest zone, 

moss reappears. Floodplains in the Yenisei valley, after being cleared from 

willows and alders, changed under continuous haymaking, with dominance 

first by Calamagrostis langsdorffii , five to eight years later by Anthriscus 

silvestris and finally by Alopecurus pratensis (Vershinin, 1954). 

Fire 

Burning is an additional factor, if not a tool, in the management of steppe and 

semi -desert . Some even believe that the tree-less steppe is the result of burning , 

rather than of climate or soil. Burning is necessary to deal with “starika” – dead 

vegetation or standing hay of previous year(s). Burnt soil covered with ash 

warms up and dries out more quickly. Soil nitrogen is released. Subsequent 

herbage yield may not be increased, is rather decreased, but regrowth after 

burning is more nutritious. On the negative side, absence of cover by the 

onset of winter adds to reduced snow and moisture retention for subsequent 

spring regrowth. In Festuca /Stipa /Artemisia steppe, burning increases Stipa 

spp. (Plate 10.10), Agropyron desertorum (Plate 10.11) and Festuca sulcata , but 

decreases Artemisia spp. 

Ploughing 

Of all the husbandry measures, ploughing has the most dramatic effect on 

botanical composition . The effect is largely temporary, with the steppe returning 

to its “original” state within ten years. It is not clear whether the length of this 

moratorium is linearly related to the intensity and kind of cropping. Most of 

the steppe has seen the plough at some stage, but the last and major onslaught 

in terms of area came in the 1950s, when millions of hectares of the remaining 

virgin steppe were sacrificed to cropping. Fortunately, however, the insight that 

permanent cropping was impossible without disastrous effects on soil quality 

prevailed. Fallowing was the rule, ideally until the “transition of fallow land 

into virgin land”, as formulated by N.G. Vysotskii in 1915, was completed. 

Nevertheless in more recent decades, new policies and campaigns of heavy 

mechanization, combined with fertilizer , herbicides and irrigation, posed as 

serious a threat to the fallow as the plough had earlier meant to the steppe itself.


Plate 10.10 

Stipa species. 

Plate 10.11 

Agropyrum desertorum. 

Uncontrolled tumble-down fallow is a nuisance to subsequent cropping as it 

encourages rather than suppresses some of the principal weeds. Conversely, 

bare fallows, however desirable from the weed control and perhaps the water 

conservation points of view, are not conducive to restoring soil structure.

408 


Physical improvements 

The principal step in steppe improvement is to prevent deterioration by 

inferior or harmful material and species. Dominance of superior constituents 

cannot, in many instances, be achieved by grazing with a specific or varied 

kind of livestock alone. Intentional elimination of less desirable species and 

starika is needed to complement the action of grazing, cutting or even burning . 

Oversowing (without adequate soil preparation) is rarely worth the effort 

as seedlings have great difficulty in establishing themselves in an established 

sward, however sparse, except perhaps in genuinely humid environments. 

Some effective measures are: 1. removal of tussocks, shrubs and starika; 

2. removal of litter and brushwood after floods; 3. regulation of silt deposition 

on floodplain meadows; and 4. regulation of the water regime (drainage of 

stagnant surface waters; liman irrigation; temporary flooding of floodplain 

meadows; construction of ice dykes; protection for snow retention). 

A lot of the clearing can be done with appropriate machinery and the same 

applies to the levelling that is needed to enable a field to be mown for hay . The 

removal of major deficiencies in moisture and fertility conditions contributes 

to the prevalence of more desirable grasses and or clovers; the same applies to 

regimes of alternate grazing and mowing on the one hand and of early and late 

mowing on the other. By assisting the correct distribution of spring waters, 

natural limans can be improved without great effort. Solonchaks and boggy 

places should not receive water. 

Snow retention through windbreaks and standing vegetation is another 

effective measure in the forest steppe , steppe and semi -desert zones . Crop 

yields are greatly increased. In experiments by N.G. Andreev in the 1930s in 

Saratov Oblast, yields of Agropyron racemosum on fallow land were raised by 

50–75 percent (see also Andreev, 1974a,b). Elsewhere, Stipa -Festuca sulcata 

pastures increased by 16–31 percent in yield (Larin, 1956). Snow retention 

can be combined with arrangement of ridges and furrows to block the flow of 

water from melting snow. 

EXAMPLES OF THE EFFECT OF MANAGEMENT ON BOTANICAL 

COMPOSITION 

Stipa capillata , common on virgin steppe and old fallow in the Rostov, 

Volgograd and Stavropol areas, is troublesome since the seed has awns which, 

when caught in the wool not only spoil it, but bore through the skin and 

when in greater numbers can cause death of goats and sheep . Burning has 

proved useless. Grazing with larger herbivores is recommended. Light grazing , 

especially when early, and early mowing increases rather than decreases this 

grass . Pastures should not be grazed earlier than the heading phase of Festuca 

sulcata and Stipa lessingiana . These grasses will then remain almost uneaten 

and will go to seed, while the later heading Stipa capillata will be eaten out 

selectively. Mowing of Stipa spp. must be conducted systematically from early


head-emergence right up to the flowering stage and aftermath growth must be 

grazed or mown in fall. These pastures are best grazed by cattle (and horses) 

and, when there is little Stipa spp., by sheep. Stocking pressure should be 

increased for two to three consecutive years. 

Medicago polymorpha can be abundant in the steppe of European Russia . 

Although it is well eaten, M. polymorpha can be a most harmful plant because 

the pods spoil the wool. It can be suppressed by hard and prolonged grazing . 

Herbicides are also effective. 

Artemisia spp. (A. lercheana , A. pauciflora , A. astrachanica ) are reduced by 

burning , and grasses such as Festuca sulcata , Euagropyron spp. and Stipa spp. 

are encouraged. 

FERTILIZER 

Fertilizing the steppe is only mentioned in passing here. The effects of 

nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium on yield, on quality and on botanical 

composition are well established (Smurygin, 1974) and differ little from what is 

found in similar soil conditions in the West. Unlike in steppe, phosphorus and 

potassium are a pre-condition in lowland marshy conditions and in acid soils 

in the north. The most spectacular fertilizer is nitrogen. However, land-tocapital 

ratios in most of Russia are such that nitrogen fertilizer is best reserved 

to those situations where all the limiting factors mentioned earlier have been 

removed and where moisture conditions are favourable to enable the grass to 

benefit fully from the fertilizer applied. Such circumstances are rare. However, 

most of all, fertilizer should be profitable in terms of the produce from the 

livestock fed from it. Most of the fertilizer is used on dairy farms in the forest 

zone in the north near the major cities. Yield increases in dry matter from 2 

to 8 t/ha were reported from the Tula and Kaluga regions (Larin, 1956). In the 

view of the authors, grassland and grazing will soon regain their rightful place 

in Russia at the expense of arable fodder crops such as maize grown for silage. 

More and better use will also have to be made of manure and urine, one of the 

most neglected resources at present, especially from the storage point of view. 

Night grazing, through mobile camps if necessary, should be the rule, were it 

only to benefit by the manure and urine dropped on the spot. 

Legumes should also fare better under balanced manure and fertilizer 

regimes. In the view of the authors, clovers should be highly appreciated where 

their continuous presence can be assured. Inducing clovers by sowing and 

other measures is often not only costly but also temporary in its effect. Savings 

on nitrogen fertilizers may be offset by the extra requirements for other fertilizers, 

especially phosphate. 

As far as the steppe zone is concerned, the same development as regards 

fertilizer is forecast for the better-watered areas, the floodplains. P and K are 

usually not in short supply. Some botanical effects observed in the steppe 

vegetation are worth mentioning. At the Baskhir Experimental Station,

410 


Mikheev and Musatova (1940) found that Festuca sulcata gave way to Poa 

pratensis as the result of manure (30 t/ha). The same manure increased hay 

yield by (only) 1 900 kg/ha. Sedges also tend to be reduced and Agropyron spp. 

are encouraged. 

MID-TERM DEPRESSION 

Newly established grasslands tend to go through a depression after a few years, 

and this was recognized early by Vil’yams. More persistent varieties, together 

with better N-nutrition , have done much to alleviate this problem. Steppe 

fallow land with Agropyron repens is highly valued. After a few years, however, 

it tends to give way to the less valuable Poa angustifolia and Festuca sulcata , and 

yields may be reduced by half. Re-ploughing the field helps to rejuvenate the 

Agropyron repens, especially when combined with N-fertilizer and when used 

first for hay and subsequently for grazing . The same applies to A. racemosum 

in the Volgograd area, western Siberia and Kazakhstan , where it formerly 

covered millions of hectares. Hay yields were often doubled. Measures to 

promote snow retention are essential. The introduction of machinery like the 

rotovator facilitated destroying the existing sward. A more recent and valuable 

aid is glyphosate as an effective but very safe herbicide. 

SOWN FORAGE 

For many engaged in increased fodder production, all the measures mentioned 

above are not effective enough. Refuge is sometimes sought in sowing 

perennial grasses, with or without legumes and with or without intermittent 

arable cropping. However annual fodders such as maize for silage and oats, 

lent themselves more easily to the industrial style agriculture sought after in the 

FSU. A lot of maize is grown in Russia in areas north of latitude 55°N, which 

are considered too cold in the West (e.g. Scotland, Denmark), and many of the 

areas are too dry for silage maize. Late springs with late frosts and winter frosts 

as early as the first half of September shorten the growing season for maize 

even more radically. Existing, commercial early-maturing hybrids are not early 

enough for large parts of Russia; the problem has still not been solved, neither 

agronomically nor economically, let alone from the environmental point of 

view. 

Short of complete ploughing and reseeding , over-sowing has been recommended 

at times. Perhaps this was inspired by positive results obtained with 

over-sowing in areas that had been cleared of trees and shrubs in the more 

northerly forest zone. However doubtful in economic terms such advice 

might be for steppe conditions, the species recommended are worth mentioning: 

Bromus inermis , B. erectus , Agropyron pectiniforme , A. sibiricum , 

A. desertorum , Euagropyron spp., Festuca sulcata , Medicago sativa , M. s. subsp. 

falcata, Melilotus alba , sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia ) and Kochia prostrata 

(Chenopodiaceae). In regions east of the Urals with abundant late-summer


rainfall , annual forages such as oats, rye, Sorghum sudanense, vetches and 

peas were experimented with for over-sowing but the recommended list is 

considerably reduced for normal pasture sowing (after proper land cultivation 

): Medicago sativa, M. s. subsp. falcata, Onobrychis, Bromus inermis, and 

Agropyron pectiniforme with, in addition, for the dry steppe: Agropyron sibiricum 

and Festuca sulcata (Larin, 1956). No indications exist as to what extent 

such sowings have been experimental or commercial, nor to what extent implementation 

was hindered by the obvious limitations of seed availability of some 

of these unusual species. Remarkable in this listing is the absence of Festuca 

arundinacea . More recent experience has shown that Agropyron cristatum is 

perhaps the best grass for sowing (T. Veenstra, pers. comm.). 

As was customary at the time, complex mixtures were considered superior 

to single-species as a matter of course, on purely theoretical grounds, such as 

risk aversion . More modern thinking – not shared by biodiversity adherents 

– has it that less competitive species, however productive, are better left out 

from mixtures from the start because they are doomed to disappear rapidly 

from the sward anyway. The aim should be the “ecological combining ability” 

of potential partners, an ability that does not necessarily have much to do 

with morphological or botanical differences. As long as alleged advantages of 

complex mixtures cannot be substantiated, simple mixtures are advocated, if 

only to reduce seed costs. A considerable amount of energy was spent in FSU 

days on calculating “norms” for sowing of each species in accordance with 

Goststandart (All-Union State Standards). 

THE DILEMMA 

Many observers regard virgin steppe as not productive enough as a grazing 

or fodder resource. Sown pastures have great potential but require a high 

level of expertise and are often too short-lived. Continuous arable cropping 

consists mostly of wheat, with yields of grain scarcely higher than that of the 

old steppe’s hay . The irony is that in FSU over half of the grain was fed back 

to livestock. The steppe is on the one hand too fertile not to be cropped and 

to be left to “ranching”, but on the other too dry to be cropped intensively 

and permanently. All three pathways – grazing, cropping and an integration of 

the two – have in the past been explored, both empirically and experimentally. 

In the view of the authors, the best alternative land use is one crop of wheat 

alternated with long spells under grass fallow , or sown pastures of shorter 

duration. Alfalfa is grown separately on the best and irrigated land. Grass hay 

is brought in from the floodplains. Marginal land is best returned to steppe. 

CROP-PASTURE ROTATION S 

V.R. Vil’yams (1922, 1951) was one of the first scientists to publish research 

results on the subject (“travopol’naya”) and on the special role of grasses in soil 

fertility. Crop rotation regimes used to be strictly preached, but in FSU practice

412 


it was lip service to the “rotation” doctrine rather than consistent application 

of Vil’yams’ example. Much value was attached to having a fodder crop or a 

grain legume in the rotation, irrespective of the fact that these covered the soil 

for no more than six months and were harvested whole, without much residue 

left or returned to the soil. Maize is often harvested first for grain and in the 

second pass for the stalks and foliage made into silage. If a crop-rotation effect 

does appear it is perhaps just as likely to be due to “just another crop” than to 

the specific effects usually attributed to semi -permanent grasses or legumes. In 

actual fact, the effect may be simply one of suppression of specific weeds, pests 

or diseases, and may also be brought about by other arable crops . 

PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF GRASSES ON THE SOIL 

Soil science used to be highly developed in Russia , not only soil classification . 

The unique role that grass plays in restoring soil quality lost after cropping 

was recognized in Russia earlier than in the West. In investigations carried out 

by N.I. Savvinov at the Saratov Malouzenski Solonetz Station, the length of 

all roots in the top 40 cm soil layer was, six months after sowing, almost three 

times greater in Agropyron pectiniforme than in alfalfa of the same age (Larin, 

1956). Intensity, rather than depth, of rooting was considered important. 

Soil organic matter and methods of increasing it are commonly associated 

with high soil quality, because a soil rich in organic matter is often productive 

and can sustain arable cropping for long periods. Such a soil will also trap rainwater 

rather than let it cause erosion (Klimentyev and Tikhonov, 1995). 

Cultivation, in contrast, is accompanied by a decline in organic matter and 

by subsequent mineralization. Under continuous cropping without inputs, 

little organic matter is added or returned whereas losses are much greater. In 

capitalized farming systems in temperate climates, with high input of fertilizers 

and mechanical or chemical weed control , organic matter is commonly 

regarded as less critical and organic matter may be left to find its own level and 

may be maintained by crop residues . High, albeit not the highest, yields have 

been obtained under continuous cropping without special attention to adding 

organic matter. 

Evidence has been presented to indicate that a grass break in crop rotations 

preserves soil structure and punctuates the nutrient drain in crop removal. 

Improved structure may reveal itself in less erosion or in better plant establishment 

and, finally, in better yields . However, the immediate effects on topsoil 

structure are the most obvious. Erosion control also applies to conditions of 

grazing . Overgrazed land is not only more liable to erosion, it suffers more 

from drought , due to loss of snow cover and of rainwater. 

MIXED FARMING BASED ON CROP-GRASS ROTATIONS 

In Russia , alternatives to deal effectively with maintaining soil quality and 

combating soil erosion are not within easy reach of the small-scale farmer


and – unless good basic husbandry is guaranteed – often not economically 

justified. The impression is that continuous cropping cannot be sustained 

on the majority of soils at the present low levels of fertilizer , biocides and 

mechanization. In present-day farming practice, however, improved production 

of grass for feeding cattle is the main motive inducing farmers to plant pastures. 

If stock that help to improve soil fertility are kept, they should themselves be 

profitable. In the same fashion it is not profitable to grow legumes for the main 

purpose of fixing nitrogen. 

The large expansion in arable area in the 1950s and 1960s in the FSU was 

at the expense of the steppe. The first crops after ploughing were good. Most 

of the remaining grassland was soon broken and converted into arable land. 

Very little new grass was sown . It was perhaps not appreciated that the fertility 

encountered had been built up through grassland. Conversely, forage production 

was promoted primarily as a means of improving animal production. 

Efforts were directed at separate components, e.g. dairying based on maize 

silage or on zero-grazing , with little regard for the soil-degrading effect this 

practice has. 

In the 1970s and 1980s in the FSU, direct grazing became rare and was 

sacrificed to large-scale stall-feeding and to zero-grazing operations based on 

fodder crops such as maize and oats. Many of these operated on the extreme 

edges of the mixed -farming scene, and lost sight of the crop-livestock integration 

perspective. 

In the past decade, by contrast, village herds have increasingly began to 

roam the surrounding countryside. Communal or public grazing resource s 

are increasingly threatened by livestock privately owned. Workable solutions 

are needed to come to the aid of vulnerable grasslands, livestock, crops and 

soils, especially for the small mixed -farm family. Although the former large 

Kolkhoz-style arable farming units may be retained as the central and collective 

core, livestock production will continue to become more and more family-based. 

Sooner or later, family herds will have to be fed from family-run 

pastures and from by-products of the arable operations. This should provide a 

sound basis for crop-pasture rotation s. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The political and social changes of the past fifteen years have had a marked 

effect on grassland and livestock production systems . The great industrial 

livestock units based on indoor feeding are now few, and many have broken up 

for economic reasons. Much of the ruminant livestock is now in small familyowned 

herds, often too small for economic herding . A fresh approach to 

grazing rights and stock management is needed to ensure that the new grazing 

situation maintains livestock production while avoiding environmental damage 

through overuse of nearby grassland while neglecting more distant pastures. 

This will require interventions in two fields : first, facilitating the development

414 


of group herding so that families can collaborate to hire a common herder 

to manage their joint herds; and, second, by allocating grazing rights and 

responsibility for pasture maintenance to such groups. 

Much marginal land has been ploughed to produce meagre crops of cereals, 

which has largely been used for stock feed. Such land can be returned to 

grassland fairly simply: steppe is relatively easy to restore when cropland is 

abandoned to fallow . If economic conditions are propitious, it can be reseeded 

– reseeding techniques and adapted ecotypes of suitable grasses are known. 

Sown grasses may bring temporary relief , but they should be sufficiently persistent 

and economically justified, compared with spontaneous fallow grasses. 

Sown pastures require careful husbandry and considerable expertise. Return 

of large areas of unprofitable cropland to grassland makes sense both environmentally 

and economically. 

REFERENCES 

Andreev, A.W. 1974a. Kul’turnie pastbitscha w yushnich rayonach [Cultivated pastures 

in southern regions]. Moscow, Russia : Rossel’chozizdat. 

Andreev, N.G. 1974b. Potentialities of native haylands and pastures in the Soviet 

union. pp. 165–175, in: Proceedings of the 12th International Grassland Congress. 

Moscow, Russia , 11–24 June 1974. 

Blagoveshchenskii, G., Popovtsev, V., Shevtsova, L., Romanenkov, V., & Komarov, 

L. 2002. Country Pasture /Forage Resource Profile – Russian Federation. See: 

http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/russia.htm 

Boonman, J.G. 1993. East Africa ’s Grasses and Fodders: Their Ecology and Husbandry. 

Dordecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 

Boonman, J.G. & van Wijk, A.J.P. 1973. Breeding for improved herbage and seed 

productivity . Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science, 21: 12–23. 

Chayanov, A.V. [1926]. In: D. Thorner, B. Kerblay and R.E.F. Smith (eds). 1966. 

A.V. Chayanov on the Theory of Peasant Economy. Homewood, Illinois, USA : 

American Economic Association. 

Chibilev, A.A. 1998. Stepi sewernoii Ewrazii [Steppes of northern Eurasia]. Instutut 

stepi [Steppe Institute] of UrO RAN, Ekaterinburg, Russia . 

Chugunov, L.A. 1951. Lugovodstvo [Grassland Husbandry]. Leningrad and Moscow, 

Russia : Selkhozgiz. 

Clements, F.E. 1916. Plant Succession: An Analysis of the Development of Vegetation . 

Carnegie Institute Publication No. 242. Washington D.C., USA . 

Coupland, R.T. 1979. Grassland Ecosystems of the World: Analysis of Grasslands 

and their Uses. Int. Biol. Progr. 18. 

Dmitriev, A.M. 1948. Lugovodstvo s osnovami lugovedeniya [Grassland husbandry 

and its scientific principles]. Moscow, Russia : Selkhozgiz. 

Gilmanov, T.G. 1995. The state of rangeland resources in the newly independent 

states of the former USSR. pp. 10–13, in: Proceedings of the 5th International 

Rangeland Congress. Salt Lake City, USA .


Gilmanov, T.G., Parton, W.J. & Ojima, D.S. 1997. Testing the “Century” ecosystem 

level model on data sets from eight grassland sites in the former USSR 

representing a wide climatic/soil gradient. Ecological Modelling, 96: 191–210. 

Klimentyev A.I. & Tikhonov, V. Y. 1995. Estimate of erosion losses of organic 

matter in soils of the steppe zone of the southern Urals. Eurasian Soil Science, 

27(6): 83–92. 

Larin, I.V. 1956. Lugovodstvo i pastbishchnoe khozyaistvo [Grassland husbandry]. 

Leningrad and Moscow, Russia : Selkhozgiz. 

Mamin, V.F. & Savel’eva, L.F. 1986. Limani - kladowie kormow [Limans’ fodder 

resource]. Nizhne-Volzhskoye knizhnoye Izdatel’stwo, Volgograd, Russia . 

‘t Mannetje, L. & Jones, R.M. (eds). 2000. Field and laboratory methods for grassland 

and animal production research. Wallingford, UK: CABI. 

Maslov, B.S. 1999. Otcherki po istorii melioratsii w Rossii [Essays on melioration 

history in Russia ]. Moscow, Russia: GU ZNTI “Meliowodinform”. 

Mikheev, V.A. & Musatova, K.M. 1940. Poverkhnostnoe uluchshenie tipchakovomyatlikovogo 

pastbishcha [Surface improvement of a “tipchak” meadow grass 

pasture ]. Trudy Bashkir op. st. shivotn, 1. 

Olikova, I.S. & Sycheva, S.A. 1996. Water regime of virgin chernozems in the 

central Russian upland and its changes. Eurasian Soil Science, 29(5): 582–590. 

Phillips, J.F.V. 1929. Some important vegetation communities in the Central 

Province of Tanganyika Territory. South Africa n Journal of Science, 26: 332– 

372. 

Rabotnov, T.A. 1969. Plant regeneration from seed in meadows of the USSR. 

Herbage Abstracts (Review Article), 39(4): 28. 

Ramenskii, L.G. 1938. Vvedenie v kompleksnoe pochvenno-geobotanicheskoe 

issledovanie zemel’ [Introduction to the Complex Soil and geobotanical 

Investigation of Lands]. Moscow, Russia : Selkhozgiz. 

Shennikov, A.P. 1941. Lugovedenie [Grassland science]., Leningrad, Russia : Izd. LGU. 

Shennikov, A.P. 1950. Ekologiya Rastenii [Plant ecology]. Moscow, Russia : 

Sovetskaya Nauka. 

Smurygin, M.A. 1974. Basic trends of grassland research in the USSR. pp. 76-88, 

in: Proceedings of the 12th International Grassland Congress. Moscow, Russia, 

11–24 June 1974. 

Sorokina, V.A. 1955. Some results of applying the methods of L.G. Ramenskii. 

Herbage Abstracts (Review Article), 25(4): 209–218. 

Sukachev, V.N. 1945. Biogeotsenologiya i fitotsenologiya [Biogeocoenology and 

phytocoenology]. Doklady An SSSR, 47. 

Vershinin, L.G. 1954. Sroki senokosheniya na zalivnykh lugakh nizov’ev Eniseya 

[Times of haymaking on flood meadow s of the lower reaches of the Yenisey]. 

Leningrad, Russia : Selkhozgiz. 

Vil’yams, V.R. 1922. Estestwenno-nauchnye osnowy lugowodstwa, ili lugowedeniye 

[Natural and Historical Fundamentals of Grassland Husbandry]. Moscow, 

Russia : ”Nowaya Derewnya”.

416 


Vil’yams, V.R. 1951. Izbrannie sotchineniya po woprosam bor’bi c zasuchoi.”Klassiki 

russkoi agronomii w bor’be s zasuchoi” [Classics of Russian agronomy in combating 

drought ]. Moscow, Russia : Izdatel’stwo Academii Nauk SSSR. 

Whyte, R.O. 1974. Tropical Grazing Lands. Communities and Constituent Species. 

The Hague, The Netherlands: W. Junk.

Other grasslands 417 

Chapter 11 

Other grasslands 

INTRODUCTION 

As indicated in Chapter 1, this section attempts to cover some of the gaps in the 

description of grassland zones and their problems. Summaries of the grassland 

and grazing situation in areas not addressed in the main chapters are presented. 

The basis of the summaries is the series of Country Pasture Resource Profiles 

published by the FAO Grassland and Pasture Crops Group and which provide 

basic information about the pasture and forage resources of countries; these 

profiles provide more detailed information and extensive bibliographies (see 

the Web site 

and the CD-ROM “Country Pasture Profiles” (Reynolds, Suttie and Staberg, 

2005)); developing countries have been the main focus since this is FAO’s 

major zone of interest. 

AFRICA 

North Africa 

This section draws on Pasture Profiles for Algeria (Nedjraoui, 2001), Morocco 

(Berkat and Tazi, 2004) and Tunisia (Kayouli, 2000). These North Africa n 

countries have large areas of grazed land and many pastoral features in 

common, and stretch from 13°E to 12°E and from 19°N to 37°19�N; vast areas 

of their southern part is desert . The relief is in two broad categories, the Atlas 

and the Sahara. The Atlas are a group of ranges running southwest to northeast 

roughly adjacent and parallel to the Mediterranean coastline. South of the 

Atlas, a series of steppic plateaux descend to the Sahara, which is a great barrier 

between the Mediterranean zone and the tropics. 

The northern mountains capture most of the precipitation and agriculture 

lands are concentrated in the north; the highest Atlas lands are forest and 

summer grazing . The climate is typically Mediterranean, with hot summers 

and rain occurring during the cool season. Temperature is governed both by 

altitude and the degree of continentality. The region has all the Mediterranean 

bioclimates, from perhumid to perarid for bioclimatic levels, and from cold to 

hot for temperatures. 

Livestock are important throughout the zone and in most farming systems : 

sheep are the most important and are the main livestock of the steppe, although 

small flocks are kept in most areas for domestic use; several local breeds are 

used according to regional adaptation. Cattle are mainly kept in the northern 

farming areas and are commonly fed on crop residues , by-products and concentrates; 

the traditional breeds were taurins of the Atlas Brown type , but there 

are now many crosses with exotic dairy breeds, notable black and white ones.

418 

Plate 11.1 

Trifolium fragiferum . 


Goats are widespread although much less numerous than sheep. Camels are a 

mainstay in the desert areas. 

The mountains of the north once had a Mediterranean forest vegetation, 

which has been greatly reduced by clearing for agriculture or felling; in some 

places forest is degraded to matorral . The steppes are the great traditional grazing 

lands ; Artemisia steppes (Artemisia herba-alba ) are extremely widespread 

and there are large stands of Stipa tenacissima (‘alfa) and Lygeum spartum 

(esparto ). Stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum are mediocre fodders but are 

commercially important since they are harvested for papermaking and basketry 

on such a scale that these populations have been damaged. An unusual 

browse formation in western Morocco is the argan (Argania spinosa ) zone, 

where this shrub is browsed by goats , which clamber into the trees to feed; 

argan seed yields an edible oil. 

Cereals are often grown in rotation with fallow , which produces large 

areas of high-quality grazing . Many Mediterranean fallow plants have been 

domesticated in Australia and incorporated into cereal-fallow rotations; 

there have been many attempts to re-import these plants and the associated 

technology into North Africa but with very limited success, as large cereal 

farmers are not livestock owners and fallows are often let to passing transhumant 

herds, which graze them to bare ground. The rich pastoral flora of the 

fallows includes: Avena spp., Bromus spp. , Hordeum spp., Lolium rigidum , 

Hippocrepis spp., Lathyrus aphaca , Lotus spp. , Medicago ciliaris , M. littoralis , 

SARDI


M. orbicularis , M. polymorpha (the commonest, with many highly productive 

forms), M. rugosa , M. scutellata , M. truncatula , Melilotus spp. , Scorpiurus spp. 

and Trifolium spp. 

Sown pasture is uncommon in the region, but many valuable pasture plants 

native to North Africa have been widely used elsewhere. They include Dactylis 

glomerata , Festuca arundinacea , Lolium multiflorum , L. rigidum , L. perenne , 

Phalaris aquatica , Hedysarum coronarium , Medicago sativa and Trifolium 

fragiferum (see Plate 11.1). 

Fodder is grown in specialized dairy enterprises in the farming areas; oats are 

a common winter fodder, as is maize in summer . Oat hay is produced by large 

cereal farms , mainly for sale, and demand often exceeds supply and prices are 

high, making it an expensive feed per unit of energy. Oat and hay production in 

the region are described by Chaouki et al. (2004). 

Traditional sheep rearing was based on transhumance , with variants according 

to local conditions; frequently it involved moving to agricultural lands 

to graze stubbles and straw in summer , and to the desert fringe in winter . 

Recently, transhumance has been greatly reduced: much of the steppe has been 

cleared for rainfed cereal growing of doubtful sustainability , even down to the 

300 mm isohyet in some cases; this clearing was officially encouraged and those 

who “developed” the steppe by clearing gained title to their holding. Many 

of the rural population are now agropastoralists, with a little cropland and 

small flocks. The human population of the steppe has exploded: in Algeria the 

steppe population was 925 700 in 1954; in 2003 it was about 4 000 000; during 

the same period, the number of nomads only rose from 595 240 to 625 000. 

Nomadism in Algeria is now sporadic and most only make short movements, 

the feed shortage being met by crop residues , stubble grazing and purchased 

grain; only owners of large flocks continue long migration, and they are 

equipped with transport. 

Tunisia shows a similar pattern of disappearing transhumance . Increasing 

settlement of nomads, increase in sheep numbers in marginal zones , expansion 

of cultivation and reduction of fallow have greatly increased pressure on 

available land and reduced soil fertility. Grazing land is becoming scarcer and 

meagre as more and more land is put under crops . Sheep and goats traditionally 

grazed on hillsides and steppes in winter in the centre, and stubble in summer 

in the north during transhumance. This continues, but is much reduced. 

Increased purchasing power has raised the demand for livestock products so 

farmers are changing to intensive sheep rearing with feed supplements, based 

on imported cereals. 

West Africa 

West Africa has great grazing areas, between the humid forest in the south and the 

desert in the north. Rainfall decreases from south to north so the vegetation belts 

run east-west. In the extreme north the Saharan zone is hyper-arid with skeletal

420 

Plate 11.2 

Millet, a major crop in the arid and semi -arid areas. 


soils; crops are only possible under special conditions; stock-rearing, where it is 

possible, reigns without competition . Detailed descriptions are available in the 

pasture profiles for Burkina Faso (Kagoné, 2002), Mali (Coulibally, 2003) Niger 

(Geesing and Djibo, 2002) and Ghana (Oppong-Anane, 2001). 

The Sahelian zone , from the Atlantic through Chad , is arid , with a summer 

rainfall of 250–500 mm and a dry season of nine to eleven months. In the 

northern Sahel , which belongs to the Saharan-Sindian floristic domain according 

to Wickens (1997), the 150 mm isohyet corresponds to the southern limit of 

the Saharan species Cornulaca monacantha , Panicum turgidum and Stipagrostis 

pungens and to the northern limit of such Sahelian shrubs as Boscia senegalensis 

and Commiphora africana and the grass Cenchrus biflorus . 

The Sahel ’s southern limit adjoins the deciduous woodlands of the Sudanian 

domain at between 450 and 500 mm/yr precipitation . Acacia spp. dominate the 

thin scrub along with Balanites aegyptiaca ; laterite outcrops and cuirasses are 

colonized by Combretum nigricans , Guiera senegalensis , Lannea acida and 

Sclerocarya birrea . The grass component of the northern dunes is dominated 

by Cenchrus biflorus , Aristida mutabilis and Schoenfeldia gracilis . To the south, 

Schoenfeldia gracilis is important; on flood plains of rivers, grasslands with perennials 

like Echinochloa stagnina , Oryza barthii and Vossia cuspidata provide 

excellent grazing when the floods have receded. Crops are grown, opportunistically, 

with millet (Pennisetum spp. ) the most important – it is usually sown 

when rain falls, with resowing, perhaps several times, until a reasonable stand 

is attained. 

MARZIO MARZOT


The Sahelian grazing lands have suffered much damage in the past fifty 

years, through an increasing human population, excessive advance of cropping 

into very marginal areas and serious deforestation, mainly for firewood, all 

exacerbated by recurrent droughts . The great drought of 1968 was particularly 

serious, as were others in the early 1980s. 

The Sudanian zone , with from 500 mm to 1 100 mm/yr rainfall , is mainly 

on ferruginous tropical soils, with colluvions in depressions. Agricultural activity 

is more intense and the chance of crops succeeding is much more reliable. 

Millet is still important on light soils in the drier parts, along with cowpea and 

groundnut, with sorghum on heavier soils. The range of crops widens as rainfall 

increases: maize is grown and cotton is a cash crop. Stock-rearing is sedentary, 

with some migration away from cropland in the growing season. Areas with 

between 800 and 1 400 mm/yr precipitation is “parkland”, where much of the 

original forest has been cleared for cropping but trees that yield useful products 

have been protected; it is characterized by Vitellaria paradoxa (shea butter), 

Parkia biglobosa, Lannea acida and Sclerocaraya birrea. The herbaceous layer 

was dominated by Andropogon gayanus , which is becoming scarce because of 

clearing and in cultivated areas has been replaced by vast areas of poor, unpalatable 

grasses. Forage quality is generally poorer than in the Sahel . 

In the subhumid Sudano-Guinean zone , the rains last five to seven months, 

and agriculture is oriented to tubers (yams, cassava) and fruits. This is the 

wooded savannah (savane arborée - analogous to the miombo of centralsouthern 

Africa) and open forest (forêt claire). The tree layer is dominated by 

Daniella olivieri and Isoberlina doka, and associated grasses are Hyperaemia 

spp. , Schizachryium rupestre , S. semi-herbe and Diheteropogon hagerupii . 

The southern, humid parts of West Africa are not grazing areas. Tsetse flies 

(Glossina spp. ), the vectors of trypanosomiasis, are a major hindrance to the 

expansion of animal husbandry; ticks are also a serious problem. Root crops 

are important for subsistence, and many tree crops are grown, including oilpalm 

and cacao. 

There are two main stock-rearing ethnic groups, the Tuareg and the Fulani 

(Peul). Tuareg live on the desert fringe , and are divided into many groups: some 

are still exclusively transhumant herders; others are part of a pastoral economy, 

staying in villages or camps close to their fields . Exclusive herders occupy land 

that is unsuitable for crops , to the north of the agropastoralists. 

Fulani (Plate 11.3) are cattle breeders, but small ruminants (Plate 11.4) provide 

meat for a family while cattle are capital, investment and prestige. There 

are both stock-rearing and agropastoralist groups; agropastoralist Fulani occupy 

the southern Sahelian space. Transhumant groups sow millet near the fringe 

of cultivation during their migration. As tsetse fly challenge is reduced through 

tree and bush clearing , Fulani are increasingly settling, notably in Nigeria. 

Transhumance systems traverse the land of farming communities and their 

herds may graze the stovers and fallows of farming groups. Many agricultural

422 


Plate 11.3 

Wodaabe man with his herd. The Wodaabe are nomads and are part of the 

Fulani ethnic group . 

Plate 11.4 

Small ruminants on the move. 

groups keep few or no cattle and the transhumant herds help by manuring 

some fields . This is changing and farmers increasingly conserve their stovers 

and may even sell them to passing herds. 

Camels (Plate 11.5) are kept throughout the Sahelian zone but do not enter 

the trypanosomiasis areas. Sheep are local breeds and may be milked; Fulani 

MARZIO MARZOT 

MARZIO MARZOT

MARZIO MARZOT 

MARZIO MARZOT 


Plate 11.5 

Dromedary camels are used for transporting goods across the desert , and are also 

good milk producers. 

Plate 11.6 

Kouri cattle are a unique breed well adapted to the semi -aquatic environment of 

Lake Chad. 

sheep are important north of the zone of trypanosomiasis; in forest zones the 

trypanotolerant djallonke breed is reared in small groups. Sahelian goats , a 

long-legged type , are kept in the main herding areas; the Red Sokoto Goat 

(chèvre rouge de Maradi ), a breed of clearings in the Sudanian and Sahelo-

424 


sudanian zones, is renowned for the quality of its leather. In areas of high tsetse 

fly challenge, trypanotolerant dwarf goats are reared. 

Sahelian cattle are mainly either long-horned or short-horned zebu ; the 

Kouri , a taurin, occurs around Lake Chad (Plate 11.6); these breeds are not 

trypanotolerant and how far they can penetrate towards forested areas is governed 

by tsetse fly challenge. Cattle rearing and animal husbandry are much 

less important in the agricultural, well -watered zones ; however, local trypanotolerant 

breeds of cattle, sheep and goats are raised in clearings and on fallows 

in the shifting cultivation system. N’Dama cattle from Guinea, Muturu from 

Nigeria and Baoulé from Côte D’Ivoire, which are among the better-known 

trypanotolerant breeds, are taurin types (Bos taurus brachyceros ), not zebus. 

N’Dama have been introduced to other tsetse-infested parts of Africa, notably 

the Republic of the Congo (Chabeuf, 1983), to establish beef production 

in areas where it was not previously possible. Crosses between zebus and 

taurins are used in intermediate zones according to the level of tsetse challenge; 

some have breed status, such as the Sanga and Néré. 

Madagascar 

Madagascar has one of the larger cattle herds in Africa; most are raised on 

natural grassland ; FAOSTAT gives figures of about 10 000 000 over the 

past twenty years, but Ministry estimates in 2000 were 7 260 000, of which 

1 000 000 were draught oxen, 500 000 dairy cattle and the remainder zebu 

(Rasambainarivo and Ranaivoarivelo, 2003); stock counts are complicated by 

many stockowners letting their cattle roam in a semi -feral state because of 

security problems. Small stock are limited to the drier south: about a million 

goats and half a million sheep ; only local breeds are kept in extensive systems . 

The highlands and the wet east coast are agricultural; rice is the staple crop. 

Cattle are kept for draught in farming areas but few are milked. Some exotic 

or grade dairy cattle are kept near towns in the highlands, but settled Malagasy 

are not traditional milk drinkers. 

Madagascar lies between 11°57� and 25°29�S and 43°14� and 50°27�E. 

Highlands (above 888 m) occupy the whole north-south axis. The eastern 

slopes fall abruptly to the Indian Ocean; the western versant has gentler slopes 

occupied by great plains, which extend to the Mozambique Channel. The 

climate is unimodal tropical , typified by a rainy season (November–March) 

and a dry season (April–October). The length of seasons varies according to 

the region. Altitude also has its effect, especially insofar as temperature is concerned. 

The dry season is cold in the highlands, where frost can occur (regions 

of Ambatolampy and Antsirabe). 

Human settlement in Madagascar is relatively recent, about 2000 years, and 

livestock came with them. Much of Madagascar had been covered by forest , 

but forest cover is decreasing rapidly and is now only about 22 percent of the 

land area. The area of savannah is 387 404 km 2 , 68 percent of the island. Most

J.M. SUTTIE 


savannahs (62 percent) are in the west and the south, and 76 percent are below 

800 m. The grasses of Madagascar were the subject of an in-depth study by 

Bosser (1969). The grasslands are floristically poor and there are no wild ungulates, 

but nor is there tseste fly, and many of the serious livestock diseases of 

mainland Africa are also absent. 

The main extensive grazing areas are in the northwest, mid-west and south. 

Bush fires occur all over the pastoral areas every year. Land tenure in the pastoral 

land is essentially traditional; its management depends, grosso modo, on 

whomsoever uses it. Insecurity of tenure favours the continued extensive use 

of the grasslands. The grazing lands are grasslands with few trees or shrubs, 

except in the extreme south. Poor soils and frequent fire maintain a grassy 

vegetation under rainfalls that should support savannah or forest . 

In northern savannahs, Heteropogon contortus is dominant on the plateaux, 

but replaced by Aristida spp. on severely eroded areas (Plate 11.7). At 

the foot of slopes and on colluvions, the commonest grasses are Hyparrhenia 

rufa and Hyperthelia dissoluta . Bottom lands are covered by Echinochloa 

spp. and a retinue of secondary grasses. The relief is dominated by vast plains 

at altitudes below 300 m. Annual rainfall is 1 000 mm and the dry season lasts 

from mid-March to the end of November. 

In the mid-west, plateaus and the gentle slopes are covered by Heteropogon 

contortus and Hyparrhenia rufa , but in many places serious erosion has 

allowed Aristida spp. and Loudetia spp. to establish. The soil cover of 

Plate 11.7 

Madagascar plateau area with a dry season cover of Themeda triandra on 

disturbed soil in the foreground and Aristida rufescens and Hyparrhenia spp. on 

the main area.

426 


perennials does not exceed 20–40 percent. Steep slopes are covered by 

Aristida rufescens and Loudetia simplex . The percentage of bare soil is high 

(90 percent), indicating serious erosion. Colluvions are covered by Panicum 

maximum and Hyparrhenia variabilis . 

The southern savannahs are the largest of the regions. The topography 

is vast plains. The region has low rainfall and few rainy days. Toliary is the 

driest area, with 275 mm over 27 rainy days. There is great inter-year variability. 

The rainiest months are December to February. Water is a problem 

for stock between April and November. The south is renowned for its big 

herds of zebus and small stock. The population live in “a cattle civilization”. 

Heteropogon contortus is the commonest grass on soils not subject to 

waterlogging. According to the topography and the degree of erosion, some 

species can dominate; this is the case for Loudetia simplex and Aristida spp. , 

which occupy degraded slopes. Hyparrhenia rufa , Hyperthelia dissoluta and 

Cynodon dactylon occupy areas that may receive runoff. Cacti (Opuntia 

spp. ) are characteristic fodder plants. The extreme south, on limestone, has 

characteristic thorn-scrub, with many endemic plants, dominated by tall 

Didieraceae. 

Many forages have been grown successfully, but only a few dairy farmers 

grow them. Pasture improvement by over-sowing with Stylosanthes guyanensis 

and S. humilis was tested on a large scale in the mid-west in the early 

1970s, but, after initial promise, the legume was wiped out by anthracnose. 

SOUTH AMERICA 

The Llanos 

The Llanos of Venezuela (Vera, 2003) are part of the 50 million hectares of 

savannahs in the Orinoco River basin. The vegetation communities can be 

divided into four main subregions. 

The Piedmont Savannahs consist of large alluvial areas and terraces covered 

originally by semi -deciduous forests and savannahs, though the latter 

predominates. They are southeast of the Andes and descend gradually to the 

plains. They are characterized by a rich tree flora, shrubs and grasses, most of 

which are common to the other types of savannah. These include Andropogon 

selloanus , A. semiberbis , Axonopus canescens , A. purpusii , Bulbostylis spp., 

Elyonurus adustus, Leptocoryphium lanatum , Panicum olyroides , Paspalum plicatulum 

, P. gardnerianum , Trachypogon plumosus , T. vestitus and T. montufari. 

On average, the maximum aboveground stand of savannah reaches 7 t/ha/yr, 

with about twice that amount below ground. 

The savannahs of the High Plains or Mesas are north of the Orinoco, at 

150–270 m, descending into the Llanos de Monagas. They are covered by 

a deciduous tree savannah where the herbaceous layer predominates and is 

dominated by Trachypogon plumosus or T. vestitus , with Andropogon selloanus 

, Axonopus canescens and Leptocoryphium lanatum as subdominant grasses.


The sparse tree layer is composed of Curatella americana, Byrsonima crassifolia 

and Bowdichia virgiloides. Aboveground production of the grass layer 

peaks at 3 200-4 200 kg/ha when burnt, whereas yields are 30 percent lower 

if protected. Fire is the only economically feasible management tool. Burning, 

even in mid-dry season , induces a regrowth if water reserves allow. 

The Alluvial Overflow Plains, which occupy a depression of 3 800 000 ha 

in the central Llanos between the piedmont and the high plains, are very flat, 

with only one to two metres between the highest and lowest points . Higher 

land constitutes natural levees, where the soil is a sandy alluvium, whereas 

clay particles settle in the lower parts (basins), which have slow drainage; rain 

drains very slowly and the lower parts remain flooded during most of the 

rainy season, but have a high carrying capacity in the dry season . The area is 

used for extensive cattle and buffalo grazing (96 percent for cattle; 4 percent 

under forests), although frequently wild capybara are raised with cattle. The 

botanical composition of levees and basins differs, but this type of savannah 

has more palatable species than the others, and has been modified by human 

intervention, especially in an area of 250 000 ha enclosed by low dykes and 

floodgates to regulate water levels in sections of 3 000 to 6 000 ha each. Land 

permanently above water is colonized by Axonopus purpusii , A. affinis and 

Leptocoryphium lanatum ; sections moderately flooded contain Panicum 

laxum and Leersia hexandra as dominants; and the strongly flooded areas are 

dominated by Hymenachne amplexicaulus , Reimarochloa acuta and Leersia 

hexandra. Cyperaceae are also abundant. Aboveground yields vary between 

the 5 t DM/ha of the levees to 2–3 t DM/ha in the basins. According to some 

estimates, regulation of water level in the Modulos can increase carrying 

capacity up to fivefold. 

The Aeolian Plains, which extend north-east from the Colombian Andean 

Piedmont into southern Venezuela , are characterized by dunes covered by 

sparse vegetation , almost treeless , and dominated by Trachypogon ligularis and 

Paspalum carinatum ; inter-dunal depressions are occupied by a Mesosetum 

savannah. Both formations are low yielding and of low palatability. 

The Gran Chaco 

This section is based on Riveros (2002) and Garbulsky and Deregibus (2004). 

The Gran Chaco , between 17° and 33°S and 65° and 60°W, is a vast plain in 

the River Plate Basin that extends through northern Argentina , southeastern 

Bolivia , northwestern Paraguay and a small area of southwestern Brazil . It 

stretches for about 1 500 km from north to south, and 700 km from east to 

west, without any physical barriers intervening. Its area is about 850 000 km 2 . 

The Chaco, which extends into both tropical and temperate zones , is one 

of the major wooded grasslands in South America, but suffers from intense 

degradation through unrestricted forest and bush clearing , overgrazing and 

continuous monoculture.

428 

Plate 11.8 

Park grasslands in NE Chaco, a summer view. 


It slopes gradually eastwards, at 100–500 m above sea level, except for the 

Sierras in Cordoba, Argentina , which reach 2 800 m. The climate, of the wetdry 

season al type , varies without sudden changes since there are no natural 

barriers. Temperatures rise from south to north and rainfall from west to east. 

The warmest months coincide with those of maximum rainfall, which favoured 

the evolution of herbaceous forages of the C4 type. 

Most early settlement was along the coast and major waterways. A railway 

and water supplies opened the Chaco to settlement. Commercial beef production 

developed in the nineteenth century. Large tracts were colonized and the 

exploitation of the Chaco began in earnest. Between 1910 and 1920, the southeast 

of the Paraguayan Chaco was an area for extensive cattle production and 

sugar cane growing. Grazing was totally unmanaged, there was uncontrolled 

burning , and overfelling of forest led to its replacement by undesirable thorny 

vegetation . 

Introduction of livestock alone is not enough to explain the dramatic and 

rapid changes that took place in the vegetation . The most potent factor was the 

dispersion of watering points so that a much greater proportion of the herbage 

could be consumed, leaving little or none to be burnt. The demise of the 

fire climax led to an increased scarcity of forage through increased grazing and 

increased growth of unpalatable, woody species. This was the only grassland 

intervention introduced by the ranchers. Grazing was continuous , with mixed 

herds of cattle , horses, goats , asses and sheep roaming uncontrolled on the 

same land, with no limits but the distance to water in the dry season ; small 

V. ALEJANDRO DEREGIBUS AND MARTIN F. GARBULSKY

V. ALEJANDRO DEREGIBUS AND MARTIN F. GARBULSKY 


Plate 11.9 

A savannah type in SE Chaco, winter view. 

stock were often penned at night. The boundaries of grazing territories were 

ill-defined and herds’ grazing land often overlapped; this led to severe overgrazing 

and rapid degradation of the pastoral cover. In less than fifty years, the 

once-rich landscape had been almost sterilized and altered as a result of this “no 

management ” system. 

In Argentina , the main vegetation types are: 

Humid to subhumid or Oriental Chaco is a parkland formation (Plate 11.8), 

where patches of Quebracho Colorado Chaqueño (Schinopsis spp. ) forest alternate 

with open grassland . There are also areas of Copernica alba palm, usually 

under swamp conditions with accumulation of salts. 

Arid and semi -arid Chaco. This is present in Argentina (Plate 11.9), in the 

east of Bolivia and western Paraguay , with a small area in southwest Brazil . It 

is a huge area of flat land, increasingly arid from east to west. Open grasslands 

derived from forest through bush clearing and fire occupy a lesser area than 

in the humid and subhumid zones . Forests are dominated by xerophytes and 

are more open than in the eastern Chaco. Cacti are common among trees and 

shrubs. Pastoral resources include a vast number of trees and shrubs, as well as 

forage plants that are only found in man-made clearings. 

The Montane zone is mostly in Argentina , but extends into Bolivia and 

Paraguay . The landscape is broken by hills, which have a higher rainfall than 

the lowlands; hillsides collect moist air coming from the Atlantic. The forest 

vegetation contains many species found in the lower Chaco, and some trees of 

higher rainfall areas; the grass cover is very limited.

430 


In Paraguay , the Chaco, referred to as the “western region”, is almost flat, 

with 32 000 km 2 suitable for crops , but only a very small area is cultivated. The 

grazed area covers 124 000 km 2 , mostly on natural grassland . Two main vegetation 

groups are recognized in Paraguay: the xeromorphic group dominates 

the landscape ; matorral is the main formation in all the centre, north and west. 

Mesomorphic vegetation that dominates towards the south and centre-east 

develops on heavier, better structured soils and is covered by a mosaic of alternating 

forest of Schinopsis balinese, Caesalpinia paraguariensis and Phyllostylon 

rhamnoides; palm-savannahs of Copernica alba ; and marshes. 

Extensive livestock rearing is, and will probably remain, a major land use 

in the Chaco. Bush encroachment brought about by overstocking and lack of 

grazing management is very serious, leading to erosion, loss of wildlife habitat , 

and greatly reduced livestock production. The economics of herbicides and 

mechanical clearing are not clear. In most sub-tropical areas of extensive grazing, 

the strategic use of pasture resting and controlled fire is the only economic 

way of keeping bush in check. 

Poor management in the Chaco leads to invasion by unpalatable weeds, 

caused by loss of soil fertility, which must be kept at high levels to assure 

survival of introduced forages. Proper adjustment of carrying capacity is also 

essential. Natural grassland is better than degraded, weed-infested, “improved 

pasture ”. Sown pastures may have an important role in the Paraguayan 

Chaco compared with the rest of the area. 

Pampas 

The Pampas (Garbulsky and Deregibus, 2004), which occupies about 50 

million hectares between the 2°C and the 13°C isotherms, has a temperate 

climate with mild, snow-free winters. Precipitation decreases from 1 200 mm 

in the northeast to 500 mm/yr in the ecotonal change to the Monte region. 

Rain is evenly distributed through the year in the east, but is concentrated in 

the warm season in the west. 

This Region is characterized by its lack of native trees, flat terrain, fertile soils, 

extended croplands and native or sown pastures. As soils are fertile and summers 

shorter and milder than in the north, many C3 grasses and temperate legumes 

grow during the cool season. Thus a seasonal alternation occurs between 

C4 and C3 plants. Species alternation maintains green grass year-long and is ideal 

for resource utilization in a seasonally variable climatic environment; mild water 

deficits in summer are better overcome by C4 grasses. Temperate grasses and 

legumes of good quality (above 20 percent protein and 70–80 percent digestibility) 

allow total utilization during winter of the remnant biomass of summer 

grasses, so there is seldom accumulation of forage in winter. 

Native humid-grasslands cover the Flooding Pampa, some parts of Entre 

Ríos Province and most river and stream banks. Their warm season components 

are grasses of the Panicoideae, Chlorideae, Andropogoneae and



Oryzeae. Alternating seasonally with them, thrive grasses of the Agrosteae, 

Aveneae, Festuceae, Phalarideae and Stipeae. As soil fertility increases to 

the west of the Paraná River and south of the Río de la Plata, a myriad of 

herbaceous legumes grow (Cassia spp. , Crotalaria spp. , Desmanthus spp. , 

Phaseolus spp. , Vicia spp. , etc.). 

Flooding Pampas grasslands 

The very slight slope of the plains results in a low morphogenic potential and 

endoreic or areic drainage, in spite of a subhumid climate. These topographical 

characteristics cause extensive and lengthy flooding during periods of abundant 

precipitation (once every decade), causing severe damage and heavy losses 

where human influence has been prominent. Lesser floods, which occur at 

the end of winter and in early spring , are the most remarkable features of this 

region. 

The typical physiognomy of the Flooding Pampa is extended, treeless 

grasslands (except where trees are planted) and its community is dominated 

by Paspalum dilatatum (Plates 11.10a and b), Bothriochloa laguroides and 

Briza subaristata . P. quadrifarium and Stipa trichotoma are bunch grasses that 

dominate the southwestern part of the area. 

Non-saline grasslands produce about 5 t DM/ha/yr, with a clear summer 

peak – a pattern that contrasts with the small variation in standing crop 

greenness. Forage productivity in winter (July) is 5 kg DM/ha/day, being 

Plate 11.10a 

A grassland dominated by Paspalum dilatatum . Summer view.

432 

Plate 11.10b 

A grassland dominated by Paspalum dilatatum . Winter (flooded) view. 


30 kg DM/ha/day in December and January. Scarce winter production is caused 

by the depletion of cool-season grasses caused by continuous overgrazing of 

domestic cattle after windmills and fences were introduced 100 years ago. 

The dominance of warm-season grasses and loss of nitrogen fertility further 

prevent the establishment of cool-season grasses every autumn . Low winter 

productivity limits the carrying capacity and determines the production system 

of the area: cow-calf operations. Almost 3.5 million cattle roam the 6 million 

hectares of the Flooding Pampas , exporting 2 million calves annually to be 

raised on pastures in cropland or feed yards. Annual secondary production 

may be estimated at 90 kg/ha. 

Winter productivity may be significantly increased by hard early autumn 

grazing or herbicide spraying of the warm-season grasses, followed by nitrogen 

fertilization . This promotes the establishment and growth of Lolium 

multiflorum , an excellent quality exotic grass that thrives well in intermediate 

communities . Phosphate fertilization may also increase cool-season grass production 

by promoting the density of herbaceous legumes Lotus tenuifolius and 

Trifolium repens that enrich soil nitrogen through fixation. 

Cropland Pampas cultivated pastures 

The most renowned Pampas is the sector extending in a circle around the 

Flooding Pampas . Constituting the main cropping area of Argentina , with 

77 percent of the cattle stock and 70 percent of the human population, it 

contains the major cities and industrial development . The original tussock 

grasslands are now rainfed croplands producing soybeans, maize, wheat 

V. ALEJANDRO DEREGIBUS AND MARTIN F. GARBULSKY



Plate 11.11 

Cows on grassland in the Pampas. 

and sunflower as the main crops . After several years of crops, improved 

pastures are sown in a four- to five-year rotation to maintain soil fertility. 

When pastures are grown, the seasonal forage production alternates between 

alfalfa, which grows in the warm season, and grasses and clovers that grow 

in cooler weather. Oats are also a popular forage crop. 

Sown pastures (Plate 11.11) are grazed by steers, yearlings or dairy cattle . 

Forage legumes like Medicago sativa , Trifolium repens , T. pratense and Lotus 

corniculatus and grasses such as Festuca arundinacea , Phalaris arundinacea , 

Bromus catharticus , Dactylis glomerata , Lolium perenne and L. multiflorum 

or Agropyron elongatum are grown. When pastures are adequately fertilized 

(principally with P), primary production may achieve 12 to 15 t DM/ha/yr or 

more. This primary production allows 500 kg/ha of beef annually or 200 kg/ha 

of milk fat. 

Nowadays, cash crop prices and the higher profits of agriculture have led 

to a decrease in cattle numbers in this area. To this can be added genetically 

modified soybeans and modern no-tillage practices, that reduce the need for 

pasture -cash crop rotations to maintain soil fertility. 

Monte shrubland 

The Monte phytogeographic province is a strip that surrounds the Calden and 

Semi-arid Chaco regions up to the Atlantic coast of Chubut province, covering 

50 million hectares. Its physiognomy is dominated by a tall shrub stratum with 

Prosopis alpataco , P. flexuosa (Fabaceae), Larrea divaricata , L. cuneifolia and 

L. nitida (Zygophyllaceae). Fodder shrubs include the genus Atriplex . Towards

434 


the northern tip of the Monte province, Prosopis spp. are dominant in the shrub 

layer, while the southern extreme is dominated by Larrea spp. The grass layer, 

which is the most important forage source, is composed of a mixture of C4 and 

C3 species. Towards the north, the C4 group (Panicum urvilleanum , Chloris 

castilloniana , Pappophorum caespitosum and P. phillippianum ) dominate and 

to the south the C3 (Stipa tenuis , S. speciosa , Poa ligularis and P. lanuginosa ) 

increase in importance. Prosopis spp. are widely browsed by small ruminants 

like goats , as their shoots and pods are rich in protein. 

ASIA 

Central Asia 

Pasture descriptions are included for Kyrgyzstan (Fitzherbert 2000) and 

Uzbekistan (Makhmudovich, 2001). Uzbekistan’s grazing lands are described 

in detail by Gintzburger et al. (2003) and the problems of transition of all 

Central Asia to decollectivized farming and animal husbandry is discussed 

by Ryan, Vlek and Paroda (2004) and Gintzburger (2004). The Central 

Asian Region, which comprises Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and 

Uzbekistan, is a vast low-altitude plain, bordered to the south by mountains 

that rise to the Pamirs. The Chinese Autonomous Region of Xinjiang and 

the northern fringe of Afghanistan are, geographically, part of the region, but 

their recent history and grassland management have been very different from 

those of countries of the former USSR. These arid to semi -arid plains had, 

until the twentieth century, been mainly exploited by mobile herding , with 

farming concentrated in oases and the valleys of the great rivers flowing to 

the Aral Sea. 

The plains are below 500 m, with large areas below 200 m, sloping to the 

Aral sea, which is about 53 m above mean sea level. The Uzbekistan vegetation 

zones will serve to show the general banding of pastures from the grazing point 

of view. The territory of the republic is divided into: 

A desert belt (chul), which is the zone of irrigated farming and Karakul 

sheep : annual precipitation is 100–250 mm; average annual temperature is 

about 15°C. Vegetation types are desert, psammophytic shrub and ephemeralsemi 

-shrub vegetation . 

The foothill plains belt (adyr) is the zone of rainfed lands, with very low 

precipitation . The main rainfed areas and big oases of irrigated farming are concentrated 

in the desert (chul) zone. The yearly average temperature is 13°C, but 

in the south it is 14–16°C; annual precipitation is 200–545 mm; the prevailing 

soil type is light and typical sierozems, with widely spread ephemeral vegetation 

. The mid-mountain belt (tau) is rainfed land with normal precipitation of 

the Tashkent, Samarkand and Surkhandarya Regions. The average annual temperature 

is 8–11°C; annual precipitation is over 400 mm. Along with rainfed 

grain farming, the belt is extremely favourable for orchards and vineyards. The 

high-mountains belt (yaylau) is the zone of summer pastures.


Most of the lowlands of Central Asia have a very cold variant of the 

Mediterranean arid and semi -arid climate. Their latitude range (35°–46°) 

is similar to that of the steppes in the northern part of western Asia, the 

Maghreb and Spain to the west, and the Gobi and Mongolia to the east. 

Precipitation as rain and snow falls in the cold winter –spring period, with 

winter extreme minima often falling below -20°C. 

Small ruminants, primarily sheep , are the main livestock of the region; finewool 

breeds were greatly encouraged during the soviet period, but these are less 

hardy than local breeds and the wool no longer commands interesting prices; 

local fat-tailed breeds are now at least as common as fine-wools; in Uzbekistan , 

Karakul are raised for their pelts. Camels are used for transport – the Arabian 

type in the south and east, with the Bactrian taking over in Kazakhstan . Horses 

are also very important. Cattle are raised in agricultural zones and in the mountains, 

and yak are locally important in Kyrgyzstan . 

Before the Russian revolution, the pastures were exploited by herders who 

depended entirely on the grassland resources ; herders and their livestock moved 

seasonally between lowland winter pastures and summer grazing . In the 1930s 

the herders were settled and collectivized; this stopped transhumant movement 

between different ecological zones . The system of state farms , cooperatives and 

state services would be similar to those for the USSR described in Chapter 10. 

Planned socialist systems were imposed, including breed improvement and 

feeding. Later, the usefulness of seasonal movement was recognized and land in 

different seasonal zones was allocated to cooperatives and state farms. 

Heavy grazing and firewood collection have seriously reduced vegetation 

cover and the natural grazing has become degraded, with a loss of productivity 

and increasing desertification; destruction of forests and shrubs has led to 

wind erosion. Rehabilitation techniques were developed and have been applied 

on a fairly large scale; they are described by Gintzburger et al. (2003). After 

decollectivization, with fragmentation of herds and holdings and lack of clarity 

concerning herders’ responsibility for maintaining the pasture resource, rehabilitation 

activities have been greatly reduced. 

The impact of decollectivization on livestock production systems , grassland 

management and herder’s livelihoods has been dramatic and negative (Aw- 

Hassan et al., 2004). Large agrofood complexes were dismantled and cooperative 

farms were privatized. Marketing systems collapsed and many traditional 

markets were lost. Institutional changes have not kept pace with changes in 

production systems. One overall result has been a sharp decline in stock numbers 

in some of the countries, especially sheep ; falls have been most marked in 

Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Fitzherbert (2000) reports that sheep 

numbers in Kyrgyzstan fell from 9 500 000 in 1990 to 3 250 000 in 1999. 

The reforms led to a massive shift from collective to household herds; often 

household stock numbers are too few to warrant independent herding and 

communal or family herding has not yet developed; this often leads to stock

436 


remaining, unsupervised, close to homesteads: nearby pastures are overgrazed 

while distant ones are hardly used (Iñguez et al. 2004). Previously, considerable 

quantities of fodder was grown and conserved for winter ; this has declined very 

considerably as the republics concentrate on self-sufficiency in cereals, which 

they can no longer procure readily from elsewhere. Lack of conserved feed and 

reduced herd mobility exacerbate the serious problems of winter feeding. 

CHINA 

This section is based on the Pasture Profile for the People’s Republic of China 

(Hu and Zhang, 2003a) and on Hu and Zhang (2003b). The Tibet -Qinghai 

plateau has been described in Chapter 8. Detailed description and discussion 

of herding in Tibet Autonomous Region is given in Nyima (2003); grazing 

management of alpine ecosystems on the Tibet Qinghai Plateau is discussed 

by Ruijun (2003a), who also provides detailed information on yak nutrition 

(Ruijun, 2003b). Transhumant systems in Xinjiang and the production of 

winter fodder by herders is described by Wang (2003). China has vast grazing 

lands . The pastoral areas are concentrated in six provinces and autonomous 

regions: Inner Mongolia (Plates 11.12, 11.13 and 11.14), Xinjiang (Plate 11.15), 

Tibet, Qinghai (Plates 11.16 and 11.17), Sichuan and Gansu, where extensive 

stock raising is the main agricultural enterprise. These six have 70 percent of 

sheep , all the camels , 25 percent of cattle and goats , 44 percent of horses and 

39 percent of donkeys in China. 

Mixed farming, on relatively small family farms , is the agricultural system 

of the rest of the country, where livestock are still important, but are mainly 

Plate 11.12 

Pastoral scene in July near Hailar City, Inner Mongolia , China . 

S.G. REYNOLDS

S.G. REYNOLDS 

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 11.13 

Herder with sheep , Inner Mongolia , China . 

Plate 11.14 

Horse herd near Hailar City, Inner Mongolia , China. 

fed on crop residues , some sown pasture and limited rough grazing if available. 

The pasture of family farms still belong to the state and families pay according 

to a Long-term Grassland Use Contract with the government; the livestock 

belong to the family. In the past decade, the government has put the “Longterm 

contract grassland use system” into force with great effort. Under this 

system, grassland productivity is improved by subdividing pastures and allocating 

long-term grazing right to individual families based on the number of 

family members, with fencing (Plate 11.18), homestead and barn, establishing 

artificial grassland and building infrastructure for water and electricity supply. 

In places, motorcycles are replacing horses (Plate 11.19).

438 

Plate 11.15 

Small ruminants on summer pasture , Altai, Xinjiang , China . 

Plate 11.16 

Qinghai summer pastures. 


Despite its vast territory and the effects of topography and atmosphere 

circumfluence, there are only three climatic zones : East Monsoon, Northwest 

Arid and Semi-arid , and the Qinghai-Tibet Alpine Zone. China can be divided 

into three natural zones, namely the monsoon zone in the east, which accounts 

for 45 percent of all land; the arid inland zone in the northwest, with 30 percent 

of all land; and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau inland zone in the southwest, with 

25 percent of all land. The eastern monsoon zone is agricultural; the northwest 

and southwest are pastoral . 

S.G. REYNOLDS 

J.M. SUTTIE

J.M. SUTTIE 

PETER HARRIS 


Plate 11.17 

Qinghai, summer camp. 

Plate 11.18 

Qinghai: grass reserved for winter .

440 

Plate 11.19 

Qinghai – motorcycles are replacing horses. 


Plate 11.20 

Yak at 4 300 m in Linzhou County, about 70 km from Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous 

Region, China. 

PETER HARRIS 

S.G. REYNOLDS


Cattle (Bos taurus and Bos indicus ) are found everywhere below 2000 m. 

Yak (Plate 11.20) are mainly kept on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at 3 000 to 

5 000 m. There are 15 million yaks in China (Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, Gansu, 

Xinjiang and Yunnan), around 90 percent of the world total. Buffalo of the 

swamp type are kept in humid tropical and subtropical areas. They are stallfed 

and mainly kept for draught and meat . Sheep , the main grazing stock, are 

kept in temperate areas within 30° to 50°N and 75° to 135°E. Goats are the 

most widely distributed livestock in China, since they can adapt to many climates 

and pastures. Horses are the traditional draught animals below 4 000 m. 

Camels are important in temperate deserts. There are some single humped 

camels in south Xinjiang, but the great majority are Bactrian. 

Feeding systems in the north differ from those in the west. Inner Mongolian 

grasslands are flat and the environment is simple; pastures can be grazed at any 

season if water is available; animals are moved rotationally following a certain 

range and routine. In desert areas of Xinjiang there are two seasonal grazing 

belts, basins and mountains. Animals graze in the basins in winter , move to 

mountains in spring and to high mountains in summer , returning to basins 

in late autumn ; this is a strict seasonal grazing system and animals spend 1 or 

2 months travelling from winter to summer pasture . On the Qinghai-Tibet 

Plateau , animals graze above 3 000 m, but pastures are still divided into seasonal 

belts: low cold season pasture and high warm season pasture. 

China had a total grassland area of about 393 million hectares in 1994, about 

12 percent of the world’s grassland. Usable grassland is 331 million hectares 

– 35 percent of the national land area. Most grassland is in the northern arid 

and cold zones . The six major pastoral provinces account for 75 percent of 

national grassland and around 70 percent of grazing livestock. The great size of 

the country and its range of latitudes, altitudes and rainfall leads to a wide range 

of grassland types . According to the Vegetation -habitat Classification System, 

grassland in China can be divided into nine classes and 276 types. There are 69 

types in the Temperate Steppe Class, 39 types in the Temperate Desert Class, 

25 types in the Warm Shrubby Tussock Class, 39 types in the Tropical Shrubby 

Tussock Class, 51 types in the Temperate Meadow Class, 24 types in the Alpine 

Meadow Class, 17 types in the Alpine Steppe Class, 4 types in the Alpine 

Desert Class and 8 types in the Marshes Class. 

Many plants play an important role in forming a grassland community 

in terms of coverage and herbage yield in large grassland areas and various 

grassland types . The most important species in different grassland classes are 

considered below. 

The Temperate Steppe class is typically Leymus chinensis (Plate 11.21), 

Stipa baicalensis , S. grandis , S. krylovi , S. bungeana , S. breviflora , S. glareosa , 

S. klemenzi i , S. capillata , Festuca ovina , Cleistogenes squarrosa , Filifolium 

sibiricum , Artemisia frigida , A. halodendron , A. ordosica , A. intramongolica , 

Thymus serpyllum var. mongolium and Ajania fruticulosa .

442 

Plate 11.21 

Leymus chinensis . 


Plants of the Alpine Steppe class are cold -resistant, mainly from the 

Gramineae and Compositeae. The most important are Stipa purpureum, 

S. subsessiflora, Festuca ovina subsp. sphagnicola, Orinus thoroldii , Carex 

moorcroftii , Artemisia stracheyi and A. wellbyi . 

Among the dominant plants of the Temperate Desert class are superxerocole 

shrubs and sub-shrubs; the most important are Seriphidium terraealbae 

, S. borotalense , Artemisia soongarica , Salsola passerina , S. laricifolia , 

Sympegma regeli i , Anabasis salsa , Reaumuria soongarica , Ceratoides latens , 

Kalidium schrenkianum , Potaninia mongolica , Nitraria sphaerocarpa , Ephedra 

przewalskii , Haloxylon erinaceum and H. persicum . 

The Alpine Desert class is ecologically in the harshest environment. The 

dominant plants have super ability to resist cold and drought . The most 

important are Rhodiola algida var. tangutica , Seriphidium rhodanthum and 

Ceratoides compacta . 

The Warm Shrubby Tussock class is dominated by mainly grasses 

of medium height and some forbs. The most important are Bothriochloa 

ischaemum , Themeda triandra var. japonica , Pennisetum centrasiaticum , 

Spodiopogon sibiricus , Imperata cylindrica var. major and Potentilla fulgens . 

Dominant plants of the Tropical Shrubby Tussock class are almost all 

hot-season grasses. The most important are Miscanthus floridulus , M. sinensis , 

Imperata cylindrica var. major , Heteropogon contortus , Arundinella setosa , 

A. hirta , Eremopogon delavayi , Eragrostis pilosa , Eulalia phaeothrix , 

E. quadrinervis and Dicranopteris dichotoma . 

The Temperate Meadow class is dominated mainly by perennial temperate 

and medium-humid mesophytic grasses; some are halophytes or forbs. The 

most important are Achnatherum splendens , Arundinella hirta , Agrostis 

S.G. REYNOLDS


gigantea , Calamagrostis epigeios , Bromus inermis , Deyeuxia angustifolia , 

D. arundinacea , Poa pratensis , P. angustifolia , Miscanthus sacchariflorus , 

Phragmites communis , Brachypodium sylvaticum , Festuca ovina , Carex 

duriuscula , Potentilla anserina , Sanguisorba officinalis , Iris lactea var. chinensis , 

Suaeda spp. and Sophora alopecuroides . 

Dominant plants of the Alpine Meadow class are mainly cold -resistant 

perennials. Most are Kobresia spp. and forbs. The most important are Kobresia 

pygmaea , K. humilis , K. capillifolia , K. bellardii , K. littledalei , K. tibetica , 

Carex atrofusca , C. nivalis , C. stenocarpa , Blysmus sinocompressus , Poa alpina , 

Polygonum viviparum and P. macrophyllum . 

Marsh classes are dominated mainly by Cyperaceae and Gramineae. 

The most important are Carex meyeriana , C. muliensis , C. appendiculata , 

C. stenophylla , Scirpus yagara , S. triqueter , Phragmites communis and Triglochin 

palustre . 

Grassland deterioration – a worldwide problem – is severe in China . According 

to data published in 1994, the area of degraded grassland was 68 million hectares 

at the end of the 1980s – 27.5 percent of all grassland. It has increased remarkably 

in the past decade. Now 90 percent of grassland shows signs of deterioration, 

of which moderately degraded grassland is 130 million hectares (32.5 percent of 

total) and it is increasing by 20 million hectares each year. 

The government is taking vigorous measures to deal with grassland degradation 

. According to the Planning Programme of National Ecological 

Environment Construction and Outline of Fifteenth Ten-Year Plan, the following 

should be achieved by 2010: 

• artificial grassland and improved grassland increased by 50 million hectares; 

• 33 million hectares of degraded grassland and 20 million hectares of desertified 

land improved ; 

• of 600 000 ha of eroded land controlled ; and 

• 6.7 million hectares of cropland (on >25° slope) returned to forest and grass . 

Improvement is being undertaken by closure, with or without reseeding , 

and is associated with a very large programme of returning sloping arable land 

to pasture . 

SOUTH ASIA 

Himalaya -Hindu Kush 

These grasslands and associated grazing systems are discussed in detail in a 

recent FAO publication (Suttie and Reynolds, 2003) and in the country Pasture 

Profiles of the five countries: Afghanistan , Bhutan , India , Nepal and Pakistan 

(Thieme, 2000; Wangdi, 2002; Misri, 1999; Pariyar, 1999; Dost, 1998). The 

Himalayas (see Plate 11.22), which form a barrier between the Tibetan plateau 

and the plains of India and Pakistan, run obliquely northwest to southeast for 

about 2 500 km. They contain the highest mountains in the world and protect 

the sub continent from cold air from the north. The grazing zone goes beyond

444 

Plate 11.22 

The Himalaya -Hindu Kush and Tibetan Plateau area. 


the true Himalaya , through the foothills of the Karakoram to the Hindu Kush 

and most of Afghanistan’s mountains, to the shoulder of the Pamirs; in the west 

of Pakistan it includes the Balochistan uplands. The grazing lands of Nepal and 

Bhutan are at the eastern end of the zone. 

There is a wide altitudinal range, from the plains at 200–300 m, to the snow 

line, which may be over 5 000 m in summer . Rainfall increases southeastwards; 

the most northerly, semi -arid parts are in the rain-shadow of the Himalaya , 

but thereafter the grasslands receive the monsoon, and Nepal and Bhutan are 

humid. Temperatures also rise with decreasing latitude, the pastures range from 

about 37°N to 27°N. There are, therefore, considerable differences in vegetation 

, in altitudinal bands and north–south changes. 

The flora of the semi -arid west shows considerable Western and Central 

Asia n influences – the wild olive grows as far east as western Nepal . In all cases, 

the Himalayas abut the great alluvial plains, but at low altitude the vegetation 

changes as well . In Pakistan , the foothills are under Acacia forest ; in the Nepal 

Terai there is dipterocarp (sal – Shorea robusta ) forest, indicating higher rainfall 

and a warmer climate. 

Afghanistan is at the convergence of the Mediterranean, the Tibetan and the 

Himalayan vegetation types , and towards the Pakistan border is influenced 

by the monsoon. For the vast majority of the grazing lands , low precipitation , 

with winter incidence, means that the main grazing vegetation type is Artemisia

J.M. SUTTIE 


steppe. The mainstay of this vast area is Artemisia; the plant of the extensive 

grazing lands is generally referred to as A. maritima ; the altitude range of the 

Artemisia steppe is from about 300 to 3 000 m. In neighbouring Turkmenistan 

and Uzbekistan , A. herba-alba , A. turanica and A. maikara are mentioned. 

Throughout most of its range, A. maritima is associated with Poa bulbosa ; 

Stipa spp are frequent. There is a very short flush of annuals in spring , but these 

dry off quickly. Other sub-shrubs associated with Artemisia include species of 

Acantholimon, Acanthophyllum, Astragalus , Cousinia and Ephedra . In eastern 

areas close to Pakistan, where rainfall is adequate, species of Cymbopogon , 

Chrysopogon , Heteropogon , Aristida and other grasses of the monsoon areas 

occur, often associated with Acacia modesta and Olea cuspidata . By 2002, 

Afghanistan was in the ninth year of drought (see Plate 11.23); herds had been 

wiped out and the grasslands were in a sorry state. Although 2003 was better, 

the 2004 precipitation was below normal; however, there was good snowfall in 

the winter of 2004/2005 so the 2005 outlook was more promising. But the big 

reduction in small and large ruminants has resulted in much more of the rangelands 

being ploughed for crops , particularly in the north. Livestock recovery 

is likely to be slow. 

In Nepal , at the other end of the precipitation range, tropical pasturelands are 

dominated by the grasses Phragmites karka , Saccharum spontaneum , Imperata 

cylindrica , Cymbopogon jwarancusa and Bothriochloa intermedia . Because of 

human activity, Imperata cylindrica is dominant throughout, and the weed 

Eupatorium sp. is gradually replacing many palatable plants. Subtropical pas- 

Plate 11.23 

Severely degraded grassland , Faryab, 

Afghanistan.

446 

Plate 11.24 

Transhumant Kuchi flock after rain, near Kandahar, Afghanistan . 


tures, associated with Pinus roxburghii forests, are heavily grazed and infested 

with Eupatorium adenophorum , Pteridium aquilinum , Urtica parviflora 

and Artemisia vulgaris . The main forage species are Arundinella bengalensis 

, A. nepalensis , Bothriochloa intermedia, B. pertusa , Chrysopogon gryllus , 

Cynodon dactylon , Heteropogon contortus , Apluda mutica , Brachiaria decumbens 

, Imperata cylindrica and Eragrostis pilosa . Temperate pastures are associated 

with oak or mixed broad-leafed species or bluepine (Pinus wallichianai ), 

but, due to heavy grazing , less palatable species such as Arundinella hookeri 

are found. The common forages are Arundinella hookeri, Andropogon tristis , 

Poa spp. , Chrysopogon gryllus, Dactylis glomerata , Stipa concinna , Festuca spp. , 

Cymbopogon spp., Bothriochloa spp., Desmodium spp. and Agrostis micrantha 

. Subalpine pastures are associated with a variety of shrubs. Common genera 

are Berberis , Caragana , Hippophae , Juniperus , Lonicera , Potentilla , Rosa , 

Spiraea and Rhododendron . In many areas, Pipthantus nepalensis has invaded 

productive pastures once dominated by Danthonia spp. The common grasses 

are Elymus spp., Festuca spp., Stipa spp., Bromus himalaicus , Chrysopogon 

gryllus, Cymbopogon schoenanthus , and Koeleria cristata . Elymus nutans is 

of great importance at high elevation s. Alpine pastures are associated with 

Rhododendron. The main types of grazed vegetation are: Kobresia spp. , Cortia 

depressa , and Carex –Agrostis–Poa associations. 

The grasslands are exploited by both sedentary and transhumant groups 

(see Plate 11.24); the latter belong to minorities. Population pressure is very 

high throughout the zone and all suitable (along with much unsuitable) land is 

cultivated. Transhumant groups move between the plains in winter and alpine 

J.M. SUTTIE

J.M. SUTTIE 


Plate 11.25 

Traditional straw storage platform 

and buffalo shelter in the Nepal 

Terai near Tarahara. 

pastures in summer . The upward movement to cooler areas in summer provides 

better fodder and makes use of seasonal alpine and subalpine pastures, 

but it is also almost essential for small stock because they would suffer severely 

from disease and parasites were they to remain on the plains during the hot and 

very humid monsoon season. Overwintering in or near farming areas in the 

warm plains has several advantages: herders can buy crop residues (see Plate 

11.25), feed grain and fodder and graze stubbles; they are close to markets for 

stock and produce, and can often find seasonal employment. Sedentary groups 

may send stock to summer pastures when these are accessible. Transhumants 

must herd their flocks through or between farms and forest land to reach their 

seasonal grazing pastures. In places that receive the monsoon, designated areas 

are set aside through the monsoon periods and, after the rains, hay is made 

from over-ripe herbage; it is of very low quality but is nevertheless highly 

prized. The grasslands, including hayfields, are extremely steep and trekking 

routes are difficult. 

Herders and herding ethnic groups tend to specialize in either large or small 

ruminants; small stock are more important in the dry areas. Camels are raised 

in Afghanistan and Pakistan ’s Balochistan , and are used as transport to highland

448 


grazing , but are not used further east. Yak are important in Ladakh in India , 

Nepal and Bhutan , and a few are present in the coldest parts of Afghanistan 

and Pakistan. In Bhutan and eastern India, some mithun (Bos gaurus ) and their 

crosses with cattle are raised. Buffalo are kept in some farming areas, but are far 

more important on the plains. Indigenous breeds are used throughout, except 

in some urban areas, notably Quetta, where Afghan refugees have brought 

exotic black -and-white cattle and management skills. 

In Nepal and Bhutan , buffalo graze the lowest pastures, cattle slightly higher, 

cattle × yak hybrids the high pastures, and pure yak the highest. Seasonal 

movements mean that the winter pastures of one group may be the summer 

pastures of that below. 

It is generally agreed that Himalayan pastures are overstocked and degraded 

(Plate 11.23), although there is little historical evidence as to their former state. 

Regulations concerning forest grazing , stock numbers, seasons for using various 

pastures, as well as grazing fees, were codified in the late nineteenth century 

for India (including present-day Pakistan ), but with increasing population and 

political pressure these rules are not always observed. 

India 

The Himalayan lands have been described above. This is based on Misri (1999). 

India has the largest cattle herd of any country, 226 million (FAOSTAT, 2004) 

and also has 97 million buffalo; these are mainly raised by sedentary groups 

and fed on opportunistic grazing , crop residues and, in some cases, usually 

irrigated , fodder. The irrigated tracts of northern India have intensive fodder 

production for stall-fed stock, and a similar situation is found in the irrigated 

tracts of Pakistan . 

The grazing of animals takes place on a variety of grazing lands . Pastures and 

grasslands have often resulted from degradation and destruction of forests until 

savannahs are formed. True pastures as climax vegetation are found only in subalpine 

and alpine pastures in the higher altitudes of the Himalayas. Dabadghao 

and Shankaranarayan (1973) have grasslands classified into five types . 

• Sehima – Dichanthium grasslands are spread over the Central Indian plateau, 

Chota Nagpur plateau and Aravallis. The elevation ranges between 300 

and 1 200 m. 

• Dichanthium – Cenchrus – Lasiurus grasslands cover northern parts of 

Gujarat, Rajasthan, Aravalli ranges, southwestern Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and 

Punjab. The elevation ranges between 150 and 300 m. 

• Phragmites – Saccharum – Imperata grasslands are in the Gangetic plains, 

the Brahamputra Valley and the plains of Punjab. The elevation ranges 

between 300 and 500 m. 

• Themeda – Arundinella grasslands are found in the States of Manipur, 

Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and 

Kashmir. The elevation ranges between 350 and 1 200 m.

J.M. SUTTIE 


• Temperate – Alpine grasslands are found above 2 100 m and include the temperate 

and cold arid areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar 

Pradesh, West Bengal and the northeastern states. 

The transhumant system is prevalent in the Himalayan region. However, 

this system still exists in some states situated in the plains, such as Rajasthan 

(which abuts on similar desert zones of Pakistan ), Madhya Pradesh, Tamil 

Nadu, Gujrat and Uttar Pradesh. 

The rural system involves free grazing on community grazing lands and 

forests, supplemented with green fodder cultivated in the farmer’s fields . 

During lean periods, such as summer and autumn , tree leaf fodder is also 

used. These monsoon grasslands are only productive during the rainy season, 

and the dry season is long and severe; their feeding quality, like that of 

all grasslands with marked wet and dry seasons, is mediocre when they are 

young and poor thereafter. 

Pakistan 

The Himalayan lands have been described above. In the arid regions of 

Pakistan (Dost, 1998) complexity, variability and uncertainty characterize the 

grazing systems . Livestock grazing practices in the Thal, Cholistan, Kohistan 

and Tharparkar desert areas are similar. In early winter , people leave their 

villages in search of better grazing and migrate into irrigated areas. In the early 

monsoon season, when forage is abundant, during July–November, they return 

to their villages and leave their animals to graze. Private livestock are allowed to 

Plate 11.26 

Sheep grazing stubble , with Acacia nilotica on field edges, in the Punjab, 

Pakistan .

450 

Plate 11.27 

Delivering fodder to urban livestock, Punjab, Pakistan 

Plate 11.28 

Harvesting oat fodder, Punjab, Pakistan . 


graze state-owned rangelands after paying nominal grazing fees. Cattle , sheep , 

goats and camels graze the Tharparker and Kohistan rangelands, but buffalo 

are not common. The great majority of large ruminants, however, are not kept 

on grazing lands but in the agricultural tracts, mainly on irrigated holdings, 

where they can graze after crops are harvested (see Plate 11.26); usually they 

J.M. SUTTIE 

J.M. SUTTIE


are stall-fed on crop residues (see Plate 11.27), cultivated fodder (which is 

grown on a very large scale, for example fodder oats – see Plate 11.28) and, 

for commercial dairying, concentrates. Production systems involving intensive 

fodder production are described by Dost (2003). Pakistan has some 25 million 

buffalo (India and Pakistan combined have 71% of the world’s buffalo) and 23 

million cattle (FAOSTAT, 2004), largely fed on-farm . 

THE NEAR EAST 

Syrian Arab Republic 

The country is largely pastoral , with 45 percent of its land being grazing 

and pasture and 20 percent desert (Masri, 2001). The climate is typically 

Mediterranean and precipitation is low, decreasing towards the interior. Most 

of the grazing land is in the semi -desert and desert (badia ) with less than 

200 mm rainfall; there is a little mountain grazing; plains with over 200 mm 

rainfall are now under rainfed crops . Cattle are kept in the agricultural areas 

but are absent from the main grazing lands. 

From earliest times until the end of the Second World War, Syria n grazing 

lands were under tribal control , population density was low and the herders 

were nomadic, moving seasonally with their flocks. Pastoral communities 

evolved codes of laws and customs and the organization of groups and subgroups 

based on family relationship. Each group used to maintain grazing 

rights on certain resources in its traditional land as hema (pasture reserved for 

use in drought or emergency) and negotiated when necessary with the other 

groups for movement of its livestock to areas of more favourable climatic conditions 

during periods of drought. The chief was the first among equals, and 

unanimously obeyed and respected by members. The social structure of the 

pastoral groups was close to a cooperative organization. 

Large areas of grazing land were only accessible once the autumn rains had 

fallen, and herds had to leave them once surface supplies of water ran out, so 

the pastures were rested for a long period of the year. There was no external 

feed source so stock numbers were limited to what could be carried through 

the lean season on available pasture and water. There was no rainfed cropping 

on marginal lands. 

After the war, the situation changed rapidly. The central authorities 

became much stronger and the tribal system was disintegrating. Motor transport, 

introduced during the war, allowed transport of goods, water and feed, 

making large areas of grazing accessible for much of the year. Grazing land 

was nationalized and became an open -access resource with no supervision 

over its use. Settlement of the Bedouin became official policy; this greatly 

improved their access to medical care, education, water and other services, 

and led on the one hand to a rapidly increasing population, and on the other a 

great reduction in mobile herding . Cheap cereals allowed increasing numbers 

of stock to be kept through the lean season.

452 

Plate 11.29 

Syrian rangeland has become degraded due to overgrazing. 


Marginal land was increasingly cleared for rainfed cropping. Yields are low 

and uncertain; if they seem too low or the crop is unlikely to mature because of 

drought , it will be grazed. Clearing of grazing land was encouraged by granting 

land rights to those who developed it. 

Sheep are the main grazing livestock; the only local breed, the Awasii , is a 

milch sheep that is well adapted to harsh desert conditions, and its fat tail provides 

a reserve of nutrients for periods of feed shortage. They graze in the badia 

from late autumn till late spring , with supplements, then they migrate to the 

rainfed and irrigated areas, clearing all crop residues (cereal, cotton, beet and 

summer vegetables) before returning again to the badia. The main constraint to 

sheep production is degradation of grazing land (Plate 11.29), which increases 

dependency on supplementary feed. 

The subsidized state feed policy puts pressure on the already degraded 

pasture through an increase in sheep numbers, which get most of their food as 

concentrates but continue to eat any available herbage. The sheep population 

was 2.9 million in 1961; it rose to 5.5 million in 1971, 10.5 million by 1981 and 

peaked at 15.5 million in 1991; it then fell to just over 10 million, and for the 

past seven years has been just over 13 million (FAOSTAT, 2004). Goats are the 

MARZIO MARZOT


second most numerous livestock; their numbers rose from 439 000 in 1961 to 

1 million in 1981, and have remained at that level. Two main types of goat are 

kept; the Shami goat is a milch breed, and they are kept around homesteads; the 

other is the mountain goat, which grazes in the mountain ranges. 

Before the Second World War the Syrian badia was in good condition , 

climax plants like Salsola vermiculata , Atriplex leucoclada , Artemisia herbaalba 

and Stipa barbata were widespread and flocks of gazelle were present. 

Herders went to the badia with the onset of rains in autumn and had to leave 

when the water supply dried up in late Spring. Range livestock depended 

on grazing until 1958, when concentrate feeds were introduced. The rate of 

concentrate use increased to 25, 50 and 75 percent in the 1960s, 1970s and 

1980s, respectively. 

Jordan 

About 90 percent, or 80 771 km 2 , of the Kingdom is grazing land , 69 077 km 2 of 

which receives less than 100 mm of rainfall , and 1 000 km 2 of marginal grazing 

with 100–200 mm annual rainfall. Natural and man-made forests cover 760 km 2 , 

out of 1 300 km 2 registered as forests (Al-Jaloudy, 2001). There are also about 

500 km 2 of state-owned land used for grazing in mountainous areas. 

The average altitude of the highlands ranges from 600 m in the north to 

1 000 m in the middle and 1 500 m in the south. There is a semi -arid zone (350– 

500 mm annual rainfall ) with a small subhumid zone (over 500 mm annual rainfall). 

The Arid Zone comprises the plains between the badia and the highlands. 

Rainfall ranges between 200 mm in the east and 350 mm in the west. Rainfed 

crops are mainly barley (in areas with 200–300 mm rainfall) wheat and fruit trees 

(in areas with between 300 and 350 mm rainfall). Badia (Eastern Desert ), which 

covers about 8 million hectares – 90 percent of the Kingdom – has very sparse 

vegetation cover and an annual rainfall of less than 200 mm. In the past it was 

only used for grazing . In the last two decades, however, 20 000 ha have been 

irrigated , using underground water. 

Jordan is on the eastern margins of the Mediterranean climatic zone. This 

climate is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters; more than 

90 percent of the country receives less than 200 mm annual precipitation . 

There are four bioclimatic zones . 

• Mediterranean: This region is restricted to the highlands from 700–1750 m 

above sea level. The rainfall ranges from 300–600 mm. The minimum annual 

temperature ranges from 5° to 10°C. 

• Irano-Turanian: A narrow strip that surrounds all the Mediterranean ecozone 

except in the north; it is treeless . The vegetation is mainly small shrubs and 

bushes such as Artemisia herba-alba , and Anabasis syriaca . Altitudes range 

from 500 to 700 m, and rainfall ranges from 150 to 300 mm. 

• Saharo-Arabian: This is the eastern desert or badia and comprises almost 

80 percent of Jordan . It is flat except for a few hills or small volcanic moun-

454 


tains. Altitude is in the 500–700 m range. The mean annual rainfall ranges 

from 50 to 200 mm, and mean annual minimum temperatures range from 

15° to 2°C. Vegetation is dominated by small shrubs and small annuals in 

the wadi beds. 

• Sudanian : It starts from the northern part of the Dead Sea and ends at the tip 

of the Gulf of Aqaba. The vegetation is characterized by a tropical tree element, 

such as Acacia spp. and Ziziphus spina-christi , in addition to some shrubs and 

annual herbs. 

Badia (semi -desert ) 

The most significant use of this zone is pastoralism. Sheep and goats graze 

the forage produced on the desert range in the short period following rainfall ; 

precipitation is less than 100 mm/year, which falls off towards the east and the 

south till it reaches 50 mm or less. Most are state lands. Artemisia herba- alba, 

Retama raetam , Achillea fragrantissim a and Poa bulbosa are common in the 

wadi beds, while the unpalatable Anabasis sp. is present in most places. Despite 

its deterioration , this is the main grazing land of Jordan . The average annual 

dry matter production is 40 kg/ha in normal years; this can rise to 150 kg/ha 

in protected areas and range reserves . Steppes were used generally for grazing, 

but it is estimated that about 90 percent of the steppe has been privatized and 

ploughed for barley. 

There are estimated to be 2 200 000 head of sheep and goats in Jordan . 

Nomadic grazing has declined to less than 10 percent of the sheep and goats, 

which belong to less than 5 percent of herders. The ratio of semi -settled herds 

has increased to more than 70 percent of sheep and goats. The remaining small 

ruminants (about 20 percent) follow a system that is mixed with agriculture, 

especially in the west of the Kingdom. 

Small ruminant production systems developed gradually in the middle of 

the past century as a result of a number of changes: increasing settlement of 

the nomadic Bedouin in the marginal areas; a change to sheep and goat raising 

instead of camels ; deterioration of traditional grazing systems (eastward 

and westward trips); spread of the use of vehicles for movement of flocks and 

equipment; and increased dependence on imported feed. 

The traditional mobile system prevails in the arid to semi -arid east and 

south. Herds move from one place to another, on foot or by truck, looking for 

grazing or water. The sheep depend on natural herbage as their main source of 

feed, in addition to the feed given in winter for a period that varies with availability 

of herbage. 

In the semi -nomadic system, sheep depend partially on grazing and crop 

by-products. They move to land adjacent to the fields and spend the winter 

around the houses, where they survive on the feed given to them. 

In the settled (semi -extensive ) system, stock are kept in fattening units but 

graze in the morning and return to their units in the afternoon. They feed on


crop by-products and the adjacent natural grazing . Supplementary feed is given 

as required. 

In the intensive system, sheep are kept on permanent farms with modern 

facilities and equipment. They are given balanced feed, and health care is provided. 

Existing statistics indicate that there are 2 200 000 small ruminants, which 

depend for half their food requirements on imported feed. Natural grazing supplies 

only 25–30 percent of their requirements, as its productivity has declined 

to half of its potential and the area has decreased. In the past, the availability of 

fodder and water, and the search for them, were the limiting factors for movement 

of herds. Nowadays, food and water are transported to herds wherever 

they are, and it is possible to quickly transport the herds themselves. In 1930, 

the sheep herd was 229 100 and remained at a similar level until 1950; by 1970 

it had doubled; and by 1990 had reached 1.5 million, where it currently stands. 

Goat numbers in 1930 were 289 500; they have risen in recent years, to 479 000 

in 1990 and 547 500 in 2003, but to nothing like the extent of sheep, which are 

far better suited to intensive fattening. 

Existing policies are not comprehensive and are incompatible with national 

needs and development plans. Feed subsidy policies from the 1980s until 1997 

brought about the unusual increase in sheep and goats numbers and the deterioration 

in local production of feed. Also allocation of wide tracts of the best 

range to private ownership caused their deterioration and desertification. 

Pastoral communities informally claim common tribal rights and enjoy free 

access and use of natural resources in their rangelands, but these claims are 

only recognized in settled areas. In all the unsettled areas the state asserts ownership 

regardless of customary tribal claims. State claims over grazing lands 

changed the traditional welfare system, caused the breakdown of resource 

allocation mechanisms and transformed secured-access rights into securedtenure 

rights. Consequently, customary management rules are often no longer 

being enforced. State appropriation did not deny local communities access to 

their traditional pasture , but favoured a situation of open -access to grazing and 

expansion of barley cultivation . 

EUROPE 

Turkey 

Turkey lies between 36° and 42°N and 26° and 45°E; its pasture area is 

124 000 km 2 but it is declining (Karagöz, 2001). Pastures belong to the state and 

are open for common use. According to the (1998) Pasture Law, grazing will 

be assigned to municipalities or village communities once their boundaries are 

determined and certified; thereafter carrying capacity and duration of grazing 

will be determined for each area, then the villages will be given the right to 

graze the determined and certified areas for a given period with a set number 

of animals.

456 


Turkey has an average altitude of 1 131 m; low (0–250 m), medium (250– 

1 000 m) and high altitude areas (>1 000 m) constitute 10.0, 34.5 and 55.5 percent 

of the country, respectively. The European section is fertile hilly land. The 

Asian part consists of an inner high plateau, with mountain ranges along the 

north and south coasts. 

Average annual temperatures vary between 18° and 20°C on the south coast, 

fall to 14° to 15°C on the west coast, and, depending on elevation, fluctuate 

between 4° and 18°C in the interior. Substantial temperature variations are 

observed between the coast and the interior in winter . Winters are cold in the 

east and interior, but relatively warm on the south coast. Average temperatures 

in January and February are around 0°C in the east, 5° to 7°C on the north and 

west coasts, and 8° to 12°C on the south coast. 

Heavy rainfall is general on mountains facing the sea. Towards the interior, 

rainfall decreases. Rains begin in autumn and continue until late spring on the 

Marmara, Mediterranean and Aegean coasts. In the interior and southeastern 

Anatolia, rainfall is mostly in spring. 

Ruminant livestock consist of 11 million cattle , 29.4 million sheep and 

8 060 000 goats . Cattle numbers have not changed in the last 30 years, while 

sheep, goat and buffalo numbers decreased steadily. Most livestock are still 

under traditional management relying on extensive grazing . Farms are small 

and fragmented, with 85 percent under 10 ha. 

About 71 percent of all pure breeds are in the central-north, Aegean, 

Marmara and central-south regions; elsewhere extensive stock rearing is general, 

with local sheep and cattle breeds. The Mediterranean region is the least 

developed for livestock, but has 25 percent of the goats . 

At the beginning of the twentieth century the population of Turkey was 

12 million, livestock numbers were low and there was no serious pasture management 

problem. After the First World War, there were 440 000 km 2 of natural 

grazing and about 20 million livestock units. After the Second World War, 

animal numbers remained the same, but grazing was reduced to 430 000 km 2 . 

Since then there has been a sharp increase in animal numbers and decrease in 

pasture. The trend continues; nowadays the number of animals grazing on 

Turkey’s pastures is three to four times their carrying capacity (Figure 11.1 

shows the changes in pasture area in Turkey). 

The most productive pastures are in the east of the Black Sea region, where 

herders move in transhumance between lowland and alpine grasslands. East 

Anatolia has 37 percent of the pasture , grazing pressure is lower, so pasture 

condition is better; transhumance is also practiced here. Southeast Anatolia 

is one of the most heavily grazed zones ; pastures dry out at the end of June; 

some of the livestock are moved to eastern Anatolia or to high mountains of 

the southeastern Taurus. In Mediterranean and Aegean Regions, the principal 

vegetation above 500 m is maquis , which is unsuitable for cattle . About a quarter 

of the goat population is in this region and are taken to higher elevations

MAGNUS HALLING 


Million hectares and percentages 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

1940 1950 1960 

Years 

1980 2000 

Figure 11.1 

Pasture area changes over time in Turkey . 

Plate 11.30 

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa ). 

Million hectares Percent of all land 

for 7–8 months. Marmara is an area of intensive animal husbandry. Central 

Anatolia has the least productive grazing lands ; annual rainfall is between 

250–500 mm; pastures dry out very quickly; grazing pressure is high; and pastures 

are steppic. Central Anatolia is a high plateau with few high mountains, 

so livestock graze fallows and stubble in summer .

458 

Plate 11.31 

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia ). 


The land tenure system is a major constraint to grassland management . 

Common areas are grazed free of charge, so are not managed properly. 

Boundaries of pastures are not clearly determined nor assigned to village 

communities . 

The number of people in agriculture declined to 34 percent in 2000. Young 

rural people spend up to ten months annually in cities. Labour requirements 

are met by hiring shepherds or modifying the system to more labour-effective 

strategies. As the rural population declines, specialist animal producers are 

increasing their herd sizes. Rotational grazing is ignored because it requires 

extra investment. Herdsmen are well aware of its benefits, but continue to 

graze all parts of the grasslands from early spring until winter . 

Reduction of fallow has been a major government concern over the past 

25 years, and has given fruitful results in increasing forage and grain legume 

production. The area of fallow was 4 900 000 ha in 1998, compared with 

8 400 000 ha in 1979. 

S.G. REYNOLDS


Alfalfa (Medicago sativa ) has long been grown in Turkey , which is one of the 

centres of genetic diversity of the crop. There are alfalfa fields up to 50 years 

old in the east. “Kayseri” – the oldest registered and most widely used cultivar 

– gives 3-4 cuts under irrigation. Average hay yield of alfalfa is about 7 t/ha. 

It is the major fodder crop of the irrigated areas and is also cultivated under 

rainfed conditions in the east of the country. Alfalfa (Plate 11.30) is replaced by 

sainfoin , Onobrychis viciifolia (Plate 11.31), under rainfed conditions, where it 

is more productive and seed production is much easier. 

This chapter has attempted to cover some important grassland areas to complement 

the main chapters. For more details, reference should be made to the 

FAO Web site or the CD referred to in the opening paragraph. 

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& Paroda, 2004, q.v. 

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ORSTOM, No. 35. 440 p. 

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Maghreb. pp. 53–91, in: Suttie and Reynolds, 2004, q.v. 

Coulibally, A. 2003. Pasture Profile for Mali . See: http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/ 

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AGPC/doc/Counprof/Pakistan.htm 

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by CIRAD, France, and ICARDA, Syria . 426 p. 

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Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 33. 251 p. 

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file=/DOCREP/006/AD347E/AD347E00.htm

Grassland perspectives 463 

Chapter 12 

Grassland perspectives 

INTRODUCTION 

Most high quality grassland is now converted to crops , mixed farming or 

artificial pastures, so extensive grazing is a way of making economic use of 

grassland that is not suited to more intensive agricultural enterprises. It follows 

that investment in such grasslands should be kept to the minimum necessary 

for their profitable and sustainable exploitation by livestock, whether they be 

managed commercially or traditionally. 

GRASSLAND SYSTEMS 

The main chapters have reviewed a wide and representative variety of grasslands 

in a range of climates, from cold continental to the Equator. Five – eastern 

Africa , southern Africa, Mongolia , the Tibetan Steppe and the Russian Steppe – 

are ancient grazing lands . The remaining four have been settled and stocked 

in relatively recent times: Patagonia , the Campos , central North America and 

Australia . Some are used by traditional, partly subsistence systems ; eastern 

Africa and part of southern Africa are managed traditionally; and Mongolia 

has reverted to subsistence herding . Patagonia, the Campos, the Great Plains 

and Australia are managed commercially. Three areas, Mongolia, the Tibetan 

Plateau and Russia , have undergone collectivization and decollectivization 

during the past century. Most of the systems described have some interaction 

with crop production and fodder production or agropastoralism, for, at 

farm or regional level, grazing lands and crop production are often mutually 

dependent, but Mongolia, Tibet Autonomous Region, China and, to a lesser 

degree, Patagonia are purely pastoral . 

Of the systems described briefly in Chapter 11, West Africa and Madagascar 

are tropical , traditional systems; North Africa , the Syrian Arab Republic and 

Jordan are subtropical semi -arid areas where transhumant herding had been 

traditional but where breakdown of traditional authority and grazing systems , 

aggravated by sedentarization, cheap cereals and motor transport, has led to very 

severe pasture degradation . The South American systems – the Gran Chaco , the 

Pampas and the Llanos – are commercial systems of relatively recent settlement. 

Central Asia and China (at least its northern and western grazing lands ), which 

are contiguous, were areas of transhumant herding, but systems have been disturbed, 

first by collectivization and then by decollectivization, which has followed 

very different paths in the two areas. The Hindu Kush-Himalaya zone, 

which has both sedentary and transhumant systems on the same grasslands, is 

under severe stress due to population increase. Turkey was a pastoral country, 

but much of the grasslands have been developed for increasingly commercial

464 


crop production, without a concomitant reduction in livestock numbers. 

THE STATE OF THE GRASSLANDS 

The condition of the world’s grasslands is very varied but, in many cases, it is 

far from satisfactory. Long-term historical data on pasture is scarce in most 

areas, so the degree of change or degradation has to be inferred from present 

condition. 

In all but the coldest and driest zones , large areas of the better land have 

been cleared for crops , leaving the poorer pasture to extensive stock rearing; in 

traditional areas of subsistence farming this is due to increasing human population 

among agricultural groups; elsewhere expansion of crops into marginal 

lands has been in the hope of profit, which has often not been realized. Most 

of the world’s grasslands are on poor quality land: according to Buringh and 

Dudal (1987), only about one-sixth of the world’s grasslands are on high and 

medium category land, while the remaining five-sixths are on low to zero 

classes, so the potential for further clearing of grassland for sustainable cropping 

seems low. 

Cultivation of grassland has led to problems of access to water for stock and 

wildlife , loss of lean season grazing , obstruction of migration routes and fragmentation 

of wildlife habitat . Increasing population pressure and poverty, especially 

in the savannah zones of Africa, has driven subsistence cultivators further 

into the drylands; it is usually the best soils and areas along watercourses and 

other water sources that are developed first; these have usually been lean-season 

or emergency grazing lands of pastoral groups and their clearing can upset grazing 

systems , and leads to degradation of the remaining grassland. 

Crop production is not the sole invasive use of grasslands: forestation can 

bar migration routes as can fencing for game exclusion (or protection); declaration 

of game reserves in pastoral areas can affect herding , and mining and oil 

extraction also cause damage. 

In eastern Africa , pastoral systems are contracting through the expansion of 

cropping, and grassland is increasingly being integrated into farming systems. 

National land tenure legislation is not related to traditional grazing rights and 

puts pastoralism at a disadvantage compared with crops . The pastoral vegetation 

, however, is resilient, and recovers well after drought . 

In South Africa also, much of the better grassland in commercial areas has 

been cleared for annual cropping, and in communal areas the better watered 

land has been converted into a patchwork of crops and thicket. The grassland 

vegetation is generally resilient, although there is some degradation in the driest 

areas. Bush encroachment is a problem in many vegetation types . Low returns 

from extensive commercial stock rearing in dry areas is leading to depopulation, 

and in some cases enterprises are changing to game ranching. 

The human population of West Africa has increased greatly so the grassland 

has decreased and nearly all the cultivable grassland in the better watered areas,


as well as vast tracts of semi -arid marginal land, are now under subsistence 

crops . Tribal authority, which had regulated grazing practice, broke down in 

many countries once they gained their independence, leaving grassland as an 

open -access resource. 

In North Africa , human population has increased greatly and traditional 

authorities and grazing rights have broken down. Much semi -arid land has 

been ploughed for unsustainable annual cropping. Livestock numbers have 

risen and more can be carried through the lean season through the use of 

purchased – at one time subsidized – cereals and concentrates. Transhumance 

cycles are mostly greatly curtailed or herds have become sedentary. Uprooting 

of shrubs for fuel causes severe damage. All the grazing land is overstocked and 

degraded, often seriously so. 

The situation in Patagonia contrasts sharply with that of East and South 

Africa . In a little over a century from the introduction of sheep ranching, the 

vegetation has been severely modified by overgrazing, mainly in the past fifty 

years. Ranching is on private land with vast paddocks and little grazing control 

within them. Guidelines for pasture management were only developed in the 

1980s and have yet to make a strong impact. 

The Campos is relatively well watered, and all stock rearing is commercial. 

Pasture technology is well developed. Introduced forages are used to palliate 

seasonal fluctuations in fodder availability and quality, either as sown pasture 

or by over-seeding. The value of properly managed native pasture is increasingly 

appreciated. Grasslands are generally in good condition . 

The well drained parts of the Pampas are now farmland, where field crops 

are often in rotation with sown pasture . The flooding pampa s is still exploited 

as grazing land , producing stock for fattening elsewhere. 

Many of the pastures of the Gran Chaco deteriorated seriously during 

the twentieth century; before 1920 it had been almost unmanaged extensive 

grazing . Provision of watering points allowed far more of the vegetation to be 

consumed, leaving little to carry fire . This, together with uncontrolled felling 

of forest led to invasion by undesirable thorny vegetation. Bush encroachment 

brought about by overstocking and lack of grazing management is very serious, 

leading to erosion, loss of wildlife habitat , and greatly reduced livestock 

production. The economics of herbicides and mechanical clearing are not clear. 

In most subtropical areas of extensive grazing, the strategic use of pasture resting 

and controlled fire is the only economic way of keeping bush in check. 

In the grasslands of Central North America the better-watered tall-grass 

prairie is now mostly under crops . Vast areas of drier land have also been 

cleared for cropping; much was marginal for crop production and suffers from 

periodic drought , which led to the “dust bowl” of the 1930s. Much of the 

marginal cropland has been reseeded or forested, with considerable government 

support. Low returns from farming and the isolation of many rural communities 

is resulting in urban drift. The modern trend is towards larger-scale

466 


landscape management , now that information collection and manipulation 

technology are available. 

Central Asia was traditional transhumant herding country until the early 

twentieth century but, with collectivization, mobile herding ceased in the 

1930s. Fine-wool sheep were encouraged during the soviet era but these are 

much less hardy than local breeds. Later the usefulness of seasonal movement 

was recognized and land in different seasonal zones was allocated to cooperatives 

and state farms . Heavy grazing and firewood collection have seriously 

reduced vegetation cover and the natural grazing has become degraded, with a 

loss of productivity and desertification; destruction of forests and shrubs has 

led to wind erosion. The impact of decollectivization on livestock production 

systems , grassland management and herder’s livelihoods has been dramatic and 

negative. Large agro-food complexes were dismantled and cooperative farms 

were privatized. Marketing systems collapsed and many traditional markets 

were lost. There has been a sharp decline in stock numbers in some of the 

countries. The reforms led to a massive shift from collective to household 

herds; often household stock numbers are too few to warrant independent 

herding and communal or family herding has not yet developed; this often 

leads to stock remaining, unsupervised, close to homesteads: nearby pastures 

are overgrazed while distant ones are hardly used. 

Mongolia is almost entirely pastoral ; small areas that were cleared for 

cropping during the collective period have mostly been abandoned for 

economic reasons. Decollectivization distributed the livestock to cooperative 

members without clarifying grazing rights , which led to considerable confusion 

and lack of overall management of the pastoral resource. The people returned 

to mobile herding – as hardy local breeds had been maintained throughout 

Plate 12.1 

Pastoral scene near Arkhangai, Mongolia . 

S.G. REYNOLDS

ALICE CARLONI 

ALICE CARLONI 


Plate 12.2 

Watering camels in Mongolia . 

Plate 12.3 

Mongolia , land largely used by wildlife , with salt lake in the distance. 

the collective period. As rural infrastructure deteriorated there has been 

considerable migration of people and their herds towards the central provinces, 

especially from the west. There is localized overgrazing near main roads and 

settlements, while more distant pastures are often underutilized. Overall pasture 

condition is satisfactory (Plate 12.1) and the vegetation resilient, even after the 

consecutive droughts of recent years. Pumped water supplies (Plate 12.2) have

468 


fallen into disrepair over large areas so these tracts are less used by herders, to 

the benefit of wildlife (Plate 12.3). 

The livestock industry in China , including extensive grazing , was collectivized 

in the 1950s, but herds were still managed in transhumant systems . After 

decollectivization, livestock was allocated to families and grazing land has also 

been distributed according to the 1985 law. The allocation of relatively small 

areas of semi -arid grassland to families has greatly reduced herd mobility . This 

may have been a contributing factor in the serious deterioration of the country’s 

grazing lands. Currently, 90 percent of grassland shows signs of deterioration, 

of which moderately degraded grassland is 32.5 percent. The government 

is taking vigorous measures to deal with grassland degradation through its 

Planning Programme of National Ecological Environment Construction and 

Outline of Fifteenth Ten-Year Plan. Like elsewhere in China, Tibet ’s grasslands 

suffered from a very sharp increase in stock numbers at the onset of collectivization 

in the mid-twentieth century. Numbers stabilized, but pasture condition 

is mediocre. The grasslands have been allocated to families in relatively small 

units and it remains to be seen how effective management will be of small areas 

of semi-arid risk -prone grassland. 

In the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region there is extreme pressure on such 

extensive grazing lands as remain. The alpine pastures do get a seasonal rest 

during snow cover, but elsewhere there is constant grazing (except on seasonally 

closed hay land) from sedentary stock owners, and periodic grazing by 

transhumants. Because of the very high human population, all possible land has 

been cleared for crop production. 

The situation in the Near East is similar to that in North Africa . Breakdown 

of tribal authority led to the disruption of traditional grazing rights and migration 

patterns. Purchased feed and availability of transport and water supplies 

enabled much larger numbers of stock to be kept through the lean season, and 

pastures were no longer rested once surface water supplies ran out. The human 

population and livestock numbers have multiplied. Much semi -arid pasture has 

been ploughed for unproductive cropping. Uprooting of bushes for fuel is very 

damaging to the pastoral vegetation . 

Turkey has changed in the past century from a mainly pastoral country 

to one where crop production is very important. This meant a great reduction 

in the area of grassland , but there was no concomitant reduction in livestock, 

which increased in numbers. Later intensification of cropping systems 

replaced grazed fallow with pulses and other cash crops , further reducing 

grazing resource s . Turkey’s pastures are now stocked well above their carrying 

capacity . The land tenure system is a major constraint to grassland management 

. Common areas are grazed free of charge, so are not managed properly. 

Boundaries of pastures are not clearly determined nor assigned to village communities 

. Labour is becoming scarce in pastoral areas as people move to towns, 

so flocks are not well herded.


The grasslands of the Russian steppe were increasingly cleared for crops 

during the twentieth century; initially crops rotated with tumble-down fallow , 

but later the cropping cycle became more intensive. Meadows in floodplains 

and depressions remained an important source of hay . Stock were mainly 

housed during the collective period. The system has yet to stabilize following 

decollectivization, but herds are fragmented and are left to graze at will, leading 

to overgrazing close to homesteads while distant pastures are neglected. 

The studies concentrate on domestic livestock, but most mention the other 

grazers, which are important in natural grassland ecosystems – ranging from 

large ruminants and marsupials to the rodents and lagomorphs that are major 

herbivores in many cool, semi -arid situations. Wildlife plays an important role 

in maintaining some grasslands, such as in eastern Africa , where the presence 

of elephants and fire are important. 

GRASSLAND DEVELOPMENT , IMPROVEMENT AND REHABILITATION 

Most grasslands, whether commercially or traditionally managed, have required 

some development inputs to make stock-rearing possible or more efficient. All 

grazing resource s have to be taken into account and these cover much more 

than the herbaceous stratum. 

Grassland resources 

Water 

Water is the major determining factor in stock management in most extensive 

grazing lands ; in areas dependent on seasonal surface water, stock must move out 

once sources have dried. Improvement of water supply by creating water points 

or improving existing ones, and clearing of undesirable vegetation to allow free 

access for stock and better grass growth, are common to both systems , and 

provision of minerals or traditional salt licks is frequent. Water availability is a 

factor in determining many migration patterns in mobile systems. In both East 

and West Africa , traditional rules govern pastoral water use, and in very dry 

areas water is a more important resource than is grazing. In areas with very cold 

winters, as noted in the Mongolia study, surface water freezes; wells provide 

water, but, in their absence, herders may have to extract water from below ice, 

melt snow or have stock eat snow to find water – in severe winter weather 

events, dehydration may be as damaging to stock as lack of food. 

Without water development , stock would be limited to areas close to permanent 

sources of water throughout the dry season , and large areas of grassland 

would not be useable for livestock production. From ancient times, stock 

watering points have been developed to assure year-round water supply within 

a group ’s grazing area or to make grazing land accessible. Access to water is 

mentioned as a limiting factor to use of some grazing areas in South Africa . 

According to the South American studies, creation of water supplies has made 

stock rearing possible in large areas of Patagonia and the Gran Chaco , and

470 


the importance of water development is stressed in Australia . Conversely, the 

breakdown of mechanized wells after decollectivization has rendered large 

tracts of Mongolia inaccessible to domestic livestock. The type of livestock 

affects the frequency of water; camels are by far the hardiest, whereas most 

cattle and small stock can only graze for about two days away from water in 

hot, dry climates. 

Techniques in commercial systems vary according to available water supplies 

and include: wells and boreholes (artesian or pumped); dams and ponds; 

and pumping and piping from water bodies. Traditional systems include wells, 

which are important in the Sahel and parts of East Africa – those of the Borana 

are particularly well developed. Various methods of water harvesting and storage 

are used in semi -arid areas, including birka (cisterns) in Somalia and hafir 

(dug tanks) in several Arabic countries. 

Creation of water points has been widely used, especially in Africa, as a 

means of making new pastures available to traditional herders, often with the 

intention of reducing pressure on existing grassland . Even if rules for water use 

and grazing management are drawn up, it is difficult to enforce them, especially 

in times of stress. Concentration of stock around permanent water points is 

given as a cause of pasture degradation in many of the studies – in both commercial 

and traditional systems . 

Water is sometimes transported by truck, which is expensive, but if, as is 

the case in Syria and Jordan , the pasture is being used as hard standing for 

herds fattened on bought feed, it can be profitable, whatever the effect on any 

remaining vegetation . 

In a few cases (Mongolia , Russia ) water-spreading is sometimes used to 

improve grass growth, especially for haymaking . Irrigation is frequently used, 

mainly in commercial systems , to grow fodder, usually for conservation . 

Natural salt-licks 

Natural salt-lick (deposits or salt springs that animals lick) are valued in 

many zones of extensive grassland and are used by both livestock and grazing 

wildlife . Herders in, for example, sub-Saharan Africa and Mongolia take their 

herds long distances for periodic access to licks. Salt is, of course, commonly 

given to livestock, either alone or in proprietary blocks that may contain 

other minerals. Where herbage is deficient in minerals, which are essential 

to animal growth, their well -being and productivity suffers. Phosphorus 

deficiency is widespread and is especially acute in sub-Saharan Africa. Several 

minor elements may be deficient in localized areas: the pastures of the Kenya 

Rift Valley between Nakuru and Naivasha were notorious for poor livestock 

performance; this “Nakuritis” was diagnosed as cobalt deficiency and has since 

been found on many other grasslands.


Trees and shrubs 

Trees and shrubs are important features of many grasslands, especially of 

savannahs. Some are very useful, others are invasive weeds. Trees provide 

valuable shade in hot climates and seasons and they give shelter in winter . Some 

trees are browsed and may be lopped for fodder – their fruits can also provide 

valuable feed. A wide range of genera is involved and their management is 

still poorly understood; the tolerance of most woody species to stock-feeding 

regimes and lopping still needs study, although a good deal of work has been 

done on Leucaena . Woody vegetation provides branches and poles for building 

and making corrals and firewood. Where firewood is scarce, excessive cutting 

causes serious environmental damage, as in steppic conditions, where much 

damage is due to uprooting sub-shrubs for fuel. Some trees provide fruit which 

is valued by local people – such trees may be retained selectively and given 

some protection. Woody vegetation is, however, often invasive, especially in 

tropical and sub-tropical conditions; bush encroachment is generally taken as a 

sign of poor management and overgrazing; this is dealt with below. 

Pasture development methods 

Clearing 

After water supply, clearing is a common part of developing extensive grassland 

for grazing . Where land is being developed for crops or sown pasture , clearing 

may involve some removal of stones, termite hills and other obstructions, but, 

for extensive grazing, clearing usually involves removing or thinning woody 

vegetation to improve access and grass growth or to reduce tsetse fly habitat . In 

traditional systems , fire is the commonest agent for clearing or controlling trees 

and shrubs. Specialized equipment is used for large-scale commercial clearing 

– tree-pushers, drag chains, bulldozers, root ploughs and root rakes, and, for 

shrubs, various rollers and shredders; the debris may be burnt. The degree 

of clearing or thinning will depend on the original vegetation and the use to 

which it is put, but it is usually partial and selective, leaving useful trees, shade 

and shelter. Selective clearing has been used to reduce tsetse habitat. Woodland 

destruction for pasture development is now recognized as environmentally 

undesirable, although it continues on a fairly large scale in the Amazon basin. 

Strategic thinning of woody vegetation has a role in pasture development and 

improvement , but it must be done within the context of the ecosystem involved. 

The Australian study indicates that some leases now restrict tree clearing; it 

also highlights the fact that the removal of trees and their replacement by crops 

and annual pastures has made major changes to the hydrological cycle and can 

lead to serious salination of soils. 

Bush control 

Bush control is necessary in many grassland types ; it is a maintenance activity, 

while bush clearing is development . Bush encroachment usually indicates

472 


faults in the management system and is associated with high grazing pressures ; 

several mechanisms are involved according to vegetation type and management 

system. Unpalatable shrubs may increase when the more palatable ones are 

overgrazed; if little dry herbage remains in the non-growing season there may 

not be hot enough fires to control the bush. Goats browse much more than 

cattle and mixed grazing is probably less favourable to bush establishment than 

cattle alone; goats may be used to browse regrowth after fire . Herbicides are 

used in some commercial systems ; they are favoured in South Africa and used to 

prepare land for over-seeding in the Campos . Bush encroachment is mentioned 

in many of the studies. Indigenous plants are usually involved but alien shrubs 

and trees can be very invasive: the Australian study mentions Acacia nilotica , 

which is a highly respected source of browse and pods in Africa, Pakistan and 

India ; Opuntia spp. are pasture weeds in many areas outside their homeland; 

Prosopis velutina , which has been widely used for revegetation of degraded dry 

areas in parts of Africa, northern India and Pakistan, invades grazing land and 

forms dense thickets; in wetter areas, Lantana camara is a widespread pest; and 

in high-rainfall zones , guava (Psidium spp. ) colonizes grazing land. 

Fire 

Controlled fire is a major factor in determining the composition of grasslands 

and a widespread and powerful tool in grassland management . Its effect depends 

on its intensity, seasonality, frequency and type . The intensity depends on the 

type, structure and abundance of fuel. It is mentioned in most of the studies, 

except in those with more arid climates. Fire is used to remove unpalatable 

grass and enable regrowth and access to the young herbage by grazing stock. 

It often stimulates regrowth and supplies a green bite when most needed. 

Fire is also used, as discussed above, to control woody vegetation . Burning of 

grassland must be carefully controlled and timed, otherwise it can cause serious 

damage; this is not discussed in any of the studies, although planning burning 

and controlling fire is difficult and labour-consuming. Since fire has so severe 

an effect, burning must take the whole ecosystem into account, not only the 

grass and the grazing livestock. Ill-timed fire can have a devastating effect on 

wildlife , including nesting and young birds . Most developed countries have 

regulations governing burning of natural vegetation. For example periodic 

burning is necessary to maintain the Calluna -dominated pastures of the United 

Kingdom; strips are burnt in different years to produce a mosaic of heather 

of different ages. Burning is regulated by law and the season is defined to 

minimize damage to wildlife according to a “Muirburn Code” (The Scottish 

Executive 2003). Uncontrolled fire is, of course, a risk in many areas. It may 

occur spontaneously through lightning strike, but very often it is due to 

careless grassland burning, through fires lit to drive out game or through arson. 

The Mongolia study mentions the care taken by herders to avoid grassland 

fire – in Mongolia’s cold winter there would be no regrowth and burnt herbage


is lost. While too frequent burning is undesirable, long periods between fires 

may in some cases, lead to a build up of combustible material which, if ignited, 

will give a very fierce and destructive fire. 

Fencing 

Fencing is widely used in the development of commercial grazing enterprises 

to delimit properties and subdivide them for ease of management . Block size is 

generally large on low-yielding grasslands since fencing and fence maintenance 

are costly; this can lead to uneven stock distribution. Fences are also used to 

protect forages and hay land within properties. The Patagonia study gives 

an example of protecting high-quality meadows for individual management. 

Fences are not used by traditional herders, but authorities sometimes erect 

fences within traditional grazing lands for disease control . 

Grassland improvement 

“Improvement” of extensive natural grassland by introduction of selected local 

or exotic grasses and legumes has been done experimentally in most of the better-watered 

zones , and is used by some commercial systems ; it is, of course, 

along with sown pasture , common in commercial mixed farming and more 

intensively managed grassland. Techniques usually involve at least temporary 

suppression of the existing vegetation (by fire , hard grazing , herbicides or 

mechanically, alone or in combination) and differing degrees of disturbance of 

the soil surface; fertilizer is often used, and when legumes are introduced to an 

area for the first time inoculation of their seed with the appropriate Rhizobium 

is a wise precaution. 

Choice of species and cultivar to suit climate, soil and ultimate use is very 

important and, while there is a very wide range of genetic material of pasture 

crops available, it may be difficult to match them to new areas. Finding commercial 

quantities of seed of locally adapted cultivars and ecotypes is often 

difficult. Care in management is often needed to assure the longevity of the 

introduced species, and maintenance fertilizer may be required. The success 

of, and in part the need for, over-seeding depends not only on climate and 

soil but also the vigour and aggressiveness of the native vegetation . The studies 

dealing with commercial systems all mention over-seeding. It has been 

successful in Patagonia on an experimental scale, using both indigenous and 

exotic material, but, in such dry conditions, was unlikely to be economically 

viable. In the Campos , over-seeding, especially with exotic temperate species, 

mainly legumes, is successful and the introduction of temperate legumes has a 

very beneficial effect on winter pastures. Pasture improvement is widely used 

in Australia and self-reseeding annuals (especially Medicago spp. and Trifolium 

spp.) have become important in the Mediterranean climatic zone; the selfreseeding 

Stylosanthes humilis was very important in tropical pastures until 

it was wiped out by disease. The South Africa n and North American studies

474 


mention over-seeding for the revegetation of abandoned cropland – a subject 

discussed below. 

Attitudes to over-seeding and the introduction of exotic pasture plants to 

natural grassland ecosystems are changing. The ability to spread and colonize 

in a grazing situation used to be a desirable characteristic of plants for pasture 

improvement – now such plants may be regarded as invasive aliens. 

Fertilizer may be used, with or without reseeding if the botanical composition 

of the sward is appropriate and economics warrant it, and slashing is 

sometimes used to reduce coarse vegetation . 

Grassland rehabilitation 

Degraded grassland is a symptom of weakness in the pastoral production 

system and these weaknesses have to be identified and dealt with before further 

action can be taken. Where rehabilitation of grassland is desirable it should 

be through management methods, with or without water-spreading. Overseeding 

degraded rangeland is rarely an attractive option and reliance has to 

be put on making the most of the recovery of the natural vegetation . Assuring 

even grazing over an area, keeping stock numbers within reasonable limits, and 

avoiding localized overgrazing can all help. 

Degradation of pasture can have effects more serious than reduction of 

available grazing ; increased runoff can lead to flooding and siltation of more 

valuable land and infrastructure lower in the catchment. In such cases action 

may have to be taken to reduce runoff; in severe cases grassland that is a focus 

for runoff and erosion may have to be closed, temporarily or permanently, with 

or without forestation – this is being done on a large scale in China , notable in 

the Yellow River and Yangtze catchments. Many grasslands are very resilient 

and will recover from serious misuse through resting; if, however, change and 

degradation has been very serious, the grassland may have passed the point of 

recovery, and while rest will allow some sort of vegetative cover to develop, it 

will not be as the original grassland. 

Two situations closely allied to grassland rehabilitation are old mining and 

industrial sites and cropland that is being removed from cultivation . Treatment 

of mining sites is a specialized matter. Marginal cropland going out of cultivation 

is mentioned in East and South Africa , North America and Russia . Where 

adapted grasses are available, reseeding may be a better option than relying 

on tumble-down fallow since old crop land may not turn spontaneously to a 

grassland but to weeds or thicket. 

HERD MANAGEMENT 

In commercial systems management generally aims at improving animal 

status and usually concentrates on one, or at the most two, species. Common 

management practices to that end include: dividing herds into categories so 

that they get the appropriate treatment, avoiding underage and unseasonable


breeding; controlling parasites and predators ; providing veterinary care; and using 

and maintaining breeds that suit their land and potential markets. Commercial 

properties are often ring-fenced and divided into paddocks to allow herd division 

and, in some cases, rotational grazing or resting of part of the grassland . 

Choice of species and breed is in part determined by the pasture and the 

climate, but, in commercial systems , market requirements are central and, 

on extensive grazing , beef cattle and sheep predominate. In warmer climates, 

zebus or cattle with some zebu blood, often developed locally, are becomingly 

increasingly popular. Cattle are usually specialized breeds, not dual or 

multipurpose. Sheep breeds commonly raised in Australasia dominate the 

other commercial areas studied. 

Traditional systems , while selling livestock and livestock products, are 

designed primarily to provide subsistence and security to the herders. Livestock 

are usually multipurpose, producing meat , milk , fibre, hides, transport, draught 

and manure, which is also used as fuel in treeless lands. They often keep several 

species, which may be herded separately; this assists in providing a wider 

range of products. In sub-Saharan Africa, many herders keep cattle , sheep and 

goats , but in the drier areas small stock, or in northeast Africa, camels and small 

stock, are kept. In North Africa and western Asia, small stock, especially sheep 

and camels, were general in extensive herding but with the increasing popularity 

of motor transport camels have become much less common. In India and 

Pakistan , buffalo are also herded, but herding groups tend to keep a narrow 

range of stock and specialize in either small or large ruminants. In much of 

Central Asia and Mongolia , herding involves “the five animals” – horses, 

camels, cattle, sheep and goats. There are a number of reasons, in addition to 

widening the range of products, for keeping several species: they may make 

more efficient use of grazing resource s than monospecific grazing, for example, 

goats, horses and camels make better use of shrubs than do cattle or sheep; 

pasture condition may be better maintained if several species are involved; and 

multiple species may also reduce risk . 

Traditional systems use local, hardy, often multi-purpose breeds, which can 

survive and produce under harsh conditions without many external inputs. 

Introduction of blood of “more productive” breeds to herding systems has had 

little effect since such animals are soon weeded out under herding conditions: 

the massive reduction in sheep numbers after decollectivization in those countries 

of the former USSR where “improved ” breeds were kept, contrasts with 

the rise of stock numbers in Mongolia , which had maintained local breeds, during 

the same period. Market demand affects traditional systems also, although 

less so than commercial ones: the main livestock of the Jordanian badia was 

camels , but over the years these have been replaced by sheep fed on bought 

feed; decollectivization in Mongolia coincided with high prices for cashmere 

and goat numbers rose much more sharply than those of other stock.

476 


Plate 12.4 

Fenced areas (exclosures) in Inner Mongolia demonstrate the impact of excessive 

grazing on pasture condition . 

Stocking rates and stock distribution 

Regulation of the stocking rate and managing the spatial and temporal 

distribution of livestock are the basis of grazing management (Plate 12.4). 

The amount of livestock that a particular area of grassland can carry is not 

dependent on its botanical composition alone, since it has to take into account 

the management objectives of the graziers and the availability and siting 

of other grassland resources , notably water. Extensive grassland s are not 

homogeneous but usually show spatial heterogeneity according to moisture 

and fertility gradients. Stock may tend to concentrate on the better grassland 

and ignore poorer sites or those farther from water. Some pastures may be 

suited to grazing at certain seasons or, as in alpine grasslands, only available 

seasonally. Stocking must be seen in the context of the whole area available and 

management decisions made in the light of local knowledge, be it the rancher 

who knows his property well or the herding group with traditional knowledge 

of their grazing grounds: extensive grazing is managed at the landscape rather 

than at the local scale. 

Since the productivity of natural pasture , especially in drier climates, varies 

widely from year to year, the maximum amount of livestock that can be 

raised thereon also varies. Commercial systems usually have stock in paddocks, 

whereas traditional herders move their livestock daily to follow changes in the 

quantity and quality of pasture. Emergency feeding or destocking is expensive: 

commercial enterprises usually have more conservative stocking rates than 

S.G. REYNOLDS


traditional, mobile ones; the latter accept more risk and may be able to move 

to avoid severe forage or water shortages. 

The studies show that there are wide ranges of stocking rates used or 

advocated within areas. With up-to-date technology, most of the commercial 

areas are now able to make more accurate assessment of forage availability 

and grassland condition over wide areas and better estimate safe stocking rates 

and monitor their effect. The Patagonia study shows that early stocking rates 

were far too high and led to serious resource degradation . The Australian 

study shows a surprisingly high estimate of degradation, with over half the 

pastures of northern Australia either degraded or deteriorating. In other studies 

on commercial systems , overstocking has not been a serious problem. The 

eastern Africa n study quotes many conflicting estimates of carrying capacity 

and grassland degradation. However, these have not been based on as detailed 

work as those in commercial areas. In Mongolia , the traditional herding system 

follows a four-season pattern, grazing different pastures at each season, thus 

distributing the grazing load, with strategic short-distance moves, otor , to other 

pasture with different categories of animals as part of the routine and also helping 

to spread grazing and make best use of resources . 

Political changes have affected the movement and management of livestock 

in many herding lands. Decollectivization has affected vast areas of the grazing 

lands of Central Asia and Russia . In Mongolia , collapse of rural infrastructure 

and pumped water supplies have led to many areas remaining ungrazed, and 

lack of security for winter grazing areas can restrict long migrations. In Central 

Asia and the Russian steppe, family herds are now too small to warrant herding, 

so livestock remain close to homesteads, while more distant pastures are 

unused. In Turkey , urban drift has led to a scarcity of people willing to work 

as shepherds – again, distant grasslands are underused. In Africa, civil security 

and stock theft are problems. 

The lean season 

Feed availability is very unevenly distributed throughout the year in areas of 

extensive grasslands, since these generally have a restricted growing season due 

to rainfall or temperature. Managing stock through the lean season is a major 

concern in all the systems described and both traditional and commercial 

stock owners exercise skill and ingenuity in palliating seasonal feed scarcity. 

Situations and strategies vary, as do the causes of the deficit and the types of 

production. 

In warm and tropical climates, the dry season is the main time of feed 

deficit. The problem is not always a lack of standing vegetation , but that many 

tropical grasslands, once mature, provide herbage of very low nutritive value. 

In traditional systems , fodder conservation is almost unknown; stock graze as 

best they can and lose weight through the dry season. In eastern and southern 

Africa, pastoral groups usually remain within their own territory, although

478 


there may be some seasonal movement – they usually have little access to crop 

residues . In West Africa , however, pastoral groups are transhumant , moving 

between the desert edge and the forest fringe ; they frequently have access to 

crop residues. Browse is important in dry-season feeding although this is not 

dealt with in detail in the African chapters. Water is often scarce during the 

dry season and in traditional systems it may be as important as feed. Fodder 

conservation is not part of the feeding strategies of these pastoralists. 

Crop residues , however, are important in many traditional grassland systems 

, especially in agropastoral systems; they are also widely used (with or 

without treatment) in many commercial systems and feedlots. Hay and straw 

conservation and use is discussed in another publication in this series (Suttie, 

2000) and silage making in the tropics by t’Mannetje (2000). 

Lean-season strategies in cold areas depend partly on whether the winters 

are dry or not, and on the depth of snow cover. In areas of summer precipitation 

, such as Mongolia , the grasslands of northern China and the Tibet -Qinghai 

plateau, livestock can graze throughout the winter , although unusual weather 

events can cause severe losses. The herding strategy is to get stock into the best 

possible condition during summer and autumn so that they can survive the 

winter. Transhumance between three or four seasonal pastures is still practised 

in Mongolia; the winter pastures are the key to the annual system; mobility 

gives herders some opportunity to escape adverse weather events. Seasonal destocking, 

which includes both sale of excess stock and slaughter and freezing of 

the stock that will be consumed domestically before the spring thaw, reduces 

Plate 12.5 

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa ) hay being collected for winter feeding of stock in Altai 

Prefecture, Xinjiang , China . 

J.M. SUTTIE


the number of animals that have to overwinter. A little meadow hay is made, 

but its use is limited to a few weak stock; Wang (2003) describes a case where 

herding has been combined with irrigated fodder growing (Plate 12.5), with 

very positive results. Stock may be housed or sheltered at night and during 

severe weather. Such systems are probably inevitable in a subsistence economy 

in situations where complementary fodder is inaccessible and very expensive, 

but it does mean that stock must be bred for hardiness rather than high productivity 

and also that animals are old by the time they reach slaughter weight. 

The Patagonian sheep industry, also in a cold, semi -arid zone, relies on natural 

grazing without supplementation, with set stocking throughout the year. 

In the cattle -raising systems of the northern parts of central North America , 

the common approach is very different from that of traditional systems, and 

winter feeding is widely used, not only because inclement weather may preclude 

grazing but also because the feeding value of natural pasture drops off 

sharply after the growing season. In many cases, natural grassland is used in 

conjunction with arable , and fodder for winter will be produced on-farm ; large 

amounts of alfalfa hay and some cereal hay are used. 

In Mediterranean-type climates, the lean season is the hot, dry summer ; 

in many cases, transhumant systems were used to palliate its effects. These 

have become severely modified and in much of North Africa and Western 

Asia cultivation of semi -arid lands has reduced the available pastures. Many 

countries in this region had subsidized grain sales to herders; meat prices are 

high and purchased grain is still widely used, with stocking rates far in excess 

of anything the grazing lands could support. The use of large quantities of 

feed along with improved water supplies, or trucked water, has had disastrous 

results for the pastoral vegetation . When discussing sustainable development of 

drylands, FAO (1993) points out that improperly managed feeding can be very 

detrimental to pasture condition : 

“Drought and dry -season feeding reserves are a priority in terms of livestock production, but 

can cause overstocking and destruction of rangeland if purchased feed is used to maintain 

excessive grazing pressure on rangeland. Reserves are therefore best organized within the one 

management unit. Government subsidies on feed brought into drylands are especially destructive 

and are best avoided.” 

Stratification 

Stratification of livestock production – generally fattening stock under more 

favourable conditions than those in which they were raised – is widespread 

in commercial systems , and can be a means of reducing the numbers carried 

on pastures through the lean season. It also speeds up the production cycle 

since, if stock are moved to better pastures and feedlots, they avoid the growth 

checks and weight loss associated with extensive grasslands due to scarce, lowquality 

fodder during the lean season. Markets increasingly require meat from 

quickly grown stock. Stratified production systems are generally associated

480 


with the commercial livestock sector; traditional herders have usually less access 

to fattening facilities and many native breeds are less responsive to intensive 

feeding than improved ones. Various systems of stratification and/or feedlots are 

mentioned in the chapters on South Africa , the Campos (where much finishing 

is on better pastures), North America, and Australia . In Russia , indoor feeding 

was the rule. Feedlot fattening of cattle from extensive systems has been carried 

out in Kenya in the past. Small-scale fattening is, of course, common in many 

agropastoral and agricultural systems. In China , where there is an increasing 

demand for meat in the increasingly prosperous urban areas, intensive fattening 

of stock from extensive grasslands has developed. Fattening is done in farming 

areas relatively close to cities where rice straw (fermented with ammonia or 

urea) forms the base of the ration, and cereals and agro-industrial by-products 

are readily available (see Dolberg and Finlayson, 1995; Simpson and Ou, 1996). 

Fattening stock is either local or from the great northern and western grazing 

lands . China has both an expanding market for beef and a sound transport 

system between the grasslands and the fattening areas. 

Stratification of sheep production, although little discussed in the text, is common 

in parts of Europe and probably elsewhere; sheep from the Scottish hills are 

traditionally fattened in the lowlands, and hill ewes are crossed with other breeds 

for lowland meat production. Sheep fattening is widespread in the Near East, 

sometimes with imported lambs, usually using cereals and concentrates – this has 

nothing to do with reducing grazing pressure . In many Islamic countries, there is 

seasonal specialized sheep and goat fattening for religious festivals. 

SOWN PASTURE AND FODDER 

Sown pasture is often complementary to natural grassland in commercial 

systems as, for example, strategic feed for specific seasons, for fattening or 

conservation . In many places under favourable conditions of soil and climate, 

sown pasture, often in rotation with crops , has replaced natural grassland, 

but that is not the subject under discussion here. It is used by medium to 

large farms in commercial systems. Pasture improvement , which can involve 

clearing , over-seeding, etc., is discussed later, although the dividing line between 

“improved grassland” and sown pasture is not a clear one. Traditional systems 

with small holdings and unfenced cropland are unsuited to grazed artificial 

pasture – although they may use cut-and-carry fodder. Sown pastures were 

well developed in the commercial sector in Kenya before structural changes 

in agriculture led to a vast reduction in the number of large dairy farms; the 

technology is described in Bogdan’s (1977) classic Tropical pasture and fodder 

plants. In the commercial sector in South Africa , artificial pastures are widely 

used in the better watered areas; elsewhere in Africa, including Madagascar and 

the North, sown pasture is not used, nor is it used in the Middle East or in Asia 

(“artificial grassland” is a term much used in China , but is usually either alfalfa 

for hay or annual forage for cut-and-carry). Patagonia is unsuited climatically


to sown pasture, as are Mongolia and Tibet . The Campos , which is relatively 

well watered, has developed sown pastures using both summer - and winter - 

growing species, and sown pasture is important in the Pampas . In central 

North America , sown pasture, often in rotation with crops, plays an important 

role in livestock production. It is, of course, very important in other areas of 

North America, Western Europe and, notably, New Zealand. 

Sown pasture is widely used in the better-watered parts of Australia , 

especially in the Mediterranean and temperate parts, although also used in 

the tropics. In areas of Mediterranean climate, self-reseeding annual forages 

are widely used in rotation with annual crops , most of the forages used 

are of Mediterranean origin, and the system is very similar to the ancient 

cereal-grazed-fallow rotation of that zone, except that, after initial seeding 

and establishment, fertilizer and grazing management is aimed at allowing 

the annuals to seed and regenerate: the area under annual rotational pastures 

(“leys” locally) is declining as rotation of cereals with other annual cash crops, 

including pulses, becomes more profitable. Much work has been carried out 

on tropical pastures, and these are of some importance, but there is need for 

legumes better adapted to grazing since Stylosanthes spp., once a mainstay of 

sown and improved tropical pastures, were seen to be susceptible to attack by 

Colletotrichum spp. in the 1980s. Pasture improvement through over-seeding 

is also important. Sown pasture was not important on the Russian steppe 

during the period immediately prior to decollectivization, but the authors of 

Chapter 10 argue that it should become so. 

Sown fodder 

Fodder in this context is forages grown as whole-crop feed for livestock, 

whether fed green or conserved. Such crops are often used to supplement 

grazing or for fattening or dairy production in many systems . Fodder is little 

used in the traditional pastoral systems of sub-Saharan Africa, but is becoming 

increasingly used in agropastoral and crop producing areas as available free 

grazing disappears. In eastern and southern Africa, fodders were widely grown 

on large-scale dairy farms (Plate 12.6), but changes in farm size and farming 

systems have led to a great reduction in the range of fodders now grown; 

Pennisetum purpureum is widely used for cut-and-carry feeding by smallholders 

(Plates 12.7 and 12.8). Commercial grazing systems in South Africa use some 

fodder, including some for “exceptional circumstances ”, but most others require 

irrigation, which can usually be used more profitably for other crops. Some fodder 

is grown in North Africa , a little irrigated alfalfa and, more important, oats 

for hay , which is often produced for sale to herders from drier areas (Chaouki 

et al., 2004). Little fodder is grown in the desert grazing lands of the Near East. 

Egypt is unusual in North Africa as nearly all its livestock are stall fed, and cultivated 

fodder is important to supplement crop residues – the production system 

is very similar to that of the irrigated tracts of Punjab, and Alexandrian clover,

482 


Plate 12.6 

Irrigated ryegrass pastures (Lolium multiflorum ) near Fort Nottingham, KwaZulu- 

Natal, South Africa . 

Plate 12.7 

Pennisetum purpureum . 

Trifolium alexandrinum (Plate 12.9), is the major winter fodder, with coarse cereals 

in summer . 

Cold, semi -arid Patagonia has little land suited to fodder production, and 

irrigated lands are reserved for cash crops . The main production systems of the 

Campos also rely on year-round grazing . In the Gran Chaco , alfalfa is grown 

S.G. REYNOLDS 

S.G. REYNOLDS

S.G. REYNOLDS 

SARDI 


Plate 12.8 

Smallholder cut-and-carry dairy operation using Napier grass , near Embu, Kenya. 

Plate 12.9 

Egyptian clover or berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum). 

for hay , and, in some areas, smallholders produce hay for sale – this is described 

in Suttie (2000). 

Fodders are widely grown in Central North America and in commercial 

mixed farming systems throughout Europe and North America. A method 

of making oat fodder accessible to cattle even under snow cover is described

484 


Plate 12.10 

Cattle grazing oats through snow in Canada, where the oats were swathed at 

dough stage in September. 

from Canada by Fraser and McCartney (2004); “swath grazing ” provides 

late autumn and early winter grazing for beef cows (Plate 12.10). Late-sown 

cereals are swathed in the early autumn from heading until dough stage. The 

livestock then graze the swaths through the snow. The emphasis on fodder 

rather than grazing in the former USSR is mentioned above. Fodder growing 

and conservation are an ancient tradition in Turkey . 

Fodders are widely used in the better watered areas of Australia , for onfarm 

use, local sale and export (Armstrong et al., 2004) and are also widely 

grown in New Zealand. As discussed in Chapter 10, fodder was a mainstay of 

livestock production in the collective period, with much less interest in grazing , 

but this is changing under economic pressure. 

In Central Asia during collective times, fodder, especially alfalfa, was widely 

grown for winter reserves ; the area has fallen sharply since decollectivization, 

since there is now a need to use irrigated land to assure local cereal needs, and 

livestock numbers have fallen. Great areas of fodder are grown in China . Hu 

and Zhang (2003) give the area under alfalfa as 1 804 700 ha, forage maize at 

570 500 ha and fodder oats at 274 400 ha. The climate of the Tibetan steppe and 

Mongolia is not suitable for fodder; a little oats is grown by Tibetan herders 

with subsidized seed from elsewhere; Mongolia grew fodder oats during the 

collective period, but that ceased for economic reasons – only in the far west is 

some irrigated alfalfa grown for hay . 

DUANE McCARTNEY

MAGNUS HALLING 

SARDI 


Plate 12.11 

Alfalfa or lucerne (Medicago sativa ). 

Plate 12.12 

Persian clover or shaftal (Trifolium resupinatum). 

In the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region, fodders are grown, especially 

in Afghanistan and Pakistan ; alfalfa (Plate 12.11) and shaftal (Trifolium 

resupinatum) (Plate 12.12) are important, but the areas are restricted by lack 

of land. Vast areas of fodder are produced in the irrigated tracts of the plains

486 

Plate 12.13 

Oat seed production in Nepal . 


of Pakistan, India and, to a lesser degree, Nepal to supplement crop residues 

in the feeding of vast numbers of stall-fed cattle and buffaloes: Trifolium 

alexandrinum and oats (Plate 12.13) are major winter crops , and coarse cereals 

predominate in summer . 

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS 

Often the problems of grasslands and their users are more socio-economic 

than technical. Better management and improved livelihoods can only 

be attained if the legal, social and economic problems associated with 

pastoralism, especially traditional herding , are dealt with. “Training herders” 

used to be recommended in many projects, but it is futile to try to transfer 

technical ideas, probably developed elsewhere, when the herders have no 

security of tenure , the techniques have not been convincingly tested locally 

and poverty and population pressure mean that herders will not take extra 

risks. 

Tenure 

Secure tenure of land or grazing rights is essential if stock-raisers and 

pastoralists are to have secure livelihoods and can invest in and manage 

grassland in a sustainable fashion. Where grassland production systems 

are purely commercial (as in the studies on the commercial sector in South 

Africa , Patagonia , the Campos and Central North America) the land is held 

in either freehold or long-term leasehold. Commercial stock raisers can, 

therefore, invest in infrastructure, notably water and fencing – a major use of 

J.M. SUTTIE


fencing may be to delimit properties. Since commercial enterprises hold valid 

land titles their land can be used as collateral for loans. 

In the extensive , pastoral subsistence sector, grazing rights are much 

less clear. In the distant past these lands would have been managed under 

traditional authorities and disputes over encroachment by other herding 

groups or cultivators probably settled in battle. Changing times and régimes 

have left many pastoral groups in a state of uncertainty, and they are often 

relatively neglected minorities, except in countries that are mainly pastoral 

– these are few: Mongolia and Somalia are examples. In the traditional sector, 

grazing rights means pastoral resources in their wider sense, including access 

to water and to mineral licks where these are used. The land rights of settled 

farmers are recognized in most countries since they are resident on their 

farms and obviously use them; the rights of pastoral groups, however, who 

are usually mobile , are usually less well defined since they only use a piece 

of grassland at a particular season. If others clear such grassland for crops , 

however unsustainable , it may be viewed as “development ” and pastoralists 

are at a disadvantage in claiming their rights. In addition, traditional pastoral 

tenure is not usually strong enough to prevent confiscation by the state, 

probably without compensation, for mineral prospection, infrastructure, 

building or nature reserves . While cropland can conveniently be allocated to 

individual smallholders, the large areas of low-yielding grassland involved in 

mobile herding and the desirability of managing such pasture at the landscape 

scale make the allocation of grassland to individual families problematic 

(although such allocation has been done in China ). Allocation to groups seems 

preferable, but at what scale and how to decide to whom grazing should be 

allocated is problematic. 

Markets and trade 

Commercial systems are, of course, market oriented, and nowadays most 

traditional systems sell their surplus production; the East Africa n study 

indicates that even conservative ethnic groups which formerly did not sell 

stock now market their surplus. Most of the studies report poor prices for 

grassland produce; wool is probably most severely affected. The break-up 

of the USSR disrupted markets in Central Asia and Mongolia , and these 

countries have yet to find new outlets. The effect of freer world trade on 

produce from extensive grasslands has still to be seen, but meat produced 

by traditional herders who are far from consumers may be at a disadvantage 

– especially as urban consumers increasingly demand meat from cattle that 

have been finished in feedlots or off good pasture . 

Herder organization and community participation 

Regime and political change have disrupted old herder groupings and hierarchies, 

and decollectivization has left large areas with a disorganized pastoral sector.

488 


Often herds are too small for it to be profitable for a family to spare labour to 

take them to pasture , and herding communities are fragmented. If semi -arid 

grasslands are to be managed sustainably, some planning is necessary at the 

landscape scale. It is now widely accepted that rural development , including 

grassland development, should be led by the ultimate users. Community 

participation is essential, but if it is to be effective, rather than token talking, 

a high priority should be developing some means of having herders organize 

themselves into larger groups for deciding local herding policy, discussing with 

regional authorities and sharing herding tasks. 

Demotic factors 

Population pressure and rising populations on decreasing pastoral resources 

are mentioned in many traditional areas. The number of livestock that any area 

of extensive grassland can carry sustainably is finite. If pastoral populations 

grow larger than their resource base can stand it is unlikely that technical 

solutions will be found. 

Diversification 

Because of poor returns from animal husbandry a number of commercial 

enterprises in most of the countries studied are looking at alternative and 

potentially more profitable uses for their grasslands. Raising game and wildlife 

is already practised in eastern and South Africa and is probably expanding 

– this may be for specialist meats, tourism , hunting of a combination. Some 

mention organic meat . 

Tourism and eco-tourism is another use of grasslands; in commercial 

areas its benefits will go to the landowner; the extent to which it will become 

important is unclear except where noteworthy scenery or wildlife is involved 

since many grassland areas are remote and have little infrastructure. Tourism is 

encouraged by many governments since it brings them revenue. However, in 

areas of traditional herding , tourism must be seen as beneficial by the graziers 

involved; the owners of large private establishments may negotiate fees, but 

in traditional systems tourists may be regarded as a nuisance if they make no 

contribution to local livelihoods. A quotation from an article in the travel section 

of the Times (2004) is a good example of this: 

“Mongolia ’s reindeer people say that tourism is threatening their way of life. 207 people from 

Tsaganuur say that the small but growing numbers of tourists are disrupting the peace of the 

taiga where their reindeer roam” 

GRASSLAND IN THE ENVIRONMENT 

Although grasslands are of primary environmental importance, not least 

as catchment areas and sites for in situ conservation of biodiversity , their 

preservation and proper management are given relatively little attention by 

environmentalists and governments, which often see the traditional livestock

MARZIO MARZOT 


Plate 12.14 

Kreb, a mixture of grains from wild 

grasses, is still used for human food 

in the Lake Chad area. 

sector more as a problem than an essential part of maintaining grasslands 

and their biodiversity. Reserves and national parks are many and increasing; 

they often reduce traditional grazing lands , with little or no attention to 

their traditional users. Such reserves are for wildlife , biodiversity and often 

the consequent tourism , but the grassland biome of such reserves requires 

properly managed grazing for its survival. Grassland reserves as such are 

rarely mentioned: China (Hu and Zhang 2003) has eleven, covering two 

million hectares. 

Non-livestock grassland products get little attention, but are important to 

local communities . Many wild plants are harvested as fruit and vegetables. 

Wild grass seeds are used as cereals (Plates 12.14 and 12.15). Many medicinal 

plants for both local use and sale are gathered from grasslands, as is wood 

and fuel. An interesting case study from the Lake Chad area is provided by 

Batello, Marzot and Touré (2004). 

In places such as in Nepal (see Plate 1.15) or in the Tibet Autonomous 

Region, China, near Lake Namtso (Plates 12.16a, b), grassland sites can have 

a special religious significance. At Lake Namtso the nearby grasslands are

490 


Plate 12.15 

Nomads agree that some areas should be protected from grazing so that grasses can produce 

seed for Kreb harvesting. 

Plate 12.16a 

Near Lake Namtso, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. 

MARZIO MARZOT 

S.G. REYNOLDS

S.G. REYNOLDS 


Plate 12.16b 

Pilgrims at Lake Namtso. 

subject to heavy tourist and pilgrim traffic on certain occasions and tented 

encampments can spread out from the focal point to surrounding areas. 

SOME CONCLUSIONS 

The preceding chapters cover a very wide range of grassland types and 

production systems . They demonstrate clearly that extensive grassland exists in 

many forms and is exploited in many ways, and that each great group requires 

its own way of management . This chapter does not attempt to summarize all 

the conclusions that can be drawn from them, but some important ones are: 

• Many grasslands are in poor condition . Most communally or traditionally 

managed grasslands show some degree of degradation , and many are seriously 

damaged. 

• Modern technology allows relatively rapid assessment of herbage availability 

and pasture cover, as well as the processing of this information. This 

can be applied to commercially managed grasslands, but there are many 

problems – logistical, social and economic – in getting such information to 

traditional pastoralists and in their making use of it. 

• Grasslands cover a very large proportion of the globe and are of primary 

environmental importance, so their sustainable management is a matter of 

widespread interest and is not limited to those who gain their livelihoods 

therefrom. The general public benefits from the proper management of 

catchments, landscapes for wildlife , tourism , conservation of biodiversity , 

recreation and hunting, but the management costs fall on the pastoralists be

492 


they traditional or commercial. In many areas, commercial stock-rearing off 

extensive grassland is in economic difficulties and the peoples of traditional 

systems are mostly poor to very poor. How can those who manage the 

grasslands be encouraged to do so for the general good, and how can they 

be recompensed for adjusting management to even more environmentally 

friendly ways? 

• The management of communally held grasslands is generally in great 

difficulties. Clarification of grazing rights , the putting in place of an appropriate 

legal framework, which should take into account existing perceived rights , 

and allocation of some form of long-term security is necessary before herders 

can begin to indulge in medium- to long-term modifications to their existing 

systems . Technical grassland interventions (apart from veterinary care) can 

only be useful once the tenure situation is clarified. 

• The overall management of extensive grazing lands should be done within 

a wide framework on a very large, landscape scale so that it is effective in 

dealing with the whole range of pastoral resources and products, covers 

the migration territories of transhumant groups as well as conserving 

wildlife and catchments. In traditional areas, pastoralists are often in small, 

poorly organized groups. Better planning and management is only likely 

to succeed if the pastoral population is assisted to organize itself into large 

groups that can enter into dialogue with one another and the authorities, 

not only to participate but to play a leading role in the planning and 

management processes. 

• High, and often increasing, livestock numbers, often associated with 

reduction of the area available for grazing , is usually associated with 

reported grassland degradation . In pastoral systems , rising animal numbers 

are often associated with rises in the human population. The remaining 

extensive grasslands are mainly in situations where intensification and 

increase of herbage production is unlikely to be practical or economic. 

Rarely can more pasture land be made available so, when population 

numbers obviously exceed the carrying capacity of the land, thought must 

be given to alternative sources of livelihood. 

• Localized overgrazing with neglect of distant pasture is reported in several 

studies (this includes poor distribution of stock in big paddocks) and is a 

new but serious problem in countries that have undergone decollectivization 

and where there are vast areas of steppic and mountain pasture. Again, 

there is a strong case for organization of the pastoral population to adopt 

community herders, allocate ex-collective grazing rights and rehabilitate 

pastoral infrastructure. 

• Provision of lean-season feed is an important part of many extensive 

systems , this is excellent in farming systems and where stock are housed 

off the pasture in the lean season. Maintaining numbers of stock far in 

excess of the grassland carrying capacity with purchased feed is, however,


extremely destructive, and subsidizing concentrates and cereals for herders 

is undesirable for sustainable grassland use. 

• Improvement of the pastoral vegetation in extensive grasslands should 

mainly be through manipulation of grazing pressure and the use of controlled 

fire . Over-seeding is not usually successful on poor soils with unreliable 

rainfall and is now often regarded as undesirable for the environment; it 

can, of course, be very useful in agropastoral systems in more favourable 

conditions. 

• A very wide range of genetic material of species, cultivars and ecotypes of 

pasture grasses and legumes have been collected and screened, but only a 

very restricted range is readily available commercially. 

• Sown pasture , for grazing and mowing, plays a very important role in large- 

and medium-scale commercial mixed farming, and the use of perennial 

pastures is to be encouraged wherever possible and profitable since they are 

often more environmentally desirable than annual cut-and-carry fodders. 

• Fodder crops can be useful for strategic use on favoured areas in extensive 

systems , especially for conservation or supplementing vulnerable classes of 

stock. They are suitable for both smallholder and large-scale mixed farming 

enterprises and are becoming increasingly popular with smallholders who 

have access to markets for milk or fattened stock. While fodder technology 

is well developed generally, there is still a lot to be done in identifying locally 

adapted material for smallholder areas, assuring seed supplies and training 

farmers. 

• What is the potential for diversifying the use of grasslands? Commercial 

producers are experimenting with, for example, tourism and game -ranching. 

Will such management maintain the grassland biome ? 

• The area of grassland being put into reserves to conserve wildlife and biodiversity 

, as well as to encourage tourism , is increasing, often without regard 

to existing pastoral use. It is desirable that the creation of such reserves 

should take into account their effect on migration routes, access to essential 

grassland resources and to what extent grazing livestock and controlled fire 

will be permitted or encouraged. 

• Grasslands are sources of many products other than food for grazing livestock, 

but grassland scientists have tended to limit their interests to grazing 

resource s . Greater attention to wider ethnobotanical matters is desirable. 

REFERENCES 

Armstrong, K., de Ruiter, J. & Bezar, H. 2004. Fodder oats in New Zealand and 

Australia – history, production and potential. pp. 153–177, in: Suttie & Reynolds, 

2004, q.v. 

Batello, C., Marzot, M. & Touré, A.H. 2004. The Future is an Ancient Lake: 

Traditional knowledge, biodiversity and genetic resources for food and agriculture 

in Lake Chad Basin ecosystems . FAO, Rome, Italy.

494 


Bogdan, A.V. 1977. Tropical pasture and fodder plants. London, UK: Longmans. 

474 p. 

Buringh, P. & Dudal, R. 1987. Agricultural land use in space and time. In: M.G. 

Wolman and F.G.A. Fournier (eds). SCOPE vol. 32. Chichester, UK: John Wiley 

and Sons. 

Chaouki, A.F., Chakroun, M., Allagui, M.B. & Sbeita, A. 2004. Fodder oats in the 

Maghreb. pp. 53–91, in: Suttie & Reynolds, 2004, q.v. 

Dolberg, F. & Finlayson, P. 1995. Better feed for animals: more food for people. 

World Animal Review, No.82. 

FAO. 1993. Key aspects of strategies for sustainable development of drylands. 

FAO, Rome, Italy. 60 p. 

Fraser, J. & McCartney, D. 2004. Fodder Oats in North America. pp. 19–36, in: 

Suttie & Reynolds, 2004, q.v. 

Hu, Z. & Zhang, D. 2003. China ’s pasture resources . pp. 81–113, in: Suttie & 


t’Mannetje, L. 2000. Silage making in the tropics with particular emphasis on 

smallholders. FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper, No. 161. 180 p. 

Shu, W. 2003. Fodder oats in China : an overview. pp. 123–144, in: Suttie & 


Simpson, J. R. & Ou Li. 1996. Feasibility analysis for development of Northern 

China ’s beef industry and grazing lands . Journal of Range Management, 49: 560– 

564. 

Suttie, J.M. 2000. Hay and straw conservation for small-scale farming and pastoral 

conditions. FAO Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 29. 303 p. 

Suttie, J.M. & Reynolds, S.G. (eds). 2003. Transhumant grazing systems in temperate 

Asia. FAO Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 31. 251 p. 

Suttie, J.M. & Reynolds, S.G. (eds). 2004. Fodder oats: a world overview. FAO 

Plant Production and Protection Series, No. 33. 251 p. 

Scottish Executive. 2003. The Muirburn Code. See: http://www.scotland.gov. 

uk/library3/environment/mbcd-00.asp 

The Times. 2004. No tourists say nomads. Travel Section, The Times (London). 

p. 2. 20 November 2004. 


return to settled winter bases in Burjin county, Altai Prefecture, Xinjiang , 

China . pp. 115–141, in: Suttie & Reynolds, 2003, q.v.

Index 495 

A 

Acacia spp. 31, 34, 36, 38, 49, 97, 115, 

355, 356, 358, 359, 362, 365, 372, 

420, 444, 445, 449, 454, 472 

aneura 358 

cambagei 362 

harpophylla 355, 362, 372 

mellifera 97, 115 

modesta 445 

nilotica 358, 359, 365, 449, 472 

Acaena spp. 141 

Achillea spp. 389, 402, 454 

fragrantissima 454 

millefolium 389, 402 

Achnatherum spp. 317, 319, 442 

hookeri 317 

splendens 319, 442 

Aconitum spp. 312, 316 

Adesmia spp. 134, 169, 179, 181, 201, 

208, 401 

bicolor 181, 201, 208 

campestris 134, 401 

Aeschynomene 199, 372 

americana 372 

falcata 199 

Afghanistan 434, 443, 444, 446, 447, 

485 

Agave spp. 107, 109 

americana 107, 109 

Agropyron spp. 15, 135, 233, 243, 277, 

282, 313, 383, 387, 388, 389, 390, 

393, 395, 397, 399, 401, 402, 403, 

406, 408, 410, 412, 433 

cristatum 243, 277, 282, 313, 411 

dasystachum 233 

desertorum 406, 410 

elongatum 433 

magellanicum 135 

pectiniforme 387, 388, 397, 399, 401, 

410, 412 

racemosum 387, 389, 402, 408, 410 

repens 383, 387, 399, 401, 402, 410 

Index 

sibiricum 387, 393, 399, 401, 410 

smithii 234, 243 

Agrostis spp. 135, 179, 203, 316, 389, 

401, 442, 443, 446 

alba 389, 401 

gigantea 443 

micrantha 446 

tenuis 135 

Agrotourism 122, 154, 210 

Aimag 270, 273, 274, 277, 279, 280, 281, 

289, 290, 291, 292, 295, 303 

Airag 287, 288 

Ajania spp. 314, 441 

fruticulosa 317, 441 

Algeria 417, 419 

Alhagi 401 

Allium spp. 314 

polyrhizum 277 

Aloe spp. 97, 98 

Alopecurus spp. 389, 390, 401, 406 

pratensis 389, 391, 406 

Amygdalus nana 396 

Anabasis spp. 277, 442, 453, 454 

brevifolia 277 

salsa 442 

syriaca 453 

Anaphalis spp. 312 

Andropogon spp. 174, 176, 178, 181, 

182, 196, 198, 199, 202, 203, 230, 

421, 426, 446 

gayanus 421 

gerardii 230 

lateralis 174, 176, 182, 196, 198, 199, 

203 

selloanus 199, 426 

semiberbis 426 

ternatus 181, 202 

tristis 446 

Androsace spp. 277, 312, 314 

tapete 314 

villosa 277

496 

Anemone spp. 312 

ANPP 133, 134, 135, 142, 145, 146, 190, 

234 

Anthephora 

pubescens: 109 

Anthriscus silvestris 406 

Apluda mutica 446 

Arenaria musciformis 314 

Argan 418 

Argania spinosa 418 

Argentina 427, 428, 429, 432 

Aristida spp. 31, 33, 34, 94, 98, 176, 181, 

196, 198, 203, 234, 310, 315, 355, 

356, 358, 359, 420, 425, 426, 445 

congesta 98 

contorta 358 

diffusa 94 

fi lifolia 198 

jubata 196 

junciformis 94 

latifolia 359 

murina 181 

mutabilis 420 

rufescens 425, 426 

triseta 310, 315 

uruguayensis 181 

venustula 176, 181 

wrightii 234 

Artemisia spp. 11, 233, 277, 282, 310, 

314, 315, 316, 317, 389, 397, 399, 

401, 402, 404, 406, 409, 418, 441, 

442, 444, 446, 453, 454 

absinthium 402 

arenaria 399 

astrachanica 399, 409 

austriaca 389, 402, 404 

caespitosa 277 

campestris 401, 402 

commutata 282 

dracunculus 283, 401 

frigida 233, 277, 402, 441 

glauca 282 

halodendron 441 

herba-alba 418, 445, 453 

intramongolica 441 

lacenata 282 

lercheana 409 


maikara 445 

maritima 445 

monogyna 399, 401 

ordosica 441 

paucifl ora 397, 409 

pontica 401 

sieversiana 402 

soongarica 442 

stracheyi 317, 442 

turanica 445 

vulgaris 446 

webbiana 315 

wellbyi 310, 442 

xerophytica 277 

Arundinella spp. 442, 446, 448 

bengalensis 446 

hirta 442 

hookeri 446 

nepalensis 446 

setosa 442 

Ash 230 

Aspen 230 

Aster alpinus 277 

Astragalus spp. 277, 310, 312, 314, 433, 

445, 453 

malcolmii 310 

Astrebla spp. 359, 364 

Atriplex spp. 107, 109, 136, 148, 149, 

164, 399 

lampa 149 

leucoclada 453 

mueleri 109 

nummalaria 107, 109 

semibaccata 109 

verrucifera 399 

Australia 9, 11, 15, 405 

Avena spp. 278, 371, 402, 418 

fatua 402 

sativa 278 

Axonopus spp. 174, 176, 178, 181, 183, 

198, 203, 367, 426, 427 

affi nis 181, 198, 203, 367, 427 

argentinus 174, 176, 181 

canescens 426 

compressus 181, 183 

purpusii 426, 427 

Azorella caespitosa 134

Index 497 

B 

Baccharis spp. 175, 182, 199, 202 

articulata 175 

coridifolia 175, 182, 202 

dracunculifolia 175 

spicata 175 

trimera 175, 199, 202 

Badia 453, 454 

Syrian 451–3 

Jordan 453–5 

Balanites aegyptiaca 420 

Balochistan 444, 447 

Barkhan dunes 397 

Bassia spp. 389 

Becium burchellianum 98 

Beckmannia spp. 399 

Berberis spp. 134, 166, 315, 317, 446 

buxifolia 135 

heterophylla 134, 166 

Berteroa spp. 402 

Betula spp. 281 

Bhutan 443 

Biodiversity 65, 148, 369 

Bocoenosis 390 

Biogeocoenosis 390 

Biomes 

Fynbos 89, 93, 99, 100 

Nama-karoo 77, 78, 79, 85, 88, 93, 97, 

98, 109, 112 

succulent karoo 99, 112 

Bison 227, 228, 229, 245 

Blue grama 231, 234, 242, 243, 245 

Blysmus sinocompressus 443 

Bod 274, 288, 289 

Boerhavia spp. 359 

Bolivia 427, 429 

Bos 

gaurus 448 

grunniens (See also Yak) 310, 321 

indicus 86, 351, 441 

taurus 351, 424, 441 

taurus brachyceros 424 

Boscia spp. 98, 420 

oleoides 98 

senegalensis 420 

Bothriochloa spp. 33, 38, 178, 181, 202, 

355, 356, 359, 431, 442, 445 

decipiens 356 

ewartiana 356 

intermedia 445 

ischaemum 442 

laguroides 181, 202, 431446 

pertusa 355, 446 

Bouteloua spp. 178, 181, 231, 233, 234, 

240 

curtipendula 234, 240 

gracilis 231, 233 

megapotamica 181 

Brachiaria spp. 31, 114, 362, 363, 373 

decumbens 446 

mutica 362, 363, 373 

Brachyachne convergens 359 

Brachyclados caespitosus 134 

Brachypodium sylvaticum 310, 313, 443 

Brassica campestris 402 

Brazil 427, 429 

Brigalow – see Acacia harpophylla 

Briza spp. 178, 431 

subaristata 431 

Bromus spp. 135, 178, 221, 249, 283, 

310, 316, 357, 387, 389, 395, 399, 

400, 401, 402, 410, 418, 433, 443, 

446 

catharticus 433 

erectus 410 

himalaicus 310, 446 

inermis 283, 387, 389, 399, 400, 401, 

402, 410, 443 

japonicus 221, 249 

setifolius 135 

tectorum 402 

Browse 11 

Buchloe dactyloides 231 

Buffalo 9, 441, 448 

Burkina Faso 420 

Bush 13, 20, 23, 25, 30, 31, 34, 46 49, 59, 

60, 92, 109, 112, 471 

clearing 2, 429, 464, 465, 471, 480 

control 451, 465, 471–2, 473 

encroachment 60, 430, 464, 465, 471

498 

C 

C3 grasses 14, 84, 96, 97, 171, 178, 190, 

201, 208, 221, 234, 240, 430, 434 

C4 grasses 14, 84, 96, 171, 178, 184, 190, 

221, 234, 240, 365, 428, 430, 434 

Calamagrostis spp. 179, 283, 313, 395, 

401, 402, 406, 443 

epidois 283 

epigeios 395, 401, 402, 443 

langsdorffi i 406 

Calandrinia spp. 358 

Calligonum spp. 316 

Calluna spp. 11, 472 

Camel 9, 14, 19, 38, 39, 40, 265, 274, 

277, 283, 284, 286, 287, 289, 295, 

296, 297, 299, 323, 325, 348, 423, 

436, 441, 450, 454, 467, 470, 475 

Bactrian 286 

Camelina spp. 402 

campos limpios 174 

campos sucios 182 

Canis lupus 311 

Cannabis sativa 402 

capybaras 173 

Caragana spp. 310, 313, 317, 396, 446 

frutex 396 

jubata 313 

versicolar 310, 317 

Carex spp. 134, 135, 232, 245, 277, 281, 

282, 312, 314, 316, 317, 319, 389, 

399, 400, 401, 442, 443, 446 

andina 135 

appendiculata 443 

argentina 135 

atrofusca 312, 443 

colchica 399 

duriuscula 277, 282, 443 

eleocharis 233 

fi lifolia 233, 245 

meyeriana 443 

moorcroftii 314, 316, 317, 319, 442 

muliensis 443 

nivalis 443 

obtusa 232 

obtusata 232 

pediformis 277, 282 


pennsylvanica 234 

schreberi 389 

stenocarpa 443 

stenophylla 443 

Carrying capacity 82, 87, 90, 102, 104, 

109, 129, 138, 141–2, 146, 149, 

150, 153, 177, 194, 195, 197, 209, 

318, 427 

Carum carvi 389 

Cashmere 274, 284, 287, 323, 475 

Cassia spp. 356, 358, 365, 431 

Casuarina spp. 356 

Cattle 9, 14, 15, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 40, 48, 

49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 79, 84, 86, 87, 

90, 91, 92, 97, 98, 104, 110, 127, 

136, 173, 174, 178, 186, 187, 188, 

207, 210, 228, 229, 239, 243, 244, 

277–8, 283, 284, 287, 288, 289, 

291, 296, 347, 352, 359, 417, 424, 

435, 441, 450, 451, 456 

hybrids 284, 285, 287 

Sahelian 422, 424 

trypanotolerant 423–4 

Cattle breeds 

Afrikaner 87, 90 

Bonsmara 87 

Brahman 90 

Drakensberger 87 

Kouri 423-4 

Simmentaler 90 

zebu 424, 475 

Cenchrus spp. 31, 33, 34, 38, 109, 113, 

114, 351, 356, 360, 362, 373, 420, 

448 

bifl orus 34, 420 

ciliaris 31, 34, 109, 113, 351, 356, 360, 

362, 373 

Central Asia 11, 16, 385 

Centrosema pascuorum 372 

Ceratocarpus arenarius 389 

Ceratoides spp. 310, 314, 316, 317, 319, 

442 

compacta 310, 314, 316, 317, 319, 442 

latens 317, 442 

Ceratostigma spp. 310, 315 

griffi thii 310, 315 

Chad 420, 424

Index 499 

Chamaecrista spp. 199, 372 

repens 199 

rotundifolia 372 

Chenopodium album 402 

Chevreulia sarmentosa 182 

Chiliotrichum diffusum 134 

China 436–8, 441–3 

Chloris spp. 31, 34, 35, 44, 45, 62, 178, 

181, 356, 357, 358, 362, 434 

acicularis 356 

castilloniana 434 

gayana 35, 44, 45, 62, 356, 362 

grandifl ora 181 

roxburghiana 31, 34, 62 

truncata 356, 358 

Chromolaena odorata 366 

Chrysopogon spp. 31, 33, 34, 355, 356, 

359, 445, 446 

aucheri 34 

fallax 355, 356, 359 

gryllus 446 

plumulosus 34 

Chuquiraga spp. 133, 134, 136, 141 

aurea 134 

avellanedae 133, 134, 141 

kingii 134 

Cirsium arvense 402 

Cleistogenes squarrosa 277, 441 

Climax 428, 448, 453 

Clitoria ternatea 372 

Coelorachis selloana 174, 175, 181, 196, 

199, 203 

Collective 381, 383, 413 

Collectivization 274, 328, 466, 477 

Colleguaya integerrima 133, 134 

Combretum nigricans 420 

Commiphora spp. 31, 34, 49. 420 

africana 420 

Conservation Reserve Programme 236 

Copernica alba 429, 430 

Cornulaca monacantha 420 

Cortia depressa 446 

Crassulacean acid metabolism plants 97 

Crassula spp. 97, 98, 99 

Crepis tectorum 402 

Crop 21, 37, 44–5, 65, 109 

arable 383–4, 411–2, 413, 443 

clearing for 418–9, 421, 430, 452 

encroachment 430 

fallow 390, 393–4, 401–3, 408, 411, 

418–9, 421, 424, 458 

residues 92, 100, 107, 110, 417–9, 437, 

452 

-pasture rotation 351, 371, 405, 411, 

413 

residues 412 

straw 419, 447 

stubble 314, 315, 419, 449 

Crotalaria spp. 431 

Crude protein 106, 196 

Cryptostegia grandifl ora 365, 366 

Cussonia spicata 98 

Cymbopogon spp. 98, 445, 446 

jwarancusa 445 

plurinodis 98 

schoenanthus 446 

Cynodon spp. 36, 114, 426, 446 

dactylon 36, 426, 446 

Cytisus spp. 396 

D 

Dactylis spp. 108, 179, 310, 360, 419, 

433, 446 

glomerata 108, 360, 419, 433, 446 

Dactyloctenium spp. 356, 358, 359 

radulans 356, 358 

Daily Liveweight Gain 194, 196, 197 

Danthonia spp. 356, 357, 358, 364, 446 

caespitosa 358 

nudifl ora 357 

pallida 356 

Decision Support Systems 111, 122, 153 

Deer 11, 145, 173, 270, 310, 347 

Deferred grazing 188, 198 

Defi ciency 

mineral 186, 209 

Degradation 35, 40, 49, 54, 55, 56, 98, 

112–4, 127, 139, 141, 142, 147, 

150, 315, 319, 474 

Delphinium spp. 316 

Deschampsia spp. 135, 313, 401 

cespitosa 313 

elegantula 135

500 

fl exuosa 135, 313 

Desertifi cation 54–6, 125, 130, 138, 147, 

149, 315 

Deserts 1, 9, 15, 31, 54–6, 165 

alpine 446–8, 456 

badia 451–3 

botanical composition 15 

Gobi 266, 268, 270, 276, 277, 279, 286, 

294, 295, 297, 435 

semi- 3, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 21, 23, 25, 31, 

34, 131–6, 142, 146, 147, 148, 269, 

277, 420, 43–5, 444, 451, 453-4 

temperate 427, 430, 441, 442, 449 

Desmanthus spp. 179, 207, 431 

Desmodium spp. 105, 174, 179, 182, 196, 

198, 199, 203, 371, 446 

incanum 174, 182, 196, 198, 199, 203 

Deyeuxia spp. 316, 443 

angustifolia 443 

arundinacea 443 

Dichanthium spp. 355, 359, 448 

Dichelachne spp. 356 

Dichondra microcalyx 181, 182 

Dichrostachys cinerea 115 

Dicranopteris dichotoma 442 

Digestibility 183, 185, 202 

Digitaria spp. 33, 34, 97, 105, 175, 178, 

355, 356, 367 

didactyla 355, 367 

eriantha 97, 105 

saltensis 175 

Diheteropogon spp. 94, 421 

amplectans 94 

hagerupii 421 

Distichlis spp. 178 

DM Accumulation Rate 193, 194, 195, 

197, 205 

Dodonea spp. 365 

Dracocephalum heterophyllum 314 

Drought 19, 38, 40, 55, 83, 01, 101, 107, 

108–9, 127, 142, 145, 150, 180, 

210, 245, 293, 301, 332, 345, 350, 

358, 361, 421, 467 

Dry weight rank technique 392 

Duthiea brachypodium 310 

E 


eastern Africa 9, 13, 19–65, 414, 463, 

464, 469, 477, 487 

eastern red cedar 230 

Echinochloa spp. 363, 373, 420, 425 

polystachya 363, 373 

stagnina 420 

Ecosystem dynamics 55, 248, 309, 335 

Ecotourism 63, 77, 88, 89, 97, 100, 112 

Elaeagnus spp. 401 

Eleusine spp. 37, 178 

fl occifolia 37 

Elionurus candidus 199, 203 

Elymus spp. 135, 147, 149, 277, 283, 310, 

312, 313, 315, 316, 446 

arenarius 149 

chinensis 277 

nutans 310, 312, 313, 315, 446 

patagonicus 135 

sabulosus 149 

tangutorum 310 

turczanovii 283 

Empetrum rubrum 135 

Enchylaena spp. 357 

Enneapogon spp. 96, 356, 358 

Enteropogon spp. 356 

Environment 468 

Ephedra spp. 136, 316, 442, 445 

przewalskii 442 

Equus kiang 307, 310 

Eragrostis spp. 94, 96, 113, 178, 181, 

182, 199, 356, 358, 359, 442, 446 

curvula 94, 113 

lehmanniana 94 

neesii 181, 199 

obtusa 94 

pilosa 442, 446 

purpurascens 182 

Eremophila spp. 228, 356, 358 

Eremopogon delavayi 442 

Eriachne spp. 356, 358 

Erianthus angustifolius 182 

Erica spp. 11 

Erigeron canadensis 402 

Eromophila spp. 365 

Eryngium spp. 182, 196, 199

Index 501 

ciliatum 199 

elegans 199 

horridum 196, 199 

nudicaule 182 

Euagropyron spp. 399, 401, 403, 409, 

410 

Eucalyptus spp. 356, 359 

Euclea spp. 97 

Eulalia spp. 359, 442 

aurea 359 

phaeothrix 442 

quadrinervis 442 

Eupatorium spp. 445, 446 

adenophorum 446 

buniifolium 175 

Euphorbia spp. 97, 98, 99, 221, 249, 250, 

389 

bothae 98 

coerulescens 98 

esula 221, 249, 250 

ledienii 98 

seguieriana 389 

tetragona 98 

triangularis 98 

virgata 389 

Eurotia ceratoides 277 

Eustachys spp. 98, 181 

bahiensis 181 

mutica 98 

Exotheca spp. 31, 36 

abyssinica 36 

F 

Falcaria vulgaris 402 

Farming 

extensive 2, 3, 9, 13–6, 29, 31, 39, 45, 

46, 63, 237, 348, 350, 425, 427, 

428, 430, 454 

fallow 15, 37, 44, 418, 419, 458 

ley 351, 371–2 

grassland 429, 430–1, 432–3, 435, 437, 

441, 443 

Felis lynx 311 

Fences 13, 46, 57, 58, 88, 90, 91, 104, 

109, 112, 114, 116, 129, 437, 464, 

473, 486 

Festuca spp. 15, 108, 133, 134, 135, 141, 

144, 179, 232, 277, 282, 310, 313, 

316, 317, 319, 387, 388, 389, 393, 

395, 396, 397, 401, 402, 403, 406, 

408, 409, 410, 419, 433, 441, 442, 

443, 446 

argentina 133, 134 

arundinacea 108, 411, 419, 433 

gracillima 135, 141, 165 

lenensis 277, 282 

magellanica 135 

ovina 310, 313, 317, 401, 441, 442, 443 

pallescens 134, 135, 141 

pyrogea 135 

rubra 310, 313, 314, 389, 404 

scabrella 232 

sulcata 15, 387, 388, 389, 393, 395, 396, 

397, 401, 402, 403, 406, 408, 409, 

410 

Filifolium sibiricum 441 

Fire 1, 2, 13, 34, 35, 46, 52, 57, 58, 86, 

92, 95, 96, 105, 110, 111, 112, 144, 

145, 182, 209, 230, 244, 245, 294, 

348, 357, 359, 366, 367, 386, 406, 

408, 430, 465, 469, 471, 472, 473, 

493 

bush, 425, 465, 471 

controlled burn 142, 173, 210, 211, 

241, 244, 294, 427, 430, 465, 472, 

493 

uncontrolled burn 428, 465 

Flechilla 176 

Flechillares 176, 177 

Flooding Pampas 431, 432 

Floramientos 176 

Fodder 7, 8, 11, 13, 16, 100, 105–9, 116, 

274, 279, 384, 478, 481, 484 

crops 308, 315, 352–3, 364, 365, 368, 

384, 409, 412–3, 414, 419, 459, 

419, 450, 468–9, 480–6, 487 

for exceptional circumstances 84, 109, 

116, 481 

irrigated 318, 319, 452, 459, 481–5 

North Africa 419 

sown 387, 403, 411, 413, 419, 465, 

480-6 

Foggage 105, 106

502 

Forage offer (FO) 171, 193, 194, 195, 

196, 197, 198, 199, 204, 205, 209, 

forage production determinant 

102 

Forest 230, 245–6, 268, 395 

open 421 

Frankenia spp. 134 

Fulani 421–2 

Fynbos 89, 99, 100 

G 

Galium spp. 233, 282, 283 

boreale 233, 283 

verum 282 

Game 88, 100, 112,173, 347, 469 

farms 343 

game harvesting 210 

reserves 38, 41, 42, 43, 47, 49, 57, 58, 

207, 464, 487, 489, 493 

Gasteria spp. 99 

Gaudinia fragilis 202 

Gazelles 270, 295, 310 453 

Gene banks 149 

Gentiana spp. 312 

Geographical Information Systems 29, 

111, 153, 154, 251 

Geranium pratensis 283, 389 

Ghana 420 

Glyceria maxima 373 

Glycyrrhiza spp. 401 

Goats 9, 14, 38, 39, 87, 88, 90, 91, 96, 97, 

98, 100, 110, 127, 285, 287, 289, 

290, 305, 306, 323, 325, 418, 441, 

452, 455, 472 

cashmere 274, 284, 287, 323, 475 

feral 343, 347, 424 

Jordan 453–4 

Madagascar 424–5 

milk 323 

trypanotolerant 423–4 

Turkey 456 

Goat breeds 

Angora 90,154 

Boergoat 90 

chèvre rouge de Maradi 423 

Red Sokoto 423 


Sahelian 423–4 

Shami 453 

Gopher 227 

Gran Chaco 427 

Grasslands 13, 16, 58, 78-82, 85, 86, 88, 

92, 94–8, 102–3, 105, 110, 113, 

131, 175, 177, 178, 183, 184, 185, 

190, 195, 199, 221, 226, 230, 237, 

247, 248 

allocation 146, 150, 152, 297, 328 

animal production from 195 

Argentina 427–9, 432 

biodiversity 143, 148, 182, 190, 211, 

212, 306, 309, 336, 369, 488, 491, 

493 

Brazil 427, 429 

carbon sequestration 205 

carrying capacity 129, 138, 141–2, 146, 

149, 150, 153, 177, 197, 209, 309, 

318, 392, 427, 430, 468, 477, 492 

central North America 221, 232, 245 

Central plains 228 

China 436–7, 441–3 

classifi cation 209, 312–9, 385–6, 

387–91, 392, 394, 396–7, 399 

communal 435, 464, 466 

condition 143, 145, 149, 188, 193, 196, 

198, 216, 237, 316, 330, 331, 335, 

336, 391–3, 464–9, 477, 491 

conservation 139, 148, 333, 336, 488, 

491, 493 

degradation 127, 139, 141, 142, 147, 

150, 198, 210, 313, 320, 330, 333, 

368, 408, 429, 443, 448, 452, 454, 

455, 464, 467–9, 470, 474, 477, 

491, 492 

desert 185 

desert steppe 268, 269, 277, 316, 317, 

318 

development 245, 251, 392–3, 409, 

413, 432, 455 

evaluation 139, 140, 149, 150, 152, 193 

extensive 265, 283, 297, 298, 300, 348, 

350, 445, 456 

fallow 390, 393–4, 401–3, 408, 411, 

418–9, 424, 457, 458 

fertilization 242, 243, 432

Index 503 

fl echillares 176, 177 

fl ood meadow 395, 397, 401 

fl ooding pampa 465 

forest steppe 277, 395 

Gran Chaco 465 

high elevation 446 

High Plains Llanos 426 

improved 433, 437, 443 

India 448 

intensifi cation 403, 468, 492 

Jordan 453–4, 463, 470 

landscape 144, 147, 309, 316, 324 

ley 371, 372 

Llanos 426–7, 463 


malezales 174, 176, 177, 209, 216 

management 112–4, 241, 245, 246, 

251, 365–7, 369–2, 374, 383, 386, 

391–3, 405, 406, 408, 413, 425, 

427, 429, 430, 435, 455, 456, 458 

mid-grass 31, 34 

mixed-grass 221, 223, 224, 229, 230, 

235, 237, 244, 246, 247, 250 

monitoring 139, 145, 146, 147, 150, 

152, 154, 180, 276, 300, 332, 336, 

391–3 

Monte shrubland 135, 433 

native 222, 236, 245, 249, 382–3, 387, 

403, 427, 428, 430 

North Africa 417–9, 465, 479, 481 

Pajonal 176 

Pakistan 449–50 

Pampas 430–3, 463, 465 

Patagonia 463, 465, 469, 477, 480, 482, 

486 

plant communities 131, 141, 148, 311, 

316, 317 

production systems 175, 178, 186, 189, 

190,237, 300, 350, 370, 413 

productivity 138, 139, 144, 146, 149, 

181, 186, 187, 190, 197, 199, 206, 

207–8, 209, 210, 221, 234, 235, 

241, 309, 315, 317, 318, 319, 326, 

332, 333, 335, 336, 351, 352, 363, 

370, 374, 391, 393–4, 402, 431, 

432, 466, 470, 476, 479 

rehabilitation 149, 368, 435, 474 

reseeding 443, 473–4, 481 

resource issues 368, 374, 383 

Sahel 420–1 

semi-arid 122, 131, 133, 135, 136, 143, 

148, 269, 271, 420, 429, 435, 444, 

453–4 

short-grass 31, 150, 171, 174, 176, 177, 

221, 222, 224, 225, 228, 231, 234, 

235, 236, 237, 245, 248, 249, 356, 

358 

subtropical 184, 353, 355, 364 

Sudanian 421, 454 

Sudano-Guinean 421 

sustainability 130, 138, 139, 142, 143, 

154, 193, 197, 199, 208, 210, 211, 

265, 298, 302, 307, 319, 331, 332, 

334, 335, 336, 361, 366, 367, 369, 

373, 374, 393, 413, 463, 464, 479, 

491, 493 

Syrian 451 

tall-grass 31, 35, 62, 221, 222, 223, 225, 

230, 235, 236, 237, 240, 241, 244, 

248, 353, 354, 355, 356, 465 

treeless 122, 131 

Turkey 455-9 

type 417, 427, 428, 429, 434, 435, 441, 

444 

types 424, 426, 429, 434, 441, 444, 446, 

448, 453 

West Africa 419, 421 

xerophytic mid-grass 357 

Grazing 77, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 98, 

100, 101, 102, 104, 105–6, 109, 

111, 112, 114, 115, 174, 175, 176, 

179, 180, 182, 188, 189, 190, 191, 

194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 

203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 

210, 211, 221, 228, 229, 237, 239, 

240, 244, 245, 248, 249, 250, 251, 

265, 267–70, 273, 274, 276, 277, 

281, 282, 283, 288, 289, 297, 298, 

300, 301, 302, 307, 313–5, 317, 

319, 320, 331, 332–6, 383–4, 388, 

395, 403–5, 408, 411–3, 425, 430, 

435–436, 437, 441, 443–4, 446, 

449, 451–3, 454–6, 458 

cell 367

504 

continuous 53, 103, 104, 105, 142, 152, 

196, 207, 210, 211, 241, 242, 367, 

403, 405 

distribution 241 

High Performance 105 

High Utilization 105 

Holistic Resource Management 105, 

115, 119 

improvement 241 

land 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11–16, 19, 21, 24, 

37, 41, 43, 44, 46, 52, 53, 305, 307, 

326, 328, 329, 331, 336 

management 210, 211, 241, 430 

pressure 33, 34, 35, 52, 53, 55, 127, 

195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 288, 289, 

300, 348, 367, 369, 451, 456, 493 

rights 10, 14, 15, 42, 43, 51, 283, 291, 

298, 299, 300, 302, 305, 327, 413, 

464–9, 486–7, 492 

rotational 40, 77, 102, 104, 105, 152, 

202, 207, 208, 241, 368, 405 

short-duration 242, 367 

system 9, 31, 40, 45, 46, 52, 56, 152, 

241, 242, 251, 441, 443, 449, 454 

time-control 367 

Grindelia spp. 141, 148 

chiloensis 141 

Ground squirrel 227 

Guanacos 121, 127, 154 

Guiera senegalensis 420 

Gypsophila spp. 402 

H 

Haloxylon spp. 316, 442 

erinaceum 442 

persicum 442 

Hay 8, 279, 295, 384, 395, 402 

fi elds 405, 459 

haymaking 278, 279, 281–3, 291, 301, 

384, 397, 405 

meadow 282, 384, 399 

oat 451 

rights 279, 291, 296, 298, 383, 414 

yields 281, 282, 395, 397, 399, 401, 

402, 406, 410 


Hedysarum coronarium 419 

Helictotrichon spp. 313, 316 

tibeticum 313 

Helipterum spp. 358 

Herding 14, 91, 302, 403–5 

brigades 275, 294 

communities 421, 426, 458 

extensive 179, 186, 187, 313, 326, 333, 

424-5, 430, 445, 456 

group 327, 328, 336, 383 

mobile/mobility 10, 15, 305, 327, 328, 

33–4, 409, 434 

risk 15, 292, 294, 301, 305, 332–4 

systems 421, 435–6, 441 

transhumance 3, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 273, 

291–2, 296, 305, 323, 330, 332, 

418, 419, 421–2, 446, 449, 456 

Herd composition 289, 325 

Heteropappus altaicus 314 

Heteropogon spp. 31, 33, 34, 355, 425, 

426, 442, 445, 446 

contortus 34, 355, 425, 426, 442, 446 

Hilaria jamesii 234 

Himalaya 443–4 

Hindu Kush 443–4 

Hippocrepis spp. 418 

Hippophae spp. 446 

Holistic Resource Management 105, 

115, 119 

Hordeum leporinum 357 

Horses 316, 321–3, 325, 326, 437 

mares 287, 288, 296 

Hymenachne amplexicaulis 363, 373, 

427 

Hyparrhenia spp. 31, 35, 36, 38, 62, 94, 

425, 426 

diplandra 35 

fi lipendula 35 

hirta 35, 94 

rufa 35, 425, 426 

variabilis 426 

Hyperaemia spp. 421 

Hyperthelia 425, 426 

dissoluta 35, 425, 426

Index 505 

I 

Imperata spp. 3, 442, 445, 448 

cylindrica 3 

cylindrica var. major 442 

India 448–9 

Integrated Catchment Management 370 

Ipomoea spp. 359 

Iris lactea var. chinensis 443 

Iseilema spp. 359 

J 

Jackrabbit 227 

Jordan 16, 453–4 

Junellia tridens 134, 135 

Juniperus spp. 230, 315, 446 

ashei 230 

pinchoti 230 

virginiana 230 

K 

Kalidium spp. 316, 442 

schrenkianum 442 

Khainag 285, 287 

Karakoram 444 

Karakul 434, 435 

Kazakhstan 434–5 

Kobresia spp. 11, 277, 281, 312, 314, 315, 

317, 319, 320, 443, 446 

bellardii 277, 317, 443 

capillifolia 312, 443 

humilis 312, 443 

littledalei 312, 443 

pygmaea 312, 443 

royleana 313 

schoenoides 312 

setschwanensis 312 

tibetica 443 

Kochia prostrata 397, 399, 410 

Koeleria spp. 233, 245, 277, 282, 312, 

387, 389, 403, 446 

cristata 233, 282, 446 

gracilis 387, 389, 403 

litwinowii 313 

macrantha 245, 277 

Kolkhozy 383, 392 

Kroomie Trial 102 

Kyrgyzstan 16, 434–5 

L 

Lactuca spp. 402 

Land 

degradation 35, 40, 54, 55, 58, 112, 

114, 152 

Landcare movement 370 

Landsat TM 113, 146, 147, 153 

Land tenure 13, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 50, 

64, 77, 79, 89, 96, 110, 128, 291, 

298, 327–8, 332–3, 343, 348, 464-9, 

486–7, 492 

access to land 283 

changes in 435 

land ownership 251, 273 


Turkey 455 

Lannea acida 420, 421 

Lantana camara 472 

Lappula spp. 402 

Larix spp. 281 

Larrea spp. 136, 433 

cuneifolia 136, 433 

divaricata 136, 443 

nitida 136, 443 

Lasiurus spp. 448 

Lathyrus aphaca 418 

Leaf Appearance Rate 204 

Leaf Area Index 204, 205 

Leaf Expansion Rate 204 

Leaf Life Span 204, 205 

Leersia hexandra 180, 427 

Legumes 2, 16, 105, 108, 207, 277, 409 

native 144, 175, 179, 182, 190, 196, 

199, 200, 360, 419 

pasture 240, 351, 353, 360–3, 364–73, 

374 

Legume decline 361, 365 

Leontodon spp. 389 

Leontopodium spp. 312, 314 

Leptocoryphium lanatum 426, 427 

Leptodermis sauranja 315 

Lespedeza sericea 106, 109 

Leucaena spp. 105, 109, 120, 372, 471 

leucocephala 105, 120, 372

506 

Leymus spp. 282, 319, 441, 442 

chinensis 282, 441, 442 

paboanus 319 

Ligularia spp. 316 

Liman meadow 386, 397, 399 

Liveweight gain 186, 189, 194–7, 199, 

201, 202, 203, 211 

Llanos 426–7 

Lolium spp. 108, 179, 208, 353, 360, 371, 

404, 418, 419, 432, 433, 482 

multifl orum 108, 208, 360, 404, 419, 

432, 433, 482 

perenne 108, 353, 360, 404, 419, 433 

rigidum 371, 418, 419 

Lonicera spp. 315, 316, 446 

spinosa 315 

Lotus spp. 206, 207, 208, 418, 432, 433 

corniculatus 207, 208, 433 

hispidus 207 

pedunculatus 207 

tenuifolius 432 

Loudetia spp. 31, 36, 425, 426 

simplex 36, 426 

Lycium spp. 133, 134, 136 

ameghinoi 133 

chilense 133, 134 

Lycurus phleoides 234 

Lygeum spartum 418 

M 

Macroptilium spp. 367, 371 

atropurpureum 367 

Madagascar 424 

Maireana spp. 357 

Malezales 174, 176, 177, 209, 216 

Mali 420 

Management 6, 11, 14, 15, 20, 31, 34, 39, 

40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 52, 53, 54, 

56, 61, 62, 64, 78, 80, 86, 90, 94, 

95, 101, 104, 105, 112–6, 237, 241, 

245, 246, 251, 323–6, 330–1, 333, 

335–6, 383, 386, 392–3, 405–8, 

413, 425, 427, 429, 430, 434–5, 

456–8, 465–9, 471–80, 486, 488, 

491–3 


fi re 86, 92, 96, 110, 112, 182, 209, 244, 

394, 406, 408, 428, 472 

Geographical Information Systems 

111, 153, 154, 251 

Global Positioning Systems 111, 153, 

154, 251 

remote sensing 111, 251 

Maquis 11, 456 

Marketing 435, 466 

of grassland products 78, 92, 343, 489 

Marmota bobak 311 

Matorral 418, 430 

Meadow 319, 384, 399 

alpine 11, 15, 291, 310–3, 317, 320, 325 

fl ood 363, 399–401 

hay 384, 397, 401, 402, 405–6, 408 

liman 386, 397, 399, 408 

mountain 384-5 

riparian 281, 282, 312 

Meat 9, 38, 39, 51, 79, 87, 88, 91, 97, 276, 

286, 287, 323, 326, 475 

Medicago spp. 8, 108, 207, 277, 278, 310, 

352, 357, 360, 361, 365, 368, 371, 

389, 395, 399, 409, 410, 418, 419, 

433, 457, 459, 473, 478, 485 

ciliaris 418 

falcata 389 

littoralis 418 

orbicularis 419 

polymorpha 409, 419 

sativa 8, 108, 277, 278, 310, 360, 365, 

368, 389, 395, 399, 409, 410, 419, 

433, 457, 459, 478, 485 

sativa subsp. falcata 277, 278 

scutellata 419 

truncatula 419 

Melica spp. 178 

Melilotus spp. 402, 410, 419 

alba 402, 410 

Mesquite 230 

Microlaena stipoides 364 

Microchloa indica 181 

Mid-grass 347, 350, 353, 357, 368 

Milk 9, 38–9 

camel 286, 299 

mare 323

Index 507 

sheep 288, 323, 326, 330 

yak 326 

Mineral defi ciency 242 

Minerals supplementation 186, 209 

Miombo 421 

Miscanthus spp. 442, 443 

fl oridulus 442 

saccharifl orus 443 

sinensis 442 

Mobility 3, 10, 14, 15, 16, 41, 46, 63, 64, 

65, 79, 91, 92, 107, 294, 297, 298, 

305, 326–7, 332, 333, 334, 436, 

468, 478 

Mongolia 3, 10, 11, 14 

Monachather paradoxus 358 

Morocco 417–8 

Muhlenbergia spp. 234 

repens 234 

torrey 234 

Mullinum spp. 134, 141 

microphyllum 134 

spinosum 134, 141 

N 

Nama-karoo 77, 78, 79, 85, 88, 93, 97, 

98, 109, 112 

Ñandubay forest 174, 176 

Nanophyton erinaceum 277 

Nardophyllum obtusifolium 135 

Nardus stricta 401 

Nassauvia spp. 141 

glomerulosa 134, 141 

ulicina 134, 141 

National Weeds Strategy 373 

Nature reserves 148 

NDVI 133, 134, 135, 145, 146 

Negdel 271, 272, 274, 275, 276, 278, 291, 

294, 295, 296, 297 

Nepal 444–5, 448 

Neurachne spp. 358 

Niger 420 

Nitraria spp. 316, 442 

sphaerocarpa 442 

North Africa 11, 16, 417–9 

Nostoc spp. 181 

O 

oak 230 

Ochotona spp. 311 

Olea spp. 99, 445 

cuspidata 445 

europea 99 

europea var. africana 99 

Onobrychis viciifolia 410, 458, 459 

Opuntia spp. 98, 107, 109, 426, 472 

aurantiaca 98 

fi cus-indica 98, 109 

Organic certifi cation 131 

Orinus thoroldii 310, 313, 315, 317, 442 

Ornithopus spp. 207 

Oryza barthii 420 

Ostrich 87, 90, 100 

Otor 291, 296, 301 

autumn 269, 271, 277, 281, 287, 288, 

291, 292, 295, 296, 297 

spring 269, 277, 279, 281, 284, 291, 

292, 293, 296, 298, 302 

summer 266, 269, 270, 272, 273, 277, 

279, 280, 291, 292, 293, 297 

Overgrazing 34, 35, 44, 54, 56–59, 152, 

176, 211 

Oversowing 208, 408 

Overstocking 14 

Ovis ammon hodgsoni 310 

Oxalis spp. 181 

Oxytropis spp. 312, 314, 319 

aciphylla 319 

microphylla 314 

P 

Paddock ranking 209 

Pajonales 176, 182 

Pakistan 8, 443–4, 447–8, 449–1 

Pampas 430-3 

Panicum spp. 31, 36, 38, 62, 97, 105, 113, 

114, 178, 181, 230, 356, 359, 360, 

362, 420, 426, 427, 434 

decompositum 359 

deustum 97 

laxum 427 

maximum 36, 38, 97, 105, 113, 356, 

359, 360, 362, 426

508 

maximum var. trichoglume 356 

milioides 181 

nicorae 181 

olyroides 426 

sabulorum 181 

turgidum 420 

urvilleanum 434 

virgatum 230 

Pappophorum spp. 434 

caespitosum 434 

phillippianum 434 

Paraguay 427, 429, 430 

Parkinsonia aculeata 365 

Participation 61, 300, 336, 487–8 

Pascopyrum smithii 230, 243 

Paspalidium spp. 356 

Paspalum spp. 174, 175, 176, 178, 180, 

181, 182, 183, 198, 201, 203, 204, 

205, 215, 360, 426, 427, 431, 432 

almum 174 

carinatum 427 

dilatatum 175, 181, 201, 203, 360, 431, 

432 

gardnerianum 426 

hydrophylum 180 

indecorum 175 

intermedium 176 

maculosum 203 

nicorae 181 

notatum 174, 176, 181, 183, 194, 198, 

201, 203, 204, 205 

pauciciliatum 203 

paucifolium 198, 199 

plicatulum 174, 181, 198, 202, 203, 426 

quadrifarium 176, 182, 431 

urvillei 203 

Pasture 2, 4, 15, 16, 188–9, 194–5, 204–5, 

208, 210–1, 276, 302, 351, 359–64, 

369, 370, 436, 443, 457 

development 392–3, 413, 455 

native 350–1, 353, 360, 364–8, 369, 

372–3, 374 

sown 344, 348, 353, 356, 360–3, 366–7, 

369, 371, 373, 374, 387, 394, 411, 

413, 433, 437 

tropical 345, 346–7, 351–5, 366–8, 372, 

374 


Pedicularis spp. 312, 314 

Pennisetum spp. 31, 36, 37, 38, 105, 108, 

114, 116, 119, 120, 315, 317, 373, 

420, 442, 481, 482 

centrasiaticum 442 

clandestinum 36, 105, 108, 116, 119, 

120 

fl accidum 315, 317 

polystachyon 373 

purpureum 36, 37, 481, 482 

sphacelatum 37 

Pentzia incana 98 

Perezia lanigera 134 

Peucedanum ruthenicum 395 

Phalaris spp. 365, 368, 400, 401, 419, 433 

aquatica 365, 368, 419 

arundinacea 433 

Phaseolus spp. 431 

Philadelphus spp. 316 

Phleum spp. 135, 310, 389 

alpinum 310 

commutatum 135 

pratense 389 

Phlox hoodii 233 

Phosphorus 186, 199, 201, 202, 206, 209, 

470 

defi ciency 186, 199, 206, 209, 370, 470 

fertilizer 2, 9, 200, 201, 202, 203, 219, 

329, 394, 403, 406, 409, 410, 413, 

473, 481 

in forage 142, 147, 172, 193, 333, 391 

Phragmites spp. 316, 443, 445, 448 

communis 443 

karka 445 

Phytocoenosis 390 

Picea spp. 316, 317 

Pinus spp. 446 

roxburghii 446 

wallichianai 446 

Pipthantus nepalensis 446 

Piptochaetium spp. 174, 179, 181, 182, 

196, 198, 199, 201, 203, 208 

montevidense 174, 182, 196, 198, 199, 

203 

stipoides 174, 181, 201, 208 

Plantago spp. 282 

Plant Diversity, Centre of 148

Index 509 

Poa spp. 133, 134, 135, 136, 141, 144, 

178, 181, 201, 208, 243, 283, 313, 

314, 316, 319, 356, 357, 387, 388, 

389, 393, 395, 397, 401, 404, 410, 

434, 443, 445, 446, 454 

alpina 313, 314, 443 

angustifolia 395, 410, 443 

bulbosa 387, 388, 389, 393, 397, 404, 

445, 454 

crymophila 313 

dolichachyra 313 

dusenii 134, 135, 141 

labillardieri 356, 357 

lanigera 181, 201, 208 

lanuginosa 134, 136, 434 

ligularis 133, 134, 136, 141, 144, 434 

poecila 135 

pratensis 243, 387, 389, 393, 395, 401, 

410, 443 

subfastigata 283 

Polygonum spp. 312, 316, 388, 389, 390, 

402, 404, 443 

aviculare 388, 389, 402 

convolvulus 402 

macrophyllum 312, 443 

viviparum 312, 443 

Populus spp. 230, 244, 281, 395, 401 

Portulaca spp. 359 

Portulacaria afra 97, 98, 115 

Potaninia mongolica 442 

Potentilla spp. 277, 282, 312, 314, 402, 

442, 443, 446 

acaulis 277 

anserina 282, 443 

argentea 402 

bifurca 314 

fruticosa 313, 314 

fulgens 442 

nivea 277 

tanacetifolium 282 

Prairie dog 227, 249 

Precipitation 1, 3, 13, 15, 21, 29, 31, 34, 

35, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 

64, 77, 81, 83, 84, 87, 92, 94, 95, 

96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102, 104, 105, 

107, 109, 124, 142, 145, 146, 147, 

172, 173, 177, 184, 193, 195, 201, 

225, 234, 236, 237, 269, 278, 279, 

280, 281, 292, 309, 311, 312, 316, 

317, 331, 343, 344, 345, 346, 348, 

350, 351, 352, 353, 356, 357, 359, 

361, 365, 373, 385, 386, 397, 411, 

417, 420, 421, 425, 426, 428, 429, 

431, 434, 441, 444, 445, 451, 453, 

454, 456, 457, 472, 477, 478, 493 

Predators 57, 91, 127, 136, 138, 145, 205, 

239, 245, 270, 294, 296, 311, 347, 

475 

Primula spp. 312 

PROLANA 130 

Prosopis spp. 112, 133, 136, 365, 433, 472 

alpataco 136, 433 

denudans 133 

denudans: 133 

fl exuosa 136, 433 

velutina 472 

Prospidastrum spp. 141 

Protein content 240 

Prunus spp. 316 

Pseudois nayaur 310 

Psidium spp. 472 

Ptaeroxylon obliquum 98 

Pteridium aquilinum 446 

Ptilagrostis spp. 277, 316 

mongolica 277 

Ptilotus spp. 358 

Puccinellia spp. 399, 401 

Q 

Quercus semicarpifolia 317 

R 

Rabbit 348, 371 

Rainfall – see Precipitation 

Rakhi 288 

Ranunculus spp. 312 

Reaumuria spp. 316, 319, 442 

soongarica 319, 442 

Redberry 230 

Reimarochloa acuta 427 

Remote sensing 54, 111, 251 

Landsat TM 113, 146, 147, 153 

NDVI 133, 134, 135, 145, 146

510 

Restocking 302 

Retama raetam 454 

Rhagodia spp. 357 

Rheas 127, 154, 174 

Rheum spp. 312, 316 

Rhigozum spp. 

obovatum 98 

trichotomum 97 

Rhodes grass – see Chloris gayana 

Rhodiola algida var. tangutica 442 

Rhododendron spp. 313, 316, 317, 446 

Rhus spp. 97, 99, 115 

incisa 99 

longispina 99 

undulata 99, 115 

Rhynchospora spp. 174 

praecincta 174 

Riparian areas 131, 143, 144, 147, 154, 

249, 251, 281, 282, 292, 312 

Risk 210, 292 

aversion 190 

avoidance 15, 294 

drought 38, 127, 144, 147, 181, 276, 

277, 278, 292, 298, 301, 421, 445 

environmental 147, 153, 333 

herding 10, 15 

management 38, 44, 64 

predator 91, 138, 145 

theft 91, 294 

Rocky Outcrops region 174, 176, 199, 

209 

Roegneria spp. 310, 312, 313, 316 

melanthera 310 

nutans 312, 313 

thoroldiana 313 

Rosa spp. 446 

Rotational grazing 90, 102, 144–5, 112, 

115 

Rytidosperma virescens 135 

S 

Sabina spp. 317 

Saccharum spp. 445, 448 

spontaneum 445 

Sahel 55, 420, 421, 422 

Salix spp. 11, 281, 313, 316, 317, 395, 

401 


Salsola spp. 277, 316, 402, 442, 453 

kali 402 

laricifolia 402, 442 

passerina 277, 442 

vermiculata 277, 442, 453 

Sand dunes 114, 149, 315 

Sandy Hills region 176 

Sanguisorba offi cinalis 443 

Savannah 1, 13, 20, 31, 33, 36, 38, 48, 49, 

58, 79, 85, 92, 93, 95–6, 105, 109, 

113, 115, 230 

cultivation 421 

wooded 421, 427 

Schinopsis spp. 429, 430 

Schinus spp. 141 

polygamus 134 

Schizachyrium spp. 174, 175, 178, 181, 

182, 199, 202, 230, 355, 421 

fragile 355 

imberbe 175 

microstachyum 175, 182, 199 

paniculatum 174 

rupestre 421 

scoparium 230 

semi-herbe 421 

setigera 181 

spicatum 181, 202 

Sclerolaena spp. 357 

Schoenefeldia spp. 31, 34, 420 

gracilis 420 

Scirpus spp. 443 

triqueter 443 

yagara 443 

Sclerocarya birrea 420 

Scorpiurus spp. 419 

Scutia myrtina 99 

Sehima spp. 355, 448 

nervosum 355 

Selaginella spp. 181 

Senecio spp. 134, 141 

Seriphidium spp. 442 

borotalense 442 

rhodanthum 442 

terrae-albae 442 

Setaria spp. 31, 36, 45, 97, 114, 178, 367, 

402 

sphacelata 36, 45, 97, 367

Index 511 

Sheep 14, 15, 38, 39, 84, 86–8, 90, 91, 92, 

97, 100, 109, 77, 87, 89, 90, 106, 

127, 130, 136–8, 140, 142, 148, 

173, 178, 186, 187, 188, 207, 239, 

285–7, 289, 290, 294, 323–5, 347, 

419, 422, 441, 452, 454, 475, 480 

blue 310 

fi ne-wool 153, 302 

management 351, 365 

milk 288, 323 

trypanotolerant 423 

Sheep breeds 

Awasii 452 

Corriedale 127, 130, 131, 137, 140, 

178, 188, 189 

djallonke 423 

Dorper 88 

Dohne Merino 88 

Hampshire Down 140 

Ideal 178 

Karakul 434 

Merino 88, 127, 130, 131, 140, 154, 

189, 347, 350, 352 

Romney Marsh 178 

Southdown 140 

Texel 140 

Shinnery 230 

Shorea robusta 444 

Short-grass 174, 175, 176, 177, 352, 353, 

356, 357, 358, 359, 367 

Simulation modelling 56, 61, 102, 104, 

111, 116, 141, 144, 147, 154, 197, 

203, 204, 332, 346, 362, 367, 371, 

383, 387, 391 

Sisymbrium spp. 402 

Site potential 386, 391 

Sodgrass 357 

Soliva pterosperma 182 

Somalia 19, 22, 25, 27, 29, 34, 35, 38, 39, 

40, 41, 51, 470, 487 

Sonchus arvensis 402 

Sophora spp. 310, 315, 317, 443 

alopecuroides 443 

moorcroftiana 310, 315 

viciifolia 315, 317 

Sorbus spp. 316 

Sorghastrum spp. 176, 230 

agrostoides 176 

nutans 230 

Sorghum spp. 355 

plumosum 355 

Sovkhozy 383, 392 

Spiraea spp. 316, 317, 396, 446 

Spodiopogon sibiricus 442 

Sporobolus spp. 34, 94, 174, 176, 181, 

203, 234, 356, 366 

cryptandrus 234 

heterolepis 234 

indicus 174, 176, 181, 203 

pyramidalis 94 

State Emergency Fodder Fund 274, 279, 

300 

Steppe 2, 15, 82, 88, 97, 305-9, 312, 

316–20, 323, 332–3, 335–6, 381, 

385, 393–7, 401 

alpine 277, 291, 305, 310–7, 319, 325, 

446, 448, 456 

Artemisia 277, 282, 418, 444–5 

Asian 434–6 

botanical composition 277, 282, 317, 

386–91, 392, 393–7, 402, 406, 

408–9 

desert 277 

dynamics 144, 146, 154, 309, 317, 319, 

320, 331, 335, 391, 393 

extra-Andean 121, 122, 131 

forest 228, 230, 237, 245, 277, 385, 395 

Gobi desert 277 

grass-shrub 134 

improvement 435 

Monte 135 

Patagonian shrub 122, 133 

semi-desert 131, 133, 134, 142, 146, 

148, 277, 287, 289, 397 

shrub 122, 134, 144, 145, 147, 317 

shrub-grass 134, 143, 148 

temperate 310, 311, 313, 316, 318 

types 277 

virgin 382, 396, 411 

Stipa spp. 15, 133, 134, 136, 141, 174, 

175, 179, 181, 196, 201, 203, 208, 

230, 233, 277, 282, 310, 313, 315, 

317, 319, 356, 357, 358, 387, 388, 

389, 390, 396, 397, 399, 400, 401,

512 

402, 403, 406, 407, 408, 409, 418, 

426, 431, 434, 441, 445, 446, 453 

aliena 313 

ameghinoi 134 

aristiglumis 356, 357 

baicalensis 283, 441 

barbata 453 

bigeniculata 357 

brevifl ora 441 

bungeana 315, 317, 441 

capillata 277, 387, 389, 397, 399, 401, 

403, 408, 441 

comata 230, 233 

concinna 446 

glareosa 277, 317, 319, 441 

gobica 277 

grandis 441 

humilis 134, 141, 426 

ibarii 134, 135 

joannis 399 

klemenzii 441 

krylovi 282, 441 

lessingiana 387, 388, 389, 390, 397, 408 

neaei 133, 134, 136 

neesiana 175, 196, 201, 208 

neomexicana 234 

purpurea 310, 313, 317, 319 

setacea 356 

setigera 174, 181, 208 

spartea 233 

speciosa 133, 134, 136, 434 

subsessilifl ora 313 

tenacissima 418 

tenuis 136, 141, 434 

trichotoma 431 

variabilis 356, 357, 358 

Stipagrostis spp. 94, 96, 114, 420 

obtusa 94 

pungens 420 

Stocking 237, 242 

continuous 53, 139, 142, 143, 151, 152, 

241, 242, 367, 405 

rate 48, 90, 91, 103, 104, 105, 139, 140, 

142-148, 150, 152, 153, 186–8, 196, 

197, 199, 202, 207, 208, 210–1, 

237, 241, 242, 243, 251, 309, 333, 

335, 369, 373, 476–7 


Stock unit 288, 289, 290 

Stylosanthes spp. 15, 179, 199, 360, 362, 

343, 351, 360, 362, 363, 366, 372, 

426, 473, 481 

guyanensis 426 

humilis 134, 426, 473 

leiocarpa 199 

scabra 366 

Suaeda spp. 443 

Subclimax 386 

Succession model 391 

Succulent karoo biome 99 

Sudanian zone 421 

Sudano-Guinean zone 421 

Sum 269, 273, 274, 276, 279, 290, 291, 

292, 297 

Sur 276, 297 

Sustainability 15, 62, 86, 97, 102, 103, 

114, 319, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 

336, 337, 383, 465, 487 

Sympegma spp. 316, 319, 442 

regelii 277, 319, 442 

Syrian Arab Republic 451-3 

T 

Taiga 267, 268, 381, 382, 385, 488 

Tall-grass 353, 354, 355, 356, 357 

Tamarix spp. 148, 316 

Tenure – see Land tenure 

Terminalia spp. 356 

Thalictrum simplex 283 

Themeda spp. 94, 354, 355, 356, 357, 

364, 425, 442, 448 

avenacea 357 

triandra 31, 36, 94, 354, 355, 356, 357, 

364, 425, 442 

triandra var. japonica 442 

Thicket 93, 97 

Thicket biome 93, 97 

Thlaspi arvense 402 

Thymus serpyllum var. mongolium 441 

Thyridolepsis mitchelliana 358 

Tibet Qinghai Plateau 436 

Tillage 

minimum 352 

no-tillage 206, 433

Index 513 

Tiller density 204 

Tourism 63, 77, 88, 89, 97, 100, 112, 114, 

122, 154, 210, 488 

Trachypogon spp. 94, 426, 427 

spicatus 94 

ligularis 427 

plumosus 426 

vestitus 426 

Tragedy of privatization 44 

Tragedy of the commons 43, 332 

Transhumance 3, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 40, 41, 

56, 129, 265, 270, 273, 276, 291, 

292, 294, 296, 305, 323, 330, 332, 

418–9, 421–2, 446, 449, 456, 463, 

466, 468, 478, 479, 492 

Trevoa patagonica 134 

Trifolium spp. 108, 174, 179, 181, 199, 

203, 207, 208, 352, 353, 357, 360, 

361, 371, 389, 395, 418, 419, 432, 

433, 473, 482, 483, 485 

fragiferum 360, 418, 419 

polymorphum 174, 181, 199, 203 

pratense 108, 207, 360, 395, 433 

repens 108, 208, 353, 360, 361, 389, 

395, 432, 433 

subterraneum 352, 353, 360, 361 

Triglochin palustre 443 

Trikeraia hookeri 310 

Triodia spp. 359 

Tsetse 50, 421 

Tuareg 421 

Tulipa spp. 397 

Tunisia 417–9 

Turkey 455–7 

Turkmenistan 434, 445 

Tussockgrass 359 

Tussock prairie 176 

U 

Uncia uncia 294, 311 

Ursus arctos 311 

Urtica spp. 402, 446 

cannabina 402 

parvifl ora 446 

Utilization 352, 368 

Uzbekistan 434-5 

V 

Vaccinium spp. 11 

Vegetation-based pasture assessment 

routines 146 

Venezuela 426, 427 

Verbena ligustrina 133 

Vernonia nudifl ora 182 

Vicia spp. 207, 395, 401, 431 

Vigna spp. 109, 372 

parkeri 372 

unguiculata 109 

Viscachas 174 

Vole 227 

Vossia cuspidata 420 

Vulpia australis 202 

W 

Walafrida geniculata 98 

Water 91, 112, 114, 116, 144, 295, 301, 

469–70 

access 3,19, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 50, 

52, 57, 61, 63, 64, 295, 296, 301, 

464–5, 469–70, 478, 487, 493 

artesian 350 

bores 350 

points 469–70 

provision 242 

resources 248, 251, 

West Africa 9, 16, 419–24, 463–4, 469 

Wildlife 2, 5, 11, 25, 35, 38, 39, 40, 43, 

47, 48, 50, 51, 56, 57–8, 63, 65, 88, 

144, 145, 154, 173, 174, 247, 306, 

310, 347, 469 

competition 244 

grazing 228, 229, 245, 250, 251 

habitat 227, 228, 236, 249, 464, 465 

kangaroo 348 

tourism 488, 489, 491, 493 

wallaby 348 

wolves 270 

yak 285, 295, 303, 310 

Wool trade 92, 130, 178

514 

Y 

Yak 9, 11, 14, 265, 268, 277, 280, 282, 

284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 293, 294, 

295, 435, 441, 448 

hybrids 285, 287 

Z 

Ziziphus spp. 366, 454 

mauritiana 366 

spina-christi 454 

Zoocoenosis 390 

Zornia spp. 179, 199 

reticulata 199 

zud 277, 279, 292, 293, 298, 301, 302 

black 293 

khuiten 293 

relief 302 

storm 293 

white 292, 293 

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