Achieving targeted grazing goals

Targeted grazing involves the use of specific kinds of livestock to reduce populations of certain targeted plant species and enhance the growth of the more desired plants. This approach has advanced the use and understanding of grazing as a beneficial practice that can enhance the plant community’s composition, desirability and production of forage on a specified land area.

Most targeted grazing strategies have included relatively high stock densities and short grazing durations, which are often needed to attack the problem plant at its most vulnerable stage of growth. In some situations, the short grazing windows and high stocking densities required for effective control of the targeted plant species limit the amount of land that can be treated in any one year. Assembling a large enough herd for a short part of the grazing season can be a great challenge.