ABSTRACT:
Successful range management depends on the selection of the correct stocking rate. Evaluations of the reliability of different stocking rate procedures have not been published, however. In this study, six stocking rate procedures were compared using long-term data from moderately (sustainably) stocked Chihuahuan desert and shortgrass prairie experimentul ranges in New Mexico. Without adjustment for distance ffom water and for slope, all procedures gave stocking rate estimates much heavier than the ranges actually carried. A quantitative stocking rate procedure that bases guidelines on available research relative to forage utilization, forage intake, adjustment for distance from water, and adjustment for slope underestimated actual stocking rate by an average of 10%. It appears this procedure can provide reasonable stocking rate estimates for most western U.S. rangelands, providing reliable data are available on standing crop of the key forage species.
Footnotes
Jerry L. Holechek and Rex D. Pieper are professors in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, 88003. Journal Article 1545 of the New Mexico Agriculture Experiment Station, Las Cruces.
- Copyright 1992 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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