I had some range related course work in college for my forestry degree, Northern Arizona University was a leader in the interdisciplinary teachings in forest management, but that’s another story. I learned how to assess the quality and carrying capacity of an area. That is how many cow/calf pairs (AUM – animal unit months) could graze
Graze: 1.to feed on growing grass and pasturage, as do cattle, sheep, etc. 2.Informal. to eat small portions of food, as appetizers or the like, in place of a full-sized meal or to snack during the course of the day in place of regular meals.I also had wildlife courses and later assisted landowners in Northern New Mexico manage their forest resources for not only cattle, but wildlife habitat and in turn income from elk hunting. Cattle graze, deer and elk browse. Or so I thought.
Browse: 1. to eat, nibble at, or feed on (leaves, tender shoots, or other soft vegetation). 2.to graze; pasture on.
So cattle browse. But I had never seen a cow browse on a tree until I married my farmer and moved to Nebraska. Ash, cottonwood, elm and mulberry are specific ones I’ve seen browsed. I always thought we protected new tree plantings from them so they didn’t rub or step on the tree. Now I know they browse.
I see the gang hanging out in the shade of trees more often than I see them browsing. We are putting a windbreak up in the pasture this year to provide the gang weather protection for every season. Moving some Eastern redcedar from where Mother Nature put it to where we can utilize more benefits with a tree spade we acquired this spring.
A windbreak such as this can reduce hot winds in the summer and provide some shade, but more important is to provide cover from the cold wind and blowing snow in the winter. We’ll let you know how it goes.
There will be 2-4 beef ready to butcher at various weights from late August to late October if you want some delicious natural beef – get a group together and split a whole beef for more savings and healthy grazing of your own (see definition 2 above for graze). Contact us for details of buying a whole, half or quarter beef.
*definitions from dictionary.com