Overgrazing
Overgrazing is the excessive removal of vegetation by livestock, leaving plants insufficient time to recover and reducing soil protection.
Carrying capacity: The population or livestock level an environment can sustain over time without degrading its resources. Grazing beyond this limit removes vegetation faster than pasture can replace it.
Rotational grazing: A livestock management system that moves animals among pasture areas to allow grazed areas to rest. Rest periods are intended to reduce repeated pressure on the same plants and soils.
Pasture degradation: The decline in the productivity and ecological condition of land used for grazing. It is the direct land-use outcome when forage removal repeatedly exceeds pasture recovery.
Sustainable grazing: Livestock use of pasture managed to maintain forage, soil function, and long-term productive capacity. It contrasts with grazing pressure that persistently outpaces vegetation recovery.
Selective grazing: The preferential consumption of certain plant species or plant parts by herbivores. Livestock can repeatedly target palatable plants, shifting pasture composition even when some vegetation remains.
Stocking rate: The number of livestock kept on a given area of land over a defined period. Adjusting animals per area is a direct way to bring grazing demand closer to forage supply.
Biodiversity loss: A decline in the variety of genes, species, or ecosystems in a place or across Earth. Selective feeding and habitat change can reduce plants and animals that depend on intact pasture.
Understocking: Keeping fewer grazing animals on land than its forage resources could support. It represents pressure below pasture capacity, unlike excessive removal of vegetation.
Soil erosion: The detachment and transport of soil by water, wind, or other forces. As grazing removes protective cover, exposed soil becomes easier for wind and rain to carry away.
Grazing management: The planning and control of livestock use of pasture to meet production and land-stewardship goals. It combines stocking, timing, and movement decisions that can prevent or worsen overgrazing.