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www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/...pdf/PRM-2.pdf

Mark S. Thorne1 , Glen K. Fukumoto2 , and Matthew H. Stevenson, January, 2007. College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai'i.

A successful grazing management plan requires a sound understanding of the effect the grazing animal exerts on the range or pasture ecosystem. The grazing animal exerts pressure on the range or pasture ecosystem through consumption and trampling of the plants, by their digestive processes, and by their movement across the landscape. Separation of this total influence into individual factors (Heady and Child 1994) increases understanding of the grazing impacts and promotes informed grazing management decisions. Managers who learn to manipulate the grazing factors listed in Figure 1 are typically the most successful at maintaining forage and animal production goals.